Exploring Experiences of Advocacy by People with Learning Disabilities: Testimonies of Resistance

Mitchell, D., Traustadóttir, R., Chapman, R., Townson, L., Ingham, N. and Ledger, S. (Eds) (2006) Exploring Experiences of Advocacy by People with Learning Disabilities: Testimonies of Resistance, London, Jessica Kingsley.

Exploring Experiences of Advocacy by People with Learning Disabilities charts the course through which people with learning disabilities have become increasingly able to direct their own lives as fully active members of their communities.

Accounts from the UK, Australia, Canada and Iceland consider both the individual pioneers of self-advocacy and the local and national groups that have been set up to work actively towards improved services for people with learning disabilities. The book also examines what self-advocacy means for these people and provides an overview of how opportunities and services have changed for them over the decades.

Many of the personal accounts, photographs and songs included in this book are accessible and encouraging to people with learning disabilities and inspiring reading for professionals who work with them, family members and community and government service providers.

Duncan Mitchell is Professor of Health and Disability at Manchester Metropolitan University and Head of Clinical Services for Manchester Learning Disability Partnership. Rannveig Traustadóttir is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik, and President of the Nordic Network on Disability Research. Rohhss Chapman is a Development Worker for Cumbria People First. Louise Townson is Project Director for Carlisle People First, and a member of the UK Government task force on Valuing People. Nigel Ingham is a Project Officer with Community Service Volunteers (CSV) in Lancaster and an experienced Community Oral Historian. Sue Ledger is a Service Manager in an inner London borough.

Community Care in Perspective: Care, Control, and Citizenship

Welshman, J. and Walmsley, J. (Eds) (2006) Community Care in Perspective: Care, Control and Citizenship, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Edited by John Welshman and Jan Walmsley, with chapters by:

Dorothy Atkinson
Rohhss Chapman
Kelley Johnson
Sue Ledger
Duncan Mitchell
Katherine Owen
Sheena Rolph
Tim Stainton
Liz Tilley
Jan Tøssebro
James W. Trent

This book tells the story of community care for people with learning difficulties between 1948 and 2001. It explores how policy changed from controlling people in institutions to promoting their rights to be equal citizens.

Part 1 examines how ideas changed.

Part 2 examines how policy and practice changed in the United Kingdom.

Part 3 examines changes in the USA, Norway and Sweden, Canada and Australia.

Part 4 tells people's own stories, showing how policy changes affected people's lives. It includes staff, voluntary organisations and families as well as people with learning difficulties.

Witnesses to Change: Families, Learning Difficulties and History

Atkinson, D., Nind, M., Rolph, S. and Welshman, J. (2005) Witnesses to Change: Families, Learning Difficulties and History, Kidderminster, BILD Publications

The stories in Witnesses to Change show how learning disabilities impacted on family life and relationships in the twentieth century, how challenges were approached and how families acted as advocates. It illustrates diversity and variety in family life, aiming to be inclusive and to challenge stereotypes. It highlights past mistakes as well as successes in managing learning disability services. And above all, it celebrates the lives of families who have contributed their stories.

Great strides have been made in the past decade in uncovering the history of learning disability using oral sources. The focus has been on recovering the voice of people with learning difficulties in order to correct a tendency towards the 'official' sources. But until now, families have not been seen as key contributors to this movement. This book seeks to alter that.

Witnesses to Change was published in September 2005 by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD) and the editors are Sheena Rolph, Dorothy Atkinson, Melanie Nind, and John Welshman. The book costs £25, ISBN 1 904082 75 0, and can be obtained from BookSource on 08702 402182, or by visiting the BILD website.

Good Times, Bad Times: Women with learning difficulties telling their stories

Atkinson, D., McCarthy, M., Walmsley, J. et al (2000) Good Times, Bad Times: Women with learning difficulties telling their stories, Kidderminster, BILD Publications

Crossing Boundaries. Continuity and Change in the History of Learning Disability

Brigham, L., Atkinson, D., Jackson, M., Rolph, S. and Walmsley, J. (2000) Crossing Boundaries. Change and Continuity in the History of Learning Disability, Kidderminster, BILD Publications

Forgotten Lives. Exploring the History of Learning Disability

Atkinson, D., Jackson, M. and Walmsley, J. (1997) Forgotten Lives. Exploring the History of Learning Disability, Kidderminster, BILD Publications