Nordic Network on Disability Research

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Assisted democracy - On dilemmas in practicing democracy and participation within psychosocial rehabilitation.

The presentation explores local democratic processes among service users, who live in a Danish residential housing facility for young adults with severe mental problems. In Denmark, psycho-social rehabilitation involve ideals of inclusion, autonomy, democracy and participation. These ideals are underlined both by the UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and by the turn towards ‘recovery’ in mental health care – both of which point to the importance of including the service users’ own perspectives and voices. The question, however, is how these ideals work (or don’t work) in practice? How do service users participate in local democratic processes? And how are different forms of participation recognized as legitimate?
The study is based on two parallel anthropological field studies among social workers and service users respectively in a residential housing facility with 10 residents. It includes both informal and in-depth interviews (28 transcribed and coded interviews) and field observations (553 hours).
In our presentation, we focus on the residents´ meeting as a case example for exploring different ways of making room for inhabiting and/or inhibiting democratic spaces. We chose the residents’ meeting as a case for three reasons: Firstly, because of its status as a collective gathering for the residents. Secondly, because of its institutionalized framing; the meetings are set within a special time (once a week) and (more or less) follow a fixed procedure. Thirdly, because the meetings function as one (of more) responses to the demand of more active service user participation in the sector. The meeting is a democratic assembly in which the residents discuss and make decisions on everyday issues.
During our field work we experienced that although the meetings formally provide ways of including and involving service users in decisions, very often only few of the residents were present and those who were there barely participated in any discussions. They seemed to endure the meeting, rather than participate. Therefore the role of the social worker appeared to be crucial, although he or she was not a formal member of the assembly (did not have a vote).
Taking a methodological and analytical point of departure in phenomenology (Ahmed 2004; 2006, Finlay 2006, Merleau-Ponty 1999), our presentation we will explore in detail how a social worker’s (futile) attempt to introduce a discussion about reorganizing the residents’ role in preparing the joint dinner produced an awkwardness that circulated between the bodies present at the meeting.
What sets the residents' meeting apart from other democratic spaces is that it is assisted: Somebody (the residents) are encouraged to be democratic by somebody else (the staff member). Although the staff member is not a member of this democratic forum, his or her presence at the meeting is vital for the meeting to be conducted. Our study points to this invisible inequality in the democratic process – the status of assisted democracy – as part of the explanation as to why the residents‘ meetings, that were meant to be enabling democratic spaces becomes so difficult to inhabit.

Periode	8 maj 2019
Begivenhedstype	Konference
Konferencenummer	15
Placering	København, DanmarkVis på kort
Grad af anerkendelse	International