inclusion
Toleration to belonging
People with learning disabilities can feel they are strangers in their communities. Peter Harper reflects on a manifesto that puts belonging at the heart of living better lives
The Belong campaign manifesto has a clear, simple vision – the end of institutionalisation.
The manifesto, launched a year ago by Beyond Words and Access All Areas, offers the voice of people with learning disabilities; they describe how they perceive a true sense of belonging in British society.
While the aim of ending institutionalisation is familiar, this should not diminish its relevance or underestimate its importance.
The Belong manifesto is a living document that reflects everyday and lifetime concerns. If offers a vision of a society and culture where people with learning disabilities are active in their communities and empowered to make choices that mean they can lead fulfilled, meaningful lives.
Self-worth flows through relationships with family, friends and beyond. The manifesto calls for reciprocal involvement in society for people with learning disabilities, including peer advocacy.
At the heart of community is a shared sense of belonging. A desire to belong appears to be a universal characteristic of the human condition, and arises from the social aspect of human nature.
In my 20 years spent working in community development, often alongside people with learning disabilities, I have observed the importance of wanting and needing to ‘belong’ from local people. A co-worker with learning disabilities recently gave a definition: ‘Community is the places I feel happy …. and safe.’
This sense of affinity or emotional attachment is often echoed in discussions in peer advocacy and other groups.
For people with learning disabilities, developing a sense of belonging in everyday life is undoubtedly a struggle. Communities may be welcoming but ‘moments of inclusion’ are often only the best people can hope for.
Belonging is a qualitative aspect of all relationships developed through everyday life. A sense of belonging involves social ties with family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances; it is reflected in interactions with strangers. A sense of belonging is empowered by social action. People need places that mean something to them, where they and their community can gather and feel affinity.
Belonging requires shared experiences, perspectives and expectations – the building blocks that lead to a shared sense of social purpose. With this, personalisation – people being in control of their own lives and receiving the support they need to live those lives – can be reinforced and communities developed. This will serve two ends: first, to allow people with learning disabilities to confidently declare ‘I belong’; and, second, for them to feel ‘we belong’.
Cultural and economic boundaries and barriers can prevent a sense of belonging. The aim of the Belong campaign is to increase community involvement, allowing everyone to take advantage of opportunities and use public provision in areas such as healthcare, education and employment.
However, people with learning disabilities are too often strangers in their own communities, and can be excluded and isolated. It is as if they are required to gatecrash their community and its social activities. Carving out opportunities may be difficult yet it can be done, and there are welcoming communities – as many peer-advocacy groups can testify.
When any person recognises they are unique, normal and supported, the process of becoming embedded and empowered in a community can start. In some places, this has begun, for example through peer-advocacy organisations, although there is only a patchwork of groups across the country.
If the Belong manifesto starts discussion on what it means to belong, the campaign will have been valuable. If there is one situation that people with learning disabilities should not need to gatecrash, it would be a conversation on belonging, embeddedness and empowerment.
Indeed, it should be the case that peer advocacy groups and individuals are the first to be invited to such a discussion. Shared experiences and growing expertise with peer group advocacy, community development and multi-sector working add invaluable yet often unrecognised skill sets to communities.
For this campaign to be successful, people need to feel empowered to lead. This leadership starts with powerful statements of ‘I’ and ‘we’ belong. It is also an opportunity for others to offer equally powerful statements of support. This support, in turn, must be nurtured and reflected by the general public.
In this way, an inclusive campaign creating awareness, encouraging engagement and making meaningful change can become a reality.
Belong campaign: https://booksbeyondwords.co.uk/belong-manifesto/?rq=belong
Pete Harper is a parent-carer who is researching social justice
Be active and healthy; Enjoy friends; Love ourselves; Ordinary things; New things; Give something nice
The Belong manifesto
The Belong manifesto is a call for more inclusive communities everywhere.
When the institutionalisation of people with learning disabilities has ended…
- and there is enough money to spend on food and essentials,
- and there are opportunities to make some choices in life
- and people with learning disabilities feel good about themselves
- and their friends
- and there is an end to being bullied, assaulted and called names
- and everyone can access healthcare, education and employment, on equal terms
- We will all belong
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