Theorising community participation: successful concept or empty buzzword?

Abstract

What is community participation and how do we measure it? These questions are important as people with intellectual and developmental disabilities continue to experience exclusion, as policymakers design national funding schemes, and as researchers evaluate the success of interventions. A measurable definition of community participation enables people to know which interventions work, why, and where to target funding. Yet there may be good reasons to resist a universal definition of community participation. Building on work in feminist theory, this article shows the benefits of community participation as an essentially contested concept as contestation spurs innovative research. But even if contested concepts are good for researchers, are they good for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their families, and professionals in the field? Aligning the goals of research with practice may be an important yet unattainable goal.

Keywords:

• Belonging
• community participation
• feminist theory
• intellectual disability
• intersectionality
• social inclusion

Acknowledgement

This is a revised version of a paper delivered at the Annual Roundtable on “Community Participation and People with Cognitive Disabilities: How is it understood and what does it take to support it?”, La Trobe University, 01 November, 2017. The author would like to thank Professor Christine Bigby for offering the opportunity to share these ideas at La Trobe University’s Living with Disability Research Centre, as well as the participants’ helpful feedback at the Roundtable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.