商品詳細

`Sinson's research has two particular pointers for practitioners. First, she uses interviews based on data collected from services to explore the views of people with learning disabilities. The result is a conversational account which makes for easier and empathetic reading... Second, Sinson pointedly relates her findings to the work of practitioners...She makes recommendations about linkages between parts of people's lives to each other, such as relating self-advocacy classes to real-life activities. She also draws attention to some very good practice in relation to risk-taking by organisations, for example, the independence encouraged on holidays and learning from mistakes.'

- Journal of Social Work Practice

`Of interest to all those concerned with community care.'

- Aslib Book Guide

The current debate over the transfer of people with developmental disabilities from hospitals to the community has raised serious concerns about the benefits of community integration, with some suggesting that it is both a cruel and costly policy. Whilst the Department of Health is examining the alternative strategy of caring for people with severe developmental disabilities in residential or `village communities', there are conflicting reports about which policy is the most appropriate and the most cost effective.

This book presents the client's perspective on transition and relocation into community living, using the experiences of staff, families and residents, largely in their own words. Tracing the steps of ex-residents of Wentwood Education near Devizes in Wiltshire, a college for adolescents with developmental disabilities, the author follows their progress through the community and the problems they face. She concludes that `the unique highpowered training for community integration and leisure given by Wentwood gave these young disadvantaged students a distinct advantage in life'.