Coming to Cornwall: My journey from an intentional community to independent living

Mark Lindsey-Halls and Liz Ellis

An intentional community is a community where lots of people choose to live together.

Mark and Liz have been researching together about what it is like living in Cornwall. This presentation is about Mark’s journey from institutional living to independent living.

Mark has lived all over the world. When Mark was older, his family eventually settled in the UK and Mark went to schools for people with learning difficulties. After leaving college, Mark lived in two different intentional communities. 

Sometimes people in intentional communities have things in common. In the intentional community Mark lived in, the residents had learning difficulties. Mark eventually came and lived in Cornwall. Mark is now living independently for the first time.

Mark will talk about some of the good things about his life in an intentional community and some of the bad things. He will then talk about the changes in his life and the support he gets to help him to live independently.

Biographies

Mark Lindsey-Halls works for Time for Change, delivering training around self-advocacy, disability rights and recruitment. He is also a Police Volunteer Cadet Officer in Falmouth. Mark is one of four co-researchers helping Liz Ellis with her research project.

Liz Ellis is a PhD candidate at The Open University. She is interested in what it is like for poeple living in the countryside.