ABSTRACT
The research which underpinned this book has come from a range of sources including archival and policy research, other academic texts, and interviews with service providers, carer associations and carers. The book is structured in three related parts, and the content makes a progression from the macro to micro scales. It firstly explores the key concepts around landscapes of care, specifically family care, welfare and citizenship as they apply to families of adults with intellectual disabilities, and offers broad critiques and theorisation around these. Next, it examines English, US and Irish approaches to the provision of welfare as they apply to carers and disabled adults. This shows how historical developments reflect changing perceptions of the role of the family and particularly women, and of individual rights over time. Alongside this, it examines the ways in which the structures and values of government itself can shape perceptions of carers and individuals with intellectual disabilities, and responses to the needs of each. The final section focuses specifically on the Irish example, by undertaking a closer inspection of contemporary provision of care and the experiences of carers in this system.
