Commentary on “The People in Control Conference at City University, London: ‘We have opinions to share about our lives’

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to provide a commentary on Harding et al.'s article about the involvement of people with learning disabilities in university teaching and conference presentations.

Design/methodology/approach – The article reviews research into communication strengths and needs and into communication partnerships between service users and members of staff with a view to identifying communication barriers to the involvement of people with learning disabilities.

Findings – The generally poor communication environments in which people are supported are likely to limit opportunities for involvement.

Originality/value – It is suggested that increased involvement is likely to result from increased quality of daily communication. This may best occur as part of general service-wide approaches to improving service quality, such as person-centred active support.