Kompisar- fast ett jobb : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om hur enhetliga arbetskläder påverkar brukare och personal på LSS - boenden

Sammanfattning: The focus in this thesis, has been to understand if and how the relation between people with disabilities and their staff is affected by the new decisions from Socialstyrelsen (The Swedish Social Board) regarding the staff wearing uniform. The last twenty years the staff have been working in casual clothes and the discourses have been normalization and self-determination in the approach of people with disabilities. People with disabilities have, by law, the right, since the 90s, to live in LSS-accommodation, and that is where my focus in this study have been. I have made interviews with staff with uniform, staff with casual clothes and youth with disabilities. My question formulations have been: How is the staff role in LSS-accommodation affected by wearing uniform? How is the users view of the staff and the view of themselves affected by the staff wearing uniform? Is the relation between staff and users affected dependent what the staff is wearing, and if it is, in what way? The analysis of the material was performed with theories who explains what happens in relations where the involved have different status and lack of equality as Goffmans Stigma and Elias The Established and the Outsiders. The identified answers to my questions was that there is different views depending on your context. The staff felt confident in their working, and did not see uniform as a symbol for exclusion. The users felt, on the other hand, that one effect was a feeling of an increased exclusion by the staff wearing uniform.