The way that people with learning disabilities spend their days in Croydon has changed. Over the past two years, two of Croydon's large Day Centres have been closed and instead some people have paid or voluntary work or attend new, smaller Resource Bases closer to where they live.
This exhibition explores the histories of people with learning disabilities in Croydon. But it is also a story of the ways in which ideas about people, work and life have changed for all of us since the beginning of the 20th Century.
Since the Second World War more and more people have had choice over where they work, where they live and what leisure activities they pursue. This change is reflected in the way services for people with learning disabilities have been organised, with a shift away from the long-stay hospitals which dominated much of the last century to more individually-tailored and person-centred support today. Exploring the history of Day Centres for people with learning disabilities offers a revealing insight into this wider social change.
Cherry Orchard Centre (top), Waylands Centre (right) and Heavers Farm Centre (left)
Getting on to the minibus outside Waylands Centre
Olwen Ryan (front right) and Lorraine Murphy (end of table) sew with friends