Friendship and Adults With Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities and English Disability Policy

The authors analyzed references to “friendship” in the documents that set out the policy vision for adults with intellectual disabilities living in England. Friendship is commonly identified as one of the human “goods”—those aspects of life that contribute to our flourishing. Disability ethicists have suggested that friendship is especially important for people with the most profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, as a means of establishing their social and moral standing. However, the idea of friendship with adults with profound disabilities is problematic if friendship is defined as it is commonly understood in the contemporary English context. Citizenship and rights have dominated policy discourse since the publication of the English intellectual disabilities strategy, Valuing People, in 2001. However, recent policy documents give greater prominence to friendship and frame it explicitly as a “good” in the lives of adults with profound disabilities. The language used in these policy documents signals but does not openly acknowledge the tensions and complexities entailed in the idea of friendship with adults with profound disabilities. The authors suggest that the failure to address these tensions and complexities is a recipe for failure in the implementation of policy recommendations. They note the need for policy in this area to be reconsidered and suggest that this process should be informed by both empirical research and conceptual analysis.