Mitchell recorded the success of this technique when working with elderly ... the Divide, edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, Leeds: The Disability Press.
00159 Participation of People with Learning Disabilities in the Landscape Design Process of Urban Green Space Alice Mathers Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield Abstract The self-advocacy of people with learning disabilities is an issue of the most current importance. At the most restricted end of the communication spectrum, people with learning disabilities may often be seen as silent members of their communities. The development of accessible communication methods during the design process of outdoor environments will create a precedent for successful public participation in future planning policy. Two forms of visual communication, photo-elicitation and hand-drawn images, were selected from the seminal learning disability guidelines ‘Am I Making Myself Clear’ (Mencap, 2000), to be trialled for their relevance in discussions with planners and designers of outdoor environments. This paper describes the observations and progress made working with a pilot group from Sheffield’s learning disability community. Implications for this research, with regard to other under-consulted sections of the community, and development of a social capital in society that enriches all experiences of shared environments are discussed.
Keywords: Learning disabilities; design process; participation; visual communication; urban green space 1. Introduction In the UK, 210,000 people have severe and profound learning disabilities, whilst 25 in every 1,000 of the population in England have a mild to moderate learning disability (Department of Health, 2001). Recent disability research strongly argues that it is attitudes and interactions in the person-environment relationship that have allowed our ‘disablist’ society to label and segregate members of its community as disabled (Bury, 1996; Oliver, 1996). Legislation has mirrored this opinion with the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act introducing guidelines to ensure environments and buildings are accessible to all. This accessibility through better quality design cannot be seen as inclusive by simply meeting the threat of regulations. In 2002, the Urban Green Spaces Taskforce foresaw that it could only be achieved by engaging the local community throughout the design process, understanding and meeting their aspirations. The process of inclusive design from inception to operation, as described by the Disability Rights Commission, as yet remains an ideal (Disability Rights Commission, 2001). This is due to a lack of sophisticated techniques to communicate complex and subtle ideas about landscapes between professionals and the community they serve. The development of accessible communication methods for the design processes used in the development of outdoor environments will create a precedent for inclusive public participation in future planning policy. 1.1 Current inadequacies in provision for communication with individuals with learning disabilities The establishment and dissemination of techniques of visual communication, to be used in the participation of people with learning disabilities in the design process of urban green space, must begin with a true understanding of how occurrence of a learning disability may affect the means by which a successful conversation can be had. The recent Government White Paper
‘Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century’ (Department of Health, 2001) outlined evidence of individuals who display a learning disability as the presence of a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information and learn new skills, often accompanied by a reduced ability to cope independently, that will have started before adulthood and will have a lasting affect on development. People may live with one or multiple learning disabilities of varying severity. Numbers of the population who live with learning disabilities are predicted to rise annually at 1 per cent over the next 15 years. With increased life expectancy, growing numbers of children with complex or multiple disabilities surviving into adulthood, the sharp rise in children detected with autism and a greater prevalence among some minority ethnic populations, provision for people with learning disabilities is set to become an issue of increasing importance. ‘Valuing People’ recognized two important shortcomings in the current involvement of people with learning disabilities in decision making; that people with learning disabilities and their families were not central to planning processes, and crucially, that in all discussions not enough effort was being made to communicate in accessible ways. Although ‘Valuing People’ had identified these problems, when it came to matters of consultation for leisure provision and involvement in the decision-making process little advice was forthcoming as to means of self-advocacy. 1.2 Selection of methods for visual communication Mencap, Britain’s leading learning disability charity, has produced a set of visual communication guidelines in the form of the document ‘Am I Making Myself Clear’ (2000). Its aim is to aid the challenges faced by people with learning disabilities in receiving the information they need and equip them with methods allowing their choice in decisions to be easily communicable to others. These guidelines have been seminal across the UK in providing a range of techniques that may be suitable. This research questions the adaptability and success of two of these techniques, the use of 1) drawings and 2) photographs, in conveying complex and conceptual ideas of landscape to facilitate participation in the design process of urban green space. Through attendance at South Yorkshire’s Second Regional Parliament for people with learning disabilities in May 2004, Speaking Up For Action (SUFA), it had been made clear that signs and symbols were being used across the Yorkshire region in areas of health and social care, and were proving very effective. This was encouraging, but again highlighted the present gap in knowledge and practical research which dealt with issues of environmental design. Through approaching a member of the Sheffield Communication Team (part of the Social Inclusion Sub-group), a newly created division of city council, it was decided to pilot this landscape research in Sheffield. 2. Methodology The theoretical research methodology includes a comprehensive review of current participation techniques used by landscape architects, a critique of photo-elicitation and the use of drawings as suitable visual research methods, the evolution of the intellectual disability movement and its links to the World Health Organisation’s seminal model the ‘International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps’ (1980), and the implications of the Social Model of Disability developed by disability activists who have contended that “disability is caused by social organisation which takes little or no account of people who have impairments and thus excludes them from participation in the mainstream of social activities” (UPIAS, 1976). Figure 1 demonstrates how the practical research-informed fieldwork results in a number of usable products applicable at specific stages of the landscape design process.
