Theorising the position of people with learning difficulties within disability studies: progress and pitfalls

This chapter aims to give an overview of how far, in what ways and how effectively learning difficulties has been theorised within DS. It includes an examination of the concept of impairment, a highly contested area, but key to different ways of understanding the experiences of people with learning difficulties. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for future directions of travel. I am using the term ‘people with learning difficulties’ because that is the preferred term of the self-advocacy movement.