Thinking with ‘the Utopian’ in the de-institutionalisation debate

European welfare states’ recent de-institutionalisation efforts brought fundamental change to care and support practices for people with intellectual disabilities and improved the living conditions of many. However, de-institutionalisation policies mainly emphasise autonomy as independence and focus on transitioning away from residential care facilities as the alternative to historic government interventions that have institutionalised people. This paper questions whether the way in which the dominant conceptualisation of de-institutionalisation is the optimal way of thinking about a good life for persons with intellectual disabilities. First, I argue how the dominant view on de-institutionalisation shifted from a call to do things differently towards a vision of a blueprint for care and support. Drawing on Ricoeur’s (1986) different functions of Utopian Thinking: (1) escape, (2) critique and (3) reconstruction, the paper concludes by arguing that there is an urgent need for different conceptions of what de-institutionalisation and ‘a good life’ can entail.