ABOUT US
Tim Booth is Professor of Social
Policy in the Department of Sociological Studies at The University
of Sheffield, England. His research in the learning difficulties
field has included work on family support, deinstitutionalisation,
community care and parenting. He has a special interest in the
use of narrative as a method of connecting with people's lives.
As a member of the International Association for the Scientific
Study of Intellectual Disability, he has played an active part
in setiing up a Special Interest Research Group on Parenting.
"Parenting
is about more than being a mum or dad. It is also about being
competent, being an adult, being a citizen, being loved. Studying
parents provides a new angle of vision on the ways in which our
society excludes and diminishes people with learning difficulties
and offers a new understanding of the barriers they face to achieving
the kind of aspirations others take for granted."
Wendy Booth is a former Senior Research
Fellow in the Department of Sociological Studies at The University
of Sheffield, England. She began researching in the parenting
field in 1990, since when she has also run support groups and
acted as an advocate for mothers and fathers with learning difficulties.
She is an Adviser to a People First group.
'It can take
a long, long time for parents to trust enough to share their
stories but unless we make that personal investment their voices
will never be heard and we shall continue failing them.'
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