Big Society? Disabled people with the label of learning disabilities and the queer(y)ing of civil
society
Engelsk titel: Big Society? Disabled people with the label of learning disabilities and the queer(y)ing of civil
society
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Författare:
Goodley, Dan
;
Runswick-Cole, Katherine
Email: k.runswick-cole@mmu.ac.uk
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 55
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 15043636
Sammanfattning
This paper explores the shifting landscape of civil society alongside the emergence of ‘Big
Society’ in the UK. We do so as we begin a research project Big Society? Disabled people with
learning disabilities and Civil Society [Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K004883/1)]; we
consider what ‘Big Society’ might mean for the lives of disabled people labelled with learning
disabilities (LDs). In the paper, we explore the ways in which the disabled body/mind might be
thought of as a locus of contradictions as it makes problematic Big Society notions of: active
citizenship and social capital. Our aim is to queer(y), or to trouble, these Big Society ideas, and to
suggest that disability offers new ways of thinking through civil society. This leads us to three new
theoretical takes upon civil society: (1) queer(y)ing active citizenship, (2) queer(y)ing social capital
and (3) shaping, resisting and queer(y)ing Big Society. We conclude by suggesting that now is the
time for disabled people with LDs to re-enter the fray in a new epoch of crip civil society.