“Not just a new house”: The complexities of undoing institutional practices and identities in transitions to community living

Abstract

While scholarship regarding the promises and challenges of deinstitutionalisation is expansive, less is known about deinstitutionalisation within the context of contemporary neoliberal disability policy frameworks. This article reports on a study exploring recent transitions from institutional to community living within the context of the highly contested National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia. The perspectives of family members and staff within disability services reveal diverse understandings of the transition. Thematic analysis identified multiple complexities, including hope simultaneously experienced alongside grief and loss, and the non-linear processes involved in taking on new roles and identities. The study demonstrates that deinstitutionalisation is not constituted merely by a physical re-location and that undoing institutional practices requires ongoing attention and resources. Significant concerns raised by participants relating to the impacts of privatisation, fragmented services and a casualised workforce disrupt simplistic thinking about the inevitability of social inclusion through deinstitutionalisation, particularly within neoliberal policy settings.