Carers and the Carers’ Movement

Most of the carers whose stories I have told in this book had publicly identified themselves as carers by becoming involved in carers’ groups. Some were involved in individual and collective advocacy on behalf of carers. In this chapter I discuss what contribution the carers’ movement has made to understanding the nature of caring relationships and to the broader significance of care as a social good. I also consider the impact of the carers’ movement in the context of other user movements on social work and social care policy and practice. First let us look at the way in which these carers talked about their more public identities as care-givers and what this meant to them. In discussing these personal experiences I also suggest how these experiences relate to other aspects of the stories they recounted of their lives before and after becoming carers.