This is an empirical study which a/ describes and evaluates
the role of day centres with regard to young people with
physical impairments aged between 16 and 30, b/ describes
and evaluates the interactions between users and staff
within the day centre environment, c/ outlines and assesses
the level of user participation in the centres with
reference to activities, the decision making process and
control, and d/ suggests a set of policy recommendations
which are applicable to both the service studied and day
services generally for this user group.
Four ideal types of day centre for the younger physically
impaired are identified. All are criticised on the basis
that they are inherently segregative, emphasize difference
and perpetuate stigma. Within this context day centres are
perceived as the 'dumping ground' for those people who are
excluded, because of physical impairment, from the normal
social and economic life of society. Empirical evidence to
support this view is provided firstly by the overtly
negative features of the general organization and admission
policies of the system studied, secondly by the degree of
social and economic disadvantage experienced by the users
interviewed prior to day centre use, and thirdly by the
manner in which they were similarly labelled and 'directed'
toward the centres. I argue that day centre use reinforces
disadvantage because a/ although helper/helped relations
within the system are viewed positively by both users and
staff, user participation and control of services is low
and, b/ while the system provides a range of facilities
which give many users a level of self determination
unavailable in the community at large, its capacity to
extend those experiences beyond the day centre boundary is
limited to only a few. Consequently attendance for the
majority will be long term.
I list a number of recommendations, including the
formulation of a national policy clarifying the role of day
services for this user group, which might help to alleviate
this problem. I conclude that present policies which
successfully disable young people with impairments are no
longer simply socially unacceptable. They are economically
inept.