Friendship or Facilitation: People with Learning Disabilities and Their Paid Carers

This article compares the composition and characteristics of the social networksof 14 people with learning disabilities with those of 24 of their paid supportstaff. In doing so the article not only establishes the differences in thediversity, durability and density of each group's social set, but highlights thedisparity in perspective that the service users and the support staff have abouttheir shared relationships. This is followed by a sociological discussion of whythose with learning disabilities perceive their support staff as friends, whilethe support staff seldom consider the service users in this way, preferring toview themselves as facilitators to these individuals’ friendships. The articleconcludes by discussing the consequences of the staff and service users’differing perspectives about their relationships, in terms of the tensions itgenerates in staff about their caring role and the effect it may have upon thosewith learning disabilities’ broader social inclusion.