Human Rights and Values

Attitudes

Attitudes

Attitudes towards people with learning disabilities are improving, but there are still situations where social devaluation occurs. Some people's attitudes can be prejudiced as a result of fear and ignorance.

It is now recognised that the way people are portrayed in the media has a great influence on public perception and attitudes. The Government launched an initiative in 2001 to communicate the realities of living with a disability into the media and advertising.

'People with disabilities are individuals who have the inherent right to respect for their human worth and dignity'

(Disability Society and Change, Australian Federal Government 1988)

There have been many ways in which people with learning disabilities have been denied the basic human rights of individuality and dignity that most people take for granted. History has far too many examples of such abuse but, despite improving attitudes, social devaluation still occurs today. Some people's attitudes can still be seen to be rooted in prejudice as a result of fear and ignorance.

Fear and segregation

In the not too distant past people were segregated and placed in institutions away from mainstream society. People were seen as a threat because of their 'feeblemindedness' or being 'mentally defective', and to safeguard them and the community from each other, they were put in an 'asylum'. Whilst some 'asylums' did offer a form of sanctuary the Poor Law of 1834 was to lead to the establishment of workhouses with harsh and rigid regimes, containing many thousands of people who had learning disabilities.

Segregation

At the turn of the 20th century segregation was still occuring. As a result of the increasing acceptance of the views of the Eugenics movement, people with intellectual disabilities were seen as constituting impure genetic stock. They needed to be segregated from each other and from society to prevent procreation and degeneration of the human race. This culminated in people being certified as 'Mentally Deficient' in order for them to be placed in colonies away from society.

Sick and in need of treatment

In 1946, the National Health Service was born and with it new thinking, but still segregation occurred. People were initially categorised in a dehumanising way as 'subnormal' and were eventually regarded as 'mentally handicapped', with many being seen as sick and in need of treatment. As sick people are usually accommodated in hospitals, long stay hospitals became the vehicle for segregation. Society's views began to change in the 1970s, additionally fuelled by numerous statutory enquiries into hospital care, bad conditions and abuse of patients. The emerging belief now was that people had a learning disability, not a sickness, and that this disability could be assisted in many ways and in ordinary settings within the community. This was the start of the evolution of community care.

Social exclusion

Segregation often puts people together in greater numbers which increases stigma and results in them losing their individuality. This impacts on dignity and personality. Attitudes can still lead to segregation and, whilst this may now be less extreme, it can still be seen as a form of social exclusion. People may no longer be accommodated in large institutions in out of the way places but segregation (or exclusion) may be subtler. It can now be judged by things like an individual not being included or participating in an ordinary life routine and only mixing with disabled peers or using segregated facilities rather than mainstream. Segregation is at the opposite end of the spectrum to the now desired state of social inclusion.

Labelling

When people do not respect each other they often end up giving others a 'label'. The way people with disabilities have been talked about has often been with a label. The most important aspect - that the person is an individual - is then forgotten. Terms like 'the mentally handicapped', 'the blind' and 'the mentally ill' place the person in a group which risks a stereotypical view. Usually such a view will then be the more profound perception of the disability. Using the right positive language goes a long way to defining people with a learning disability as a person first.

Child-like

A subjective 'label' or attitude some people may hold is that people with learning disabilities are forever child-like, leading them to continue to infantilise them even when they are long into adulthood. This attitude not only demeans the individual by failing to accord them the dignity of their age group, but also gives the connotation of control. The idea that people with learning disabilities are eternal children leads to the belief that it is permissible to exert a form of parental control. Children of course have limited responsibility and civil rights and in some people's eyes can do no wrong in an age of innocence. Such attitudes, when displaced onto people with a learning disability, undermine their rights to be seen as adults and treated in an age appropriate way. It detracts from their dignity, inhibits independence and reduces their self-respect.

Normalisation

Perceptions of how to support and care for people with learning disabilities are now based upon values and ideals that emerged in the 1980s through concepts of Normalisation. These were sociological theories about a person's place and role in society. It was recognised that people with learning disabilities were devalued members of society. Furthermore their social stigma was often increasingly reinforced by the way official support services were delivered to them. What was required to change this was for people with learning disabilities to be seen as fully valued members of society, with the same rights and respect accorded to others and for them to be included rather than excluded. They should enjoy choice and opportunity and be given the necessary support to lead fulfilling lives. Institutions and their practices were seen as a major barrier to this aspiration. A programme of closure for long stay hospitals began, complemented by care in the community initiatives.

Changing Attitudes

Attitudes appear to be changing. A recent survey in 2002, initiated for the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability, revealed that 61 percent of those questioned would feel 'comfortable' living next door to a person with a learning disability. Attitudes from younger people were even more positive about inclusion than older respondents i.e. 38 percent of people under 35 believed people with learning disabilities should be able to live in their own homes with support, only 19 percent of those 55 years and over felt the same. Eighty-eight percent of the survey favoured community based support to assist people. Regarding where people should live, 50 percent of those surveyed saw 'special housing with support' as the answer with no one thinking a hospital was appropriate.

Another recent survey shows there can be a split attitude depending on the perception of the type of disability. In Ireland a report for the National Disability Authority called 'Attitudes to Disability in the Republic of Ireland' found there was a strong basis for support among Irish people for social change for people with disabilities and for their full citizenship. However most of this support related to those who had physical, sensory or learning disabilities. Similar support was not given for the social inclusion of those people with mental health disabilities.

Media portrayal

It is now recognised that the way people are portrayed in the media can have a great influence on public perception and attitude. In 2001 the Government created an initiative to look at the images of people with disabilities and their portrayal in the media. It is an ongoing project and is called 'Images and Disability' and one of its tasks is to integrate the reality of disability into advertising. It was found there was an under portrayal of disabled people in both commercial and Government advertising sectors. Promoting positive images is considered to be another strategy to encourage better social inclusion. Portrayal should be as varied as it is for other members of society. There was seen to be a need to avoid the historical portrayal of people with disabilities as being tragic victims or heroes, generally in a wheel-chair or with a white stick, and merely as passive users of services.