Housing‐based support: a successful alternative to secure accommodation for people who have learning disabilities and have offended

Abstract

Services for offenders who have learning disabilities are generally provided in secure and medium secure units. These services are often provided in segregated and congregated settings using therapeutic interventions. This paper presents a case study of a housing‐based service provided within the community, based on developing valued social roles for vulnerable people.In 2003 the then Labour government in the UK sought to align all of the state benefits paid to people who were not in work due to disability and other disadvantages. The resulting ‘transitional housing benefit’ integrated housing benefit and other support grants, with the aim of providing vulnerable people and service providers with a single point of reference when it came to the funding of accommodation and support. The service is based on the principle of normalisation (Wolfensberger, 1972; Tyne & O'Brien, 1981), the theory of social role valorisation (SRV) (Wolfensberger & Thomas, 1983; Wolfensberger et al, 1996; Race, 1999) and O'Brien's Framework for Accomplishment (O'Brien, 1987) and provides a credible alternative to more traditional approaches.The paper provides a critical introduction to SRV and O'Brien's Framework and how their principles have been used to support people with complex needs. It discusses some of the structures and attitudes prevalent in society or, as Wolfensberger calls them, the ‘domains’ and ‘major channels’ by which people with learning disabilities are oppressed.The case study includes examples of practice and shows some interesting differences in patterns of referral and destination routes for males and females and concludes with some implications for practice.

Citation

Olsen, A. and Heaton, S. (2011), "Housing‐based support: a successful alternative to secure accommodation for people who have learning disabilities and have offended", Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 16-26. https://doi.org/10.5042/jldob.2011.0025