Over the past two decades, geographers have given
considerable attention to the opportunities and challenges
that disabled people face in their efforts to live
successfully in community settings. A key concern in
this work has been the extent to which people’s everyday
geographies are comprised of ‘mainstream’ places,
which support – in principle – activities and interactions
with a broader community of non-disabled people, and/
or separate or segregated places, which are frequented
primarily by other disabled persons and support staff.
Advocates for community living suggest that mainstream
settings (workplaces, retail environments, leisure
programmes) offer important opportunities for inclusion
and integration. By contrast, segregated sites offer few
chances to engage in meaningful activities or to foster
broader social networks.
However, this positive interpretation of mainstream
places has been undermined in recent years by evidence
that physical presence within mainstream sites does not
necessarily imply active participation and social
inclusion. In fact, mainstream community settings often
continue to be characterised by stigma and intolerance
towards ‘disabling differences’. Conversely, while they
remain on the margin of society, segregated spaces
(support programmes, drop-ins, training centres) can
provide important settings for belonging, support and
social inclusion. These findings led Hall (2004 2005) to
call for more nuanced approaches to social inclusion in
the lives of people living with disabilities, recognising
‘the entangled patterns and geographies of exclusionary
and inclusionary situations and experiences’ that characterise
both mainstream and separate spaces of everyday
life (2005, 113).
One response to Hall’s argument in recent years has
been research on the encounters that disabled people
experience in different sites across the city (Mather
2008; Bigby and Wiesel 2011; Wiesel et al. 2013;
Worth 2013; Meininger 2013; Ootes et al. 2012 2013).