Is my story so different from yours? Comparing life stories, experiences of institutionalization and self‐advocacy in England and Iceland

Abstract

Accessible summaryAnne Lewthwaite from England and Eyglo Ebba Hreinsdóttir from Iceland researched and recorded their life stories. Sue Ledger, Lindy Shufflebotham and Guðrún Stefánsdóttir helped with this research. Anne and Ebba both spent years in learning difficulty institutions when they were young. Anne and Ebba told their stories together at an international conference at the Open University in England. We also presented information about the history of institutions and self‐advocacy in each country. Anne and Ebba found many similarities in their stories and in the history of hospitals although they came from different countries. More research comparing stories from different countries may be useful for the advocacy movement. SummaryThis paper uses oral history and documentary materials to develop a cross‐cultural comparison of the experiences of two self‐advocates who spent significant parts of their lives in learning difficulty institutions in England and Iceland. Anne Lewthwaite and Eygló Ebba Hreinsdóttir, born in the same era (1948–1950), were linked through the Open University Social History of Learning Disability Group. They researched and recorded their life stories and in May 2004, jointly presented these at an Open University Conference titled ‘The History of Self‐Advocacy for People with Learning Difficulties: International Comparisons’. Their stories bring to life the history of the institutions and the experiences of those who ‘spoke up’ and challenged the system long before formal self‐advocacy groups were established. Alongside this oral history work policy developments in each culture are described and compared to provide context to their life histories. The findings also highlight important similarities and differences between the two cultures in terms of the history of learning difficulty. The women's experience of participating in cross‐cultural oral history work is discussed together with the contribution of a comparative approach in furthering historical understanding of self‐advocacy.