Davina Kirkpatrick
‘Community’, ‘inclusion’, ‘belonging’, ‘marginalisation’. What do these words mean to you?
In this project, we will be exploring these concepts with specific regard to those with learning disability. Stories of how these iridescent concepts are experienced in daily life, in different places, will be gathered and examined.
Through collaboration with the Misfits Theatre Company, Bristol, the emerging themes will be translated into a performance-based training session, with two performances being given to social workers and learning disability professionals working in Local Authorities within the South West. Training videos for social work and social care practitioners will also be developed in collaboration with the Misfits.
It is hoped that such activity would prove beneficial to people with learning disability, by establishing a platform to express their understandings of ‘community’ to influential decision-makers in their lives. We also hope that professionals and workers who engage with people with learning disabilities on a daily basis, and who are expected to work with people to promote inclusion, would benefit.
We hope to work with Local Authorities in the South West to better enable their workforce to meet their legal responsibilities. Links could also be established between the Local Authorities and Misfits, which may open-up future opportunities for co-produced learning and training.
Team leader: Aggie Bezzina
