ABSTRACT
Other chapters in this book have helpfully documented the fact that disabled people are at times excluded from public spaces, resulting in many spending a disproportionate amount of their time in segregated social care and domestic settings or when in public space facing environmental and economic barriers to both ‘being’ and ‘doing’. This chapter explores the less well-trodden territory of the lack of private space and sexual citizenship for some disabled people, most especially those with learning difficulties (referred to as intellectual disabilities in many countries and as learning disabilities by official governmental authorities in England), by looking at denial of intimacy in group home contexts. We will do this by contextualising the analyses in the broader literature on space, power and citizenship. The chapter begins by providing background and context from the broader literature on power and the regulation of space and intimacy. It then provides a macro-level policy picture of disability policy and intimacy and then more specific policy appraisal of group homes. The second half of this chapter draws on in-depth interviews with people with learning difficulties and focus groups with a self-advocacy group, which will illustrate these themes. The chapter concludes that the right to privacy must be formally acknowledged and enforced in social policy and in enabling practice.
