Supported everyday citizenship: widening the discourse to include persons living with intellectual disability or dementia

In this article, we focus on supported everyday citizenship to widen the discourse of citizenship including persons living with intellectual disability or dementia. Support in everyday contexts is an essential aspect of social work practices. Supported everyday citizenship is defined as a relational concept for enhancing the social and political participation of persons with disabilities in need of welfare services. The idea can be traced back to five existing bodies of knowledge. These are (1) supported decision-making, (2) sociology of the everyday, (3) lived citizenship, (4) inclusive citizenship and (5) human rights. In this article, we approach supported everyday citizenship as a unifying perspective and lens through which the relationalities of persons with an intellectual disability or dementia can be understood in a welfare context. As such, the article adds to the current debates within professional practice and social work studies by exploring how supported everyday citizenship can be reconsidered and strengthen equal citizenship for persons who are service users.