"Simply to be let in": Inclusion as a basis for recovery.

TLDR

The article draws on Borges’ poem to frame the need for unjudged inclusion. It proposes a disability‑based inclusion framework that avoids alienation and performance pressure, and shows how it enhances treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery. The authors identify friendship, reciprocity, and hopefulness as core inclusion elements, illustrated by participant narratives from a supported socialization program. The study concludes with recommendations for future research and policy to implement this inclusion model.

Abstract

This article takes its inspiration from a poem by Borges, in which the author makes a plea to simply be "let in" without being wondered at or required to succeed. Based on the view that these issues have applied historically to people with mental illnesses--first during the period of the asylum, and now more recently as a result of deinstitutionalization--this article argues for the adoption of a broad conceptual framework of inclusion that, based on a disability paradigm, neither alienates or requires people to succeed. First, the ways in which such a framework augments existing approaches to treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery are outlined. Next, the authors describe the three elements of friendship, reciprocity, and hopefulness as aspects of inclusion that may provide a foundation for efforts toward recovery, and illustrate each of these elements through the stories of participants in a supported socialization program. Implications for future research and policy are suggested based on these data.