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Abstract
This ethnographic project explored the lives of women with learning disabilities on three locked wards. Aspects of these women’s lives were regulated by the service; in particular, relationships with family outside the unit, and peer relationships inside the unit. The women in this study valued these relationships, but they were treated with ambivalence by the service. Success in future community integration and accessing community resources can be dependent on the nature and quality of relationships with others, and therefore services should acknowledge that service-users need to forge relationships of their own choosing.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank PhD supervisors Prof. Carol Thomas and Prof. Celia Roberts for their exceptional guidance. Thanks also go to Mark Sherry for his comments on earlier drafts of this article, as well as the two anonymous reviewers who took time to give their helpful insights. Thanks should be given to Hannah Morgan for her endless support and for her comments on earlier versions of this article.