Possibilities and Boundaries: Assembling an understanding of transition to adulthood for young people with learning disabilities

Ribenfors, Francesca Susannah Claire (2021) Possibilities and Boundaries: Assembling an understanding of transition to adulthood for young people with learning disabilities. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

Transition to adulthood is conceptualised within UK policy as occurring between the ages of 14-25 and is a period when professionals working within education, health and social care, support young people with learning disabilities to prepare for adulthood. Despite a plethora of good practice guidance, policy interventions and research attending to transition, it is a difficult time for young people and their families and remains rooted in exclusionary Western notions of child development and adulthood. This research draws on critical disability studies, new materialism and feminist research to offer an alternative approach to transition whereby transition is reconceptualised as an assemblage. It is proposed that transition be viewed as a time to enable becomings rather than a time to transition people to adulthood. A reflexive, qualitative approach is adopted with the perspectives of three groups of people drawn upon: young people with learning disabilities, mothers, and professionals. To enhance accessibility, the research design is flexible and different methods are utilised depending on the individual participants. This resulted in three focus groups and 18 interviews taking place with photography, post-it notes and an adapted Talking Mat used to facilitate discussions. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis which resulted in the development of three themes and twelve sub-themes. These themes highlight the complexity of transition demonstrating it to be a multidimensional, interconnected, turbulent time for young people and their mothers. By focusing on transition as an assemblage and a time to enable becomings, this research bridges the divide between theory and practice. It has the potential to improve individual experiences on a practical level whilst simultaneously acting as a form of conceptual activism and disrupting the normative foundations of transition which position young people with learning disabilities as different.