ABSTRACT
In this chapter we will examine the role that risk has played in shaping accessrelated policies and services for people with learning difficulties and the associated ‘protection’ discourse that has, until recently, been embedded in policy and practice.We identify the need for risk management and positive risk taking and evaluate the challenges that arise from attempting to reconceptualise risk as inherently positive as opposed to inevitably negative. We discuss how the concepts of creativity and resilience might help inform the development of positive risk-taking practices and we consider what might be required to enable access services to create and develop a positive risk-taking culture or approach to working with people with learning difficulties.
