Introduction

In this chapter, we contemplate the current nature of employment for people with learning difficulties and aim to envisage an enabling future. We critically consider some of the contemporary employment policies and programmes in Britain, make reference to a recent study of work experiences of people with learning difficulties and unpack the discourses and philosophies that underpin some of the interventions of professionals and policy makers.

First, we outline what we mean when we use the term ‘learning difficulties’. Second, we explore how employment is considered in the 2001 White Paper, Valuing people. Third, we critically examine the impact of supported employment and its relationship with normalisation. Fourth, we analyse the concept of ‘real jobs’ and the service culture in which many people with learning difficulties are confined. Fifth, we assess the involvement of disabled professionals and organisations of disabled people in the employment of people with learning difficulties. This is an important point of consideration if the political and policy landscape of disability and employment is to be dictated by disabled people and their organisations. We end with a number of questions to further debate.

Learning difficulties: a social phenomenon

The term ‘learning difficulties’ describes people who have been labelled at some point in their lives as requiring specialist ‘mental handicap/learning disability services’ (Walmsley, 1993). We opt for this term, instead of other synonyms such as ‘mental handicap’, ‘mental impairment’, ‘developmental disabilities’ or ‘learning disabilities’, because it is the term preferred by many in the self-advocacy movement (Goodley, 2000). As one member of the British movement puts it:

Understanding what we mean by ‘learning difficulties’ is crucial to our analysis, primarily because people who have been assigned this label face particular employment barriers.