*‘Inclusive Design Process’ (The Disability Rights Commission, 2001)
Figure 1. Model of anticipated research characteristics and outcomes
2.1 Preparation for practical fieldwork The practical fieldwork is due to commence in spring 2005. Prior to this, a photographic image library is presently being constructed of ten sample parks around Sheffield. Photographs will depict the following ‘landscape elements’; entrances, play, circulation, vegetation, water and signage. The selection of these ‘elements’ has ensued through instinct and observations, based on the researcher’s involvement in landscape architecture, its practice and academic education for the last six years. It is anticipated that these categories will evolve and become more defined during the execution of the practical fieldwork over the coming months. The development of freehand sketches to depict landscape scenes, to be used in later workshops, progresses through the consultation with the pilot study participants with learning disabilities. The researcher, trained in the presentation of landscape design, shall offer participants a choice of five types of graphic that illustrate one landscape scene or feature, ie a park bench. The graphics will vary through use of colour, weight of line, addition of signs within the drawing, tonality and detail. A unifying graphic style can then be reached, creating consistency throughout the later drawing workshops. 2.2 Pilot study The practical fieldwork methodology commences with a pilot study at Sheffield Mencap and Gateway. The pilot builds upon relationships developed during the previous MPhil year with an established gardening group of eight to 15 participants with learning disabilities. The group
was formed when participants showed a marked interest in learning about ecology and horticulture, and therefore are ideally placed as already receptive collaborators. Workshops, guided walks and semi-structured interviews form a three-step programme of the fieldwork, and this has been discussed with group leaders who are keen to participate. The first workshop – drawing – utilises a ‘flash card’ methodology common to Mencap Practice. Its use for decision making in social situations such as housing choices has been effective with Mencap noting that “good drawings can convey more information than a symbol, or even a photo with too much irrelevant detail on it”. Therefore, its translation to use in decision making in a landscape design process situation will be of great interest as it has implications for other planners and designers, such as those who work with the built environment. The second workshop employs photo-elicitation, the “use of photographs to invoke comments, memory and discussion in the course of a semi-structured interview” (Banks, 2001). Photographs were the most popular kind of image with readers Mencap consulted during production of their guidelines. Their inclusion in this research follows in the footsteps of social researcher Patricia van der Does, whose work in the Netherlands on neighbourhood perception cited this method’s value at not only provoking memory, but increasing intimacy between researcher and subject, an issue of great importance when working with people with learning disabilities (van der Does, 1992). Guided walks form the second stage in the research programme. Recent work by Burton and Mitchell recorded the success of this technique when working with elderly residents with dementia and adaptation here again seeks to raise the voice and profile of another socially excluded group (Burton and Mitchell, 2003). During the guided walks participants will be accompanied by the researcher on a participant-driven route around a locale known to them (public park) to observe the use of environmental cues, landmarks etc. in aiding way-finding and decision making. Photographic records and notes will be kept for discussion in the third fieldwork stage – semistructured conversational interviews. The interviews will be held at the Mencap centre, to ensure participants are in a familiar relaxed environment. Discussion will be prompted by the use of photographs taken out in the field and drawings and photographs discussed with the participant in the workshops. 2.3 Main study Analysis of the research will at all stages run parallel to the fieldwork to enable adaptations to the fieldwork format to be made before commencement of the main study during the second year. The majority of the main study will run over the summer and autumn months of the second year. The main study repeats workshops, walks and interviews trialled at the Sheffield Pilot Study during Year 1 of the research. It is anticipated to involve 12 Mencap centres as case studies across Britain. At each centre a group of around 15 participants will be involved in the fieldwork. This ensures that within the limited time frame available to individual case studies more meaningful discussions may be had than if larger numbers were consulted. An awareness and sensitivity of those participants with mobility difficulties will restrict, due to seasonality (cold, wet conditions), the time of year when guided walks are appropriate to commence. Therefore, most of the outdoor fieldwork will occur during the summer months when the weather is driest to aid the comfort and security of participants.
Key Concluding Points • People with learning disabilities respond well to methods of visual communication that allow them to be involved as active contributors in decision-making dialogues. • The implications for this research are far-reaching with regard to the employment of techniques to involve other presently under-consulted sections of the community. • The creation of identifiable and appropriate techniques of communication will result in a toolkit to remove perceived barriers to consultation. This may then be disseminated through incorporation into planning and access policy guidelines (the beginnings of which are hoped to be seen in a joint output with Sheffield’s Social Inclusion Subgroup). • The findings of this research will be of interest and benefit to both the professional and academic fields of landscape architecture and may go some way to the integration of these two sides. • Publication of results in such journals as Landscape and Planning would open the inclusion debate to a wider audience. • The implementation by public planning bodies, and utilisation by landscape architects of this toolkit will contribute to raising the profile of people with learning disabilities as ‘intelligent’ collaborators who can be worked with and become resource providers for the community as a whole. References Banks, M. (2001) Visual Methods in Social Research. London: Sage Publications Burton, E. and Mitchell, L. (2003) Dementia-friendly Cities: Designing Intelligible Neighbourhoods for Life, in Journal of Urban Design, February 2004, Vol. 9, No. 1, pages 89-101 (13). Bury, M. (1996) Defining and researching disability: Challenges and responses, in Exploring the Divide, edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, Leeds: The Disability Press. Department of Health (2001) Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century, London: TSO. Disability Rights Commission (2003) Creating an Inclusive environment – a report on improving the built environment, www.drcgb.org/publicationsandreports/publicationdetails.asap?id=1578section=access. Mencap (2000) Am I making myself clear? Mencap’s guidelines for accessible writing, London: Mencap Oliver, M (1996) ‘Defining Impairment and Disability: Issues at Stake’, in Exploring the Divide, edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, Leeds: The Disability Press. Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) and the Disability Alliance (1976) Fundamental Principles of Disability, London: UPIAS. The Urban Greenspaces Taskforce (2002) Green Spaces, Better Places, London: Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.
Van der Does. et al (1992) ‘Reading images: a study of a Dutch neighbourhood’, in Visual Sociology, Vol. 7 (1), pages 4-67. World Health Organisation (WHO) (1980) International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps, Geneva: WHO.
