Poster presented by Alex Kaley with Sally Humphreys, John Paul & Lisa Donnelley (members of the project advisory group) at the Social History of Learning Disability Conference, Open University, July 2019.

In our poster we discussed how people with learning disabilities and their supporters are building support and groups of friends in new ways - and how this support can help people to participate more in the community. This is how we define belonging. Our analysis of the data showed that locally based support organisations and community groups, offer an important source of belonging for people. However due to a lack of opportunities, many people are often reliant on one group or network - this is unsustainable and can impact on people's ability to find a true sense of belonging in their local communities.