Pathways To Inclusion

“Thomas Gradgrind, sir. With a rule and a pair of scales, and the multiplication table always in his pocket, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to. It is a mere question of figures. A case of simple arithmetic.” (Hard Times) Falling by Matej Anzin Reducing people to numbers, so as to decide what treatment they might receive, may give off the appearance of striving for objectivity and fairness. But the simplicity of the numbers belies the messy, human complexity of people's lived experiences sidelined by this approach. Here I'm arguing that it's only through being receptive to this complexity that we can ever hope to achieve real health justice for people with learning disabilities. Making hard decisions easier, not fairer Assigning numbers to people is of course an inherently dehumanising act. The Nazis knew this, prison wardens know it too. But it's also something that happens when well intention...

Stay safe. I found it strange at first when this became our new sign-off. Shouldn’t it be 'keep well'? Or 'stay healthy'? But no, it's our safety that appears to be under threat. An intruder has broken in, past the defences we naively thought might have protected us. Over the last couple of weeks, I have started to reflect on how losing our safety net might help us better understand those who've never had one. The Fountain by Juliano Kaglis After my wife and I were burgled a few years ago, the thing we lost that hurt the most was not any of the possessions that were taken, but the underlying feeling that our front door marked the point at which outsiders could not enter. It has since taken time (and some heavy duty locks) to rebuild this psychological sense of security, for that is what we needed to do. We as humans need to kid ourselves every day into thinking that the walls around us will keep out any potential dangers, just so that we can go on...