ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors try to place the arguments within a wider social and democratic context, looking to the place of people on the severe learning difficulties-profound and multiple learning difficulties continuum in society. They refers to K. Johnson's and J. Walmsley's analysis of 'a good life' for people with learning difficulties, which argues that adopting a Capabilities Approach encourages a re-imagining of social contracts in order to create a truly inclusive democracy. There is considerable evidence to indicate that people who have wider and closer social networks and people who report feeling connected to their local community tend to have better health. Similar associations have been reported for people with intellectual disabilities, particularly in relation to the extent of contact with friends with intellectual disabilities. A relatively new teaching assistant was asked to take Maeve out around the school grounds and maybe even along a quiet lane which adjoined the school.
