Designs for Living

Normalization as defined by Wolf Wolfensberger informs British services for people with learning disabilities, probably without exception. It is an approach which instructs services to help service users acquire behaviours and characteristics which are as "culturally normative as possible" (1972:28). The later interpretation by O'Brien (for example, 1980), where he summarizes and translates normalization into the "Five Service" accomplishments, has attempted to aid support staff in the task of translating operational policies built upon normalization into practice. While many studies have attempted to assess the efficacy of this approach, it is difficult to establish their success, as their measurement criteria are usually based upon levels of competence and participation - values themselves derived from the principle of normalization. This study attempts to step outside this dilemma by using a comparative research method.
Services in London are compared to services in Milan, as while the latter undertake to support people with learning disabilities using individual planning processes and on rare occasions residential services, the operational policies, training and overall framework for doing so are underpinned by an holistic, legislative model which views the family or its substitution as the key to service provision.