Hidden voices: the participation of people with learning disabilities in the experience of public open space

Abstract

The self-advocacy of people with learning disabilities (PWLD) is an issue of high current importance. In the UK 210,000 people have severe and profound learning disabilities, whilst 25 in every 1000 of the population in England has a mild to moderate learning disability (Department of Health, Valuing people: a new strategy for learning disability for the 21^st century, London, Stationery Office, 2001). At the most restricted end of the communication spectrum, PWLD are often forgotten members of their communities, whose label “learning disabled” wrongly causes confusion and fear. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 ensured “reasonable” adjustments must be made to environments and buildings so they are accessible to all. However, DDA legislation remains a predominately physical access issue with great attention focused on the built environment and little attention given to the experience of place or external environments. Researchers argue that it is attitudes and interactions in the person–environment relationship that have allowed our “disablist” society to label and segregate members of its community as “disabled”. The research comprised a longitudinal study working with PWLD participants at two sites in Yorkshire and in the northeast of England. This paper examines the resulting visual communication toolkit, able to unlock the experience of public open spaces by PWLD and, when used in context, to aid greater social participation.

Keywords:

• learning disability
• participation
• visual communication
• photo-elicitation
• public open space

Acknowledgements

The research for this paper was funded by an ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) studentship (No. PTA-030-2004-00895) awarded to the author. I am grateful to the Mencap staff and volunteers in Yorkshire and the northeast of England for their encouragement and practical assistance and to Kevin Thwaites and Helen Woolley (University of Sheffield) for supervision of the project. Finally I thank all the Mencap participants without whom the project would not have been possible.

Notes

*All names have been changed to protect the individuals' identities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

A. R. Mathers

Email: [email protected]