Desperate Dan: The Disempowerment of People with Learning Disabilities Through Direct Action

According to Wolfensberger (2003) the advent of the ideologies of radical individualism coupled with radical self-determination and the derivative constructs of choice, self-advocacy and empowerment has resulted in many people with a learning disability being turned loose without any, or without sufficient, supports, guidance, tutelage, or outright controls. He makes the further point that in the Western world it has been believed until very recently that rights were linked to corresponding obligations. Now, he argues, people claim rights without seeing themselves as having any corresponding obligations. In fact, the common mentality now appears to be ‘the rights are mine, the obligations are yours’. Wolfensberger singles out for criticism the kind of assertiveness training promoted by collective self-advocacy groups. Whilst he accepts that elements of it are certainly adaptive, one should never teach assertiveness outside the contents of a broader preparation for life and without regard to the characteristics of the person at issue. Particular concern is expressed at the radicalisation of the advocacy movement its increasingly confrontational stance and the strident tone which threatens to antagonise and alienate those whose support is vital if appropriate services are to be developed. Wolfensberger’s observations have a resonance at a time when the agenda of collective self-advocacy for people with a learning disability in the UK appears to be influenced by one particular pressure group The British Journal of Developmental Disabilities Vol. 51, Part 1, JANUARY 2005, No. 100, pp. 103-107