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Delegates heard that professionals keen to promote self-determination for people with learning difficulties were becoming interested in "individualised funding".

Steve Dowson, former director of the UK charity Values into Action, said this was about more than just handing people money and amounted to a fundamental shift in the relationship between citizens with disabilities, government and service providers.

But he told the conference it was important not to confuse individualised funding and self-determination. "Self-determination isn't, and mustn't be allowed to become, a technology that is owned by professionals and delivered to citizens with disabilities."


He added that self-determination was a birthright. He recounted the story of a young woman called Tina, from California. Because she was unsteady on her feet and sometimes fell over, professionals working with her decided she must use a wheelchair.

"You might say - and Tina does say - that her freedom means the freedom to fall over," he said.