Lives Shared, The Community Years

This is the remarkable social history of Camphill in Ireland: how a network of communities was established over five decades (1972-2022) by people with very different but complementary abilities, whose lives were dedicated to nurturing their Camphill community. Each community was built from the ground up through enormous enthusiasm and common effort in the name of a shared vision. Life-sharing and income-sharing were integral to the ethos of these intentional communities, whose values were underpinned by the teachings of Austrian anthroposophist Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).

The international Camphill Movement itself sprang from the vision of Dr Karl König (1902-1966) and his colleagues, refugees to Scotland in 1939, who helped to found a school outside Aberdeen for children with intellectual disabilities in the form of a radically inclusive, diverse community. Thus began a movement that spread to more than twenty-five countries, from Norway to Vietnam.

Here is the testimony of dozens whose lives have been touched and enriched by Ireland’s Camphill communities across the last fifty years. The particular history of each community is traced in detail, in many cases by founding members themselves, capturing an essential, hitherto-undocumented, overview of the Irish dimension of this inspirational movement. The accompanying illustrations speak to its vision.

The fundamental changes to the Camphill model that were a response to statutory requirements are also reflected upon here. While there is a strong sense of grieving for what has been lost in the transitions from a fully participatory social model to a service provider model of care, overall this is a story of hope.

Lives Shared celebrates that legacy. It features the pioneering individuals and families who fulfilled and greatly extended Karl König’s vision to embrace the needs of, and celebrate and support the potential of, people with disabilities as equal citizens. It is a timely reminder of the creative potential of community and its everyday heroes, redefining prosperity through the values of  care and collective well-being within our increasingly atomized world.