The social networks of people with learning disabilities living in the community twelve years on.

This paper reports on the social lives of people with learning disabilities twelve years after resettlement from long-stay hospital. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. The new findings are presented in relation to their relevance to policy and practice in community care more widely. Overall, the social network size for people with learning disabilities at Twelve Years On was relatively high, compared to other similar groups of people with learning disabilities. The importance of staff within peoples social networks was also very evident, as was the high proportion of other service users who were referenced as friends. Befriending schemes have had little impact in most services for people with learning disabilities, yet service users have experienced a wide range of social contexts within which to develop friendships. The findings also suggest that the more independent living environments are related to closer and more reciprocal relationships than other types of accommodation, but are also environments where bullying can take place between residents.