Normalisation and personalisation: an independent living movement critique

The principle of personalisation has been associated with that of normalisation (Beresford, 2009a). This article considers whether Oliver's (1994) essentially 'materialist' criticisms of normalisation can be applied to personalisation. It critiques the professionally dominant, service-specific approach of personalisation from the standpoint of the more organic, collective and holistic, but also 'materialist', approach of the disabled people's independent living movement. The article ends by suggesting that policy and practice, not just within social policy, but also throughout generic social and economic policy and the structure of society, should return to the original 'deep' personalisation advocated by Leadbeater (2004). This would enable the co-production of whole-system change within society in genuine partnership with those who use its services and contribute to its polity. An account of a multi-stakeholder, 'solution-based' seminar entitled 'Personalisation and Independent Living', organised by the disabled people's independent living movement in Scotland, is provided as an example of such co-production.