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The All Wales Strategy, Self‐Advocacy and Participation
Author(s) -
Whittell Bridget,
Ramcharan Paul
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3156.1998.tb00042.x
Subject(s) - welsh , self advocacy , independence (probability theory) , public relations , learning disability , service (business) , political science , psychology , public administration , business , pedagogy , developmental psychology , statistics , mathematics , marketing , philosophy , linguistics
The All Wales Strategy for the Development of Services for Mentally Handicapped People (Welsh Office, 1983) stated that representatives of people with learning disabilities be involved in the planning, management and review of services. Using data from an all Wales survey of self‐advocacy groups carried out in 1994 it is argued in this paper that participation from the self‐advocacy movement in service planning forums has only been partially successful. The difficulties of fostering meaningful participation relate to practical issues such as making meetings more accessible and providing support. They also relate to maintaining the independence of groups, to funding, and to wider, non‐service related roles people with learning disabilities might have in their communities. Some of the implications for the self‐advocacy movement are discussed.