Book excerpt: "This book has an unusual format, and its intentions and underlying constructions are stimulating. This is a critical text that should be required reading for all students of health, disability, social medicine, therapy and nursing programmes. At the price, currently £19.99, it represents excellent value for money and is affordable for individual students to purchase." Learning Disability Practice "This could have been a triumphant book; instead it is a sober one, and far more useful for it … Based on an around-the-world tour of countries where the concepts of normalization and Social Role Valorization have been influential, the book offers a comparative account of the ways these ideas have worked out in seven different national contexts more than thirty years after their introduction." From the Foreword by John O’Brien, The Centre on Human Policy, Syracuse University, USA "In addition to its useful comparative approach this text demystifies and clarifies a number of complex issues." Iain Carson, University of Manchester, UK How do services in different countries vary across the lifespan? What lessons can the different countries learn from one another? Based on the author’s own experience from over thirty years in the field, this thought-provoking book offers a comparative study of services for people with intellectual disabilities in seven countries: England, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the USA. Through the author’s discussions with people with intellectual disabilities, parents and families, and those involved with services at a professional and academic level, the book provides a critical reflection on intellectual disability services across the lifespan. Each chapter contains the following key features: A brief ‘Instant Impacts’ reflection of an incident or a person encountered in the country concerned A short history of services in the country and a summary of the current service system A detailed look at services through the age range, including issues around screening and pre-birth Drawing on the author’s own experience of being a parent of a child with intellectual disabilities, ‘Adam’s World Tour’ boxes include a summary of the author’s views on the likely services Adam might receive in the country concerned Intellectual Disability is key reading for students of social work, learning disability nursing, social policy and community work, as well as those training to work with people with intellectual disabilities in health and social care services. Because of its unique approach, however, it is as relevant to families of people with intellectual disabilities as it is to professionally qualified practitioners and policy makers.