What do young adult carers learn through supporting family members? Extending the affirmation model

Abstract

Some writers (e.g. O'Dell, Crafter, de Abreu, Cline 2010) have argued that young carers are just one among many categories of youth who navigate the transition to adulthood while already carrying responsibilities usually associated with adulthood. This article explores that position in relation to a research project, undertaken in North-East England, which generated 13 in-depth biographical accounts with 16–25-year-old carers about their transitions to adulthood. It will be argued that their experiences of supporting disabled people in their families resulted in these young adult carers becoming more other-centred than their peers. Otherwise, their transitions to adulthood were mostly typical of young people in other types of adult role. The article discusses whether an affirmation model of disability (Swain and French 2000) can be used to help young adult carers take positive ownership of their identities in the challenging context of post-industrial youth.

Keywords:

• Young adult carers
• affirmation model of disability
• social intrapreneurship
• youth enterprise
• caring professions