A Levinasian analysis of disability service providers’ work witnessing documented institutional abuse

BACKGROUND: This project was conducted in partnership with an Ontario-based community living agency to study labour undertaken by disability support workers to read the institutional records of clients with intellectual disabilities and submit class action settlement claims for financial compensation. We drew on Levinasian theory to analyse reflections of disability support workers who witnessed violent institutional histories found in survivors' records. METHOD: We conducted focus groups with disability support workers and their supervisors. We took an interpretive phenomenological approach to analysing data. RESULTS: Our interpretation suggests at least three results: (1) Witnessing was collaborative work that strengthened service relationships; (2) Witnessing was recognition work that cultivated understanding of survivor histories and behaviours; (3) Witnessing was investigatory work that rewrote historical record. CONCLUSION: These findings are significant for a disability service sector that replaced large-scale institutional facilities but still risks producing conditions of institutionalisation.