Hidden voices: the participation of people with learning disabilities in the experience of public open space
Titel:
Hidden voices: the participation of people with learning disabilities in the experience of public open space
Auteur:
Mathers, A. R.
Verschenen in:
Local environment
Paginering:
Jaargang 13 (2008) nr. 6 pagina's 515-529
Jaar:
2008-09
Inhoud:
The self-advocacy of people with learning disabilities (PWLD) is an issue of high current importance. In the UK 210,000 people have severe and profound learning disabilities, whilst 25 in every 1000 of the population in England has a mild to moderate learning disability (Department of Health, Valuing people: a new strategy for learning disability for the 21st century, London, Stationery Office, 2001). At the most restricted end of the communication spectrum, PWLD are often forgotten members of their communities, whose label “learning disabled” wrongly causes confusion and fear. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 ensured “reasonable” adjustments must be made to environments and buildings so they are accessible to all. However, DDA legislation remains a predominately physical access issue with great attention focused on the built environment and little attention given to the experience of place or external environments. Researchers argue that it is attitudes and interactions in the person-environment relationship that have allowed our “disablist” society to label and segregate members of its community as “disabled”. The research comprised a longitudinal study working with PWLD participants at two sites in Yorkshire and in the northeast of England. This paper examines the resulting visual communication toolkit, able to unlock the experience of public open spaces by PWLD and, when used in context, to aid greater social participation.
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