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Access for people with learning difficulties: New rhetoric or meaningful concept?

Access for people with learning difficulties: New rhetoric or meaningful concept?
Access for people with learning difficulties: New rhetoric or meaningful concept?

In this introductory chapter we set the scene for what follows in the book by discussing the ways in which access is conceptualised in the policy and research literatures.We show how calls for access from policymakers and others are not always matched by understanding of what this means in practice or in theory. This can turn access into unachievable aspiration at best and empty rhetoric at worst. As it would be hard to argue that access is anything other than a ‘good thing’ there is a danger that it could become the meaningless buzzword that Thomas and O’Hanlon (2001: vii) argue inclusion has become; made into a cliché that allows people to ‘talk about inclusion (or access) without really thinking about what they mean’. Similarly, Benjamin (2002: 310) discusses the ways in which the term ‘valuing diversity’ has been used to ‘lend a veneer of social justice and moral authority’ to other agendas.The potential for access to be used likewise is self-evident.

access, learning difficulties, inclusion
9780415479486
3-19
Taylor & Francis
Nind, Melanie
b1e294c7-0014-483e-9320-e2a0346dffef
Seale, Jane
936cf322-2b7a-4608-86de-0a172d7aa30c
Seale, Jane
Nind, Melanie
Nind, Melanie
b1e294c7-0014-483e-9320-e2a0346dffef
Seale, Jane
936cf322-2b7a-4608-86de-0a172d7aa30c
Seale, Jane
Nind, Melanie

Nind, Melanie and Seale, Jane (2009) Access for people with learning difficulties: New rhetoric or meaningful concept? In, Seale, Jane and Nind, Melanie (eds.) Understanding and Promoting Access for People with Learning Difficulties: Seeing the Opportunities and Challenges of Risk. London, GB. Taylor & Francis, pp. 3-19. (doi:10.4324/9780203092125-11).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

In this introductory chapter we set the scene for what follows in the book by discussing the ways in which access is conceptualised in the policy and research literatures.We show how calls for access from policymakers and others are not always matched by understanding of what this means in practice or in theory. This can turn access into unachievable aspiration at best and empty rhetoric at worst. As it would be hard to argue that access is anything other than a ‘good thing’ there is a danger that it could become the meaningless buzzword that Thomas and O’Hanlon (2001: vii) argue inclusion has become; made into a cliché that allows people to ‘talk about inclusion (or access) without really thinking about what they mean’. Similarly, Benjamin (2002: 310) discusses the ways in which the term ‘valuing diversity’ has been used to ‘lend a veneer of social justice and moral authority’ to other agendas.The potential for access to be used likewise is self-evident.

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More information

Published date: 9 July 2009
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2010 editorial and selection, Jane Seale & Melanie Nind; individual contributions, the contributors.
Keywords: access, learning difficulties, inclusion

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 66734
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/66734
ISBN: 9780415479486
PURE UUID: dffb5efd-7d84-40c1-a906-8b1ec0a68b8d
ORCID for Melanie Nind: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4070-7513

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 14 Jul 2009
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:42

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Contributors

Author: Melanie Nind ORCID iD
Author: Jane Seale
Editor: Jane Seale
Editor: Melanie Nind

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