Learning disability policy and practice: changing lives? (Interagency working in health and social care)

Williams’s book aims to critically evaluate key policy concepts related specifically to the lives of people with learning disabilities in the United Kingdom. Using research evidence, Learning Disability Policy and Practice assesses the impact of policy on practice across a broad spectrum of themes and issues, focusing on examples in the lives of people with learning disabilities to ascertain whether any real difference has been made. The book poses the question ‘what has policy achieved for the lives of people with learning disabilities – what has it done for them?’

This is a book that is timely, given the plethora of legislation in relation to disability and, more particularly, learning disability, introduced since the beginning of the twenty-first century. It gives an extremely useful overview for anyone with an interest in the well-being of people with learning disabilities and their families. It is aimed at a wide audience – including students in social sciences, those undertaking vocational degrees, practitioners who support people with learning disabilities, professionals in the fields of healthcare and social work, and families of individuals with learning disabilities. The author has attempted to make some of the material accessible to people with learning disabilities, who might wish to discuss some of the issues included, by inserting an accessible summary at the beginning of each chapter.

This book is located in current ideas about disability. It acknowledges disability as a cultural and political phenomenon; it clearly takes the stance of the social model of disability. The author acknowledges that policy can only achieve so much, and that change also happens because of the actions of those who group together to campaign for their rights. She recognises the part played in this by the disabled people’s movement and the self-advocacy movement of people with learning disabilities. Williams also acknowledges the issues surrounding those with more complex and profound disabilities, where taking control, making choices and contributing to knowledge production is not so obviously facilitated.

Learning Disability Policy and Practice is well written and well evidenced; research from around the world is included to support the discussions contained. In addition, the layout of the book is clear and effective. Each chapter starts with a policy theme, linked to a particular area in the lives of people with learning disabilities, plus an accessible summary (as mentioned above). For example, Chapter Three explores the policy concept of human rights, through focusing on the issue of health and access to healthcare, while Chapter Eight links housing options with policies relating to capacity and autonomy. At the end of each chapter there are suggested discussion topics and further reading, including information that can be accessed through the Internet.

Williams acknowledges the right of people with learning disabilities to be included in the production of knowledge about themselves. She employs a useful technique to do this – namely ‘voice of experience’ boxes, which are used to foreground the voices of people with learning disabilities and their families. My one criticism of the book is that it did not include enough of these. I wanted to hear more of what people with learning disabilities had to say about their experiences of and reflections on the issues explored. Nevertheless, I finished the book feeling that I had gained a useful overview and some specific knowledge across a wide spectrum, about how policy is being put into practice and the problems that arise in attempting to do so. The book gives a good indication of the direction in which practice is moving and about the work that needs to be done to make outcomes more uniformly successful for people with learning disabilities. The book deals with complex issues and although it is critical of both policy and practice, the author approaches each discussion in a positive manner, looking to understand how changes can be built on and improvements made.

Williams’s book builds on previous research and writings in the field – for example, to name just a few, McCarthy (1999), Goodley (2000), Mansell and Beadle-Brown (2004), Williams et al. (2009), and Johnson, Walmsley, and Wolfe (2010) – and contributes to knowledge about rights, citizenship, inclusion and the impact of living with the identity of ‘learning disability’. The book also has resonance in relation to inclusive research with people with learning disabilities.

Ultimately, Learning Disability Policy and Practice indicates that, whilst policy might be on the right lines and practice is changing, the effect is somewhat sporadic. It is clearly going to take time, effort and considerably more resources to radically change practices that directly affect the lives of individuals with learning disabilities.

Irene Kappes
London, UK
[email protected]
© 2014, Irene Kappes
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2013.856678