Learning Disability and Social Inclusion

Over the last five years in Scotland and across the UK, people with learning disabilities have been the target of considerable legislative and policy changes. A key theme relates to the inclusion of people with learning disabilities in the community in education, in training and employment, and in relation to accessing health, housing, and leisure services. This is perhaps best exemplified by the review of learning disability services, The Same as You?, published by the Scottish Executive in 2000, and the parallel document in England, Valuing People, which was published in 2001. As a result of these initiatives, people with learning disabilities, their families, service providers, policy makers, and other professionals working alongside them have to navigate their way through a very complex array of regulations and provisions. Author Gillian McIntyre acknowledges and addresses this complexity by mapping and critically reviewing these relevant policy developments in Scotland and acros