THE WET DREAM OF INTEGRATION

I led a discussion on social enterprise at a Day Centre for people with mental ill health the other day. The reason for the session was that the centre is under threat of closure under the Government’s ‘Day Services Review.’

The theory is that people with mental ill health should not have a safe place to go and regain their confidence and interpersonal skills; rather that they should be ‘fully integrated’ into society. This of course is rubbish as the world is full of groups of people who prefer the company of their own kind. Churches, Mosques, Masonic Lodges and golf clubs are all in their way exclusive and why not!

Of course the Government ideal is for a homogeneous population where colour, race, ability and disability pass unnoticed. One service user described this as ‘the wet dream of integration.’ I wish the policymakers would wake up, wipe up and get real!