Gerry Zarb, Policy Advisor at Spectrum, has written a thought provoking piece on the relationship between independent living and personalisation.
He argues that personalisation is ‘independent living lite’ and, particularly since the last General Election the two have become out of synch with each other.
This is partly due to personalisation lacking any broader progressive political strategy but is also the result of the disconnect between disabled people’s organizations and other user groups. He argues that personalisation and independent living can come together but new alliances need to be built.
As he says perhaps disabled people have become too protective of their first born independent living and paid no attention to his baby brother personalisation.
It is important to understand that personalisation came from the struggle of disabled people for independent living but we need to pay attention to its future as well.
The full article can be found here