The entangled geographies of social exclusion/inclusion for people with learning disabilities

People with learning disabilities (PWLD) are one of the most marginalised groups in Western society. Social policies attempting to redress this situation focus on their ‘reinclusion’ into mainstream socio-spaces through engagement in ‘normal’ activities, primarily paid employment and independent living. Drawing on group interviews in Scotland, the paper develops a nuanced account of the lives of PWLD, exploring their experiences of exclusion and seeming ‘inclusion’, and also the alternative spaces and networks of inclusion developed by many PWLD. The paper argues that the situations and experiences of exclusion/inclusion are complex and ‘entangled’, shaped by the socio-spatial contexts within which PWLD live. The paper ‘reimagines’ social inclusion as a transformation of mainstream social spaces to incorporate PWLD, achieved through self-advocacy.