Powerful themes are emerging from United Response’s Our Life Stories project, which I am involved in.
Believed to be the first peer-to-peer oral history project by people with learning disabilities, the two-year endeavour started in 2023, with the aim of preserving learning disability history. Stories will be archived in the British Library this year.
To date, 60 interviews (including by Dorothy), have been completed across England, from Cornwall to Cumbria. People with learning disabilities and/or autism were paid to carry them out.
The stories tell us much about people with learning disabilities living in England.
Bleak stories
Let’s start with bad news. Trauma was common. Many experienced fractured childhoods. Fostering, adoption, neglect and children’s homes formed the background to 30% of childhoods; 68% were bullied at school, some by teachers, and only occasionally was it addressed.
This may have been made worse when diagnosis came late in the day. Delays often left people misunderstood and unsupported.
Stable adult relationships were also elusive for people. Many expressed a wish for a life partner; very few had one. Even less common was parenthood and the circumstances were often traumatic.
One interviewee experienced severe abuse from her father when she was younger, leading to two pregnancies. Both children were taken from her shortly after birth. One was adopted without her consent and the other cared for by a relative. Another participant had her children removed but had reconnected with one.
It was a similarly bleak story regarding paid work. While some of the older men had had “proper” jobs, most people had had voluntary work or brief, unsatisfactory spells in paid employment.
Recovery and happiness
There was also good news. People displayed resilience – a power to recover from difficult, fractured childhood experiences, trauma and bullying to find happiness in life.
Most striking was the importance of interests and hobbies. Most (73%) interviewees highlighted one, from sport of all kinds, music, karaoke, arts and crafts, cooking, drama, fishing, DJing and churchgoing.
Hobbies give people opportunities to step away from the disability label, express themselves, make friends and win recognition through medals, certificates and recording songs. For some, hobbies were linked to mental health recovery, or gender and sexual identity.
Living independently (usually with support) was valued highly with a sense of pride. Good support workers were mentioned by many people as an important buttress to life. And routines, so they knew what to expect every day, gave some a sense of safety.
We tried to explore identity by asking about the disability label. This seemed to take some by surprise – typically older people. Yet, while it was not something they had been encouraged to think about, some had given it considerable thought.
One man said of his Williams syndrome: “I didn’t choose to have it, it chose me.” For one woman, her autism diagnosis aged 21 came as a relief and a turning point in self-acceptance.
Interviewers were encouraged to explore sexuality, another area where most had had little practice in talking or thinking. One man, however, proudly shared he was gay, and how happy his boyfriend made him. A transgender participant has her “best ever” girlfriend.
These interviews collectively show people with learning disabilities as resilient historians of their
own experiences. They describe systems that failed them but also communities that enable belonging and self-expression. Disability and identity are no longer only about limitation but increasingly about voice, creativity and influence.
Our Life Stories featured in our summer 2025 issue (Our history by ourselves) and is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
For more about the project and the touring exhibition in February, see the United Response website
This article was co-written with Maxine Spry, United Response grant manager and project team member
