Challenging behaviour or everyday resistance? Experienced power and physical restraints at Danish residential homes for people with intellectual disabilities

The Danish welfare state is often praised for its foundational principles of solidarity, equality, and liberalism. However, for individuals with disabilities, the use of force has consistently been a part of their experience. Most recently, a revision of the Social Service Act in 2024 broadened the legal framework for the use of physical restraint on individuals with intellectual disabilities living in residential care settings. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to examine the historical foundations of the special regulations surrounding the use of coercion, and (2) to explore how individuals with intellectual disabilities perceive the conflicts that result in the application of physical restraints. By employing the concept of ‘everyday resistance’, we understand the residents’ behaviour in situations of conflict as political rather than pathological. This perspective prompts a critical re-examination of the way social services for people with intellectual disabilities are structured and organised.