‘Everyone Has a Right to Be Needed’: Inclusion and Participation in Horse-Related Activities for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities

The right to participation and inclusion for persons with disabilities is stated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, UN 2006). In this study, we aim to discuss how participation and inclusion for persons with intellectual disabilities is constructed, negotiated, and experienced during daily activities in the social context of horse-related activities.

The study is based on ethnographic data gathered at two establishments, both of which keep horses and offer daily activities in line with the Swedish LSS Act (SFS 1993:387).

The main theme, Staging for inclusion, is a theoretical elaboration based on Goffman’s (1959) dramaturgical perspective, making sense of categories such as meaningful work and working side by side. Tasks are adapted to the individual’s capabilities, enhancing feelings of being needed and belonging to the community of the stable. The horses play an important role due to their dependence on human care, thus adding another layer in the understanding of disability and animality.