The Role of the Self Advocacy Support Worker and the Politics of Inclusion

This paper examines PHD research focused on the support role in relation to self advocacy groups for people with intellectual disabilities across the UK. The study was undertaken through a process of inclusive team research, involving researchers with the label of ‘intellectual disabilities’ from Cumbria, UK. The research discovered that the self-advocacy support-worker role was both ambiguous and contradictory. Support-workers grappled with the conflicting requests made by different individuals and organisations. They also reported a variety of allegiances to differing theoretical perspectives which ultimately called into account models of disability that are not generated or developed by group members. Furthermore, although the research was based across the ‘United’ Kingdom, there are many differences in the way each country works, culminating in difficulties for cross-border working. Although Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had developed national identities in terms of self advocacy and support, England had failed to organise a cohesive national network. Finally, in terms of process, the research challenged current assumptions that there are areas of the research cycle too difficult for people with learning difficulties to genuinely engage in