International day of Disabled People

 

Celebrating Disabled People’s Creativity, Experience and Voices on the International Day of Disabled People

Pools and Prejudice: Death in the Shallows

On this International Day of Disabled People, there’s no better time to celebrate stories that challenge expectations, confront prejudice, and centre disabled lives with honesty and strength. That’s why I wrote Pools and Prejudice: Death in the Shallows— I hoped to balance tension, wit, and social commentary with rare precision.

If you’re looking for a book that will both grip you and make you think differently about the world, Pools and Prejudice: Death in the Shallows is exactly that. Today, we celebrate disabled creativity, disabled resilience, disabled truth-telling. 

I wanted the plot to shine a light on the realities of disabled people navigating a world that often refuses to see us clearly. 

The story follows Meg whose experiences of exclusion, institutional failure and everyday ableism are woven through a mystery that unfolds in and around a local swimming pool—a community space that becomes a microcosm of society’s attitudes towards disabled people.

I refused to soften the truth, and avoided speaking in metaphors or inspirational clichés. Instead, to give readers a narrative grounded in lived experience and disability equality: flawed systems, hidden hierarchies, the exhausting bureaucracy disabled people face, and the emotional resilience required simply to exist within them. And also hoped to capture the warmth, humour, friendship, and the small acts of solidarity that keep people going. 

Readers say: 

“Characters bring texture, complexity and humanity, each revealing different sides of disability, trust and belonging.

Pools and Prejudice is more than a mystery; it’s a challenge to look deeper—beneath the surface of institutions, beneath polite conversations, and beneath assumptions about what disabled lives should look like. It’s bold, unapologetic storytelling from a disabled writer who understands that representation is not a luxury but a necessity.”

On days like today, when the world pauses to recognise disabled people, their rights and their contributions, it reminds us why authentic stories matter. They expose injustice. They provoke conversation. They forge connection. And, importantly, they carve space for disabled people to be protagonists in their own narratives—complex, fierce, and fully realised.

Furthermore in order to respect Disabled People’s Identity and highlight Stereotypes, I was careful not to counter the negative stereotypes imposed on disabled people with equally toxic positive ones.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DLBHGBLX

Trust me, why would I lie!?

My thanks to Touch Consulting, and the Joy FE community, who makes the #FestivalFridays conversations possible. A learning network of courageous practitioners who are resistance to the established norms that can hinder the well-being of those struggling to flourish within education.

I enjoy the enthusiasm in the lead up to a presentation, there’s an energy that comes of being wanted. A thrill, and anxiety, that is motivating and exhausting in equal measure… I’m no longer surprised that the linear story I have in my head, put into text with supporting 34 snapshots, rarely ever matches the messiness of the conversation in the room. Years of keynotes do not compare well to the joyful chaos of building understanding in the room.

I started with a trigger warning, not because it’s fashionable, but because we know that 9 in 10 disabled people report hate crime every year.  Therefore, we can assume that violence is recognised in most rooms, because one in ten individuals can identify as disabled- should they wish. I explained that while the story was mine, we were having a professional dialogue, so the storytelling was framed by evidence and theory [Disability Studies among others]. 

I am sharing professional wisdom - that’s 30+ years of conversation.  Like discussions about critical race or gender, ones about critical disability is a specialised subject with an extensive knowledge base [you wouldn’t stop random individuals on the street as it could be potentially traumatising]. 

Othering emerged fast as an emotional tension in the room; talking about disability is uncomfortable because the ‘them’ and ‘us’ continuum becomes more visible when we talk about who’s in/out. I too get tongue-tied and stutter in the choice of ‘them’ and ‘us’. Should I identify as a disabled author, or am I writing as an equal scholar in a discipline I've studied for decades - leadership. I'd prefer to let people identify as Disabled or non-disabled, rather than assume ... get it wrong. 

Clearly, there’s more to it than what’s wrong with you… what about society? Where’s the difference, mobility, impairment, glasses, dyslexia?  The question is do you identify, surely? Do you face ableism? One in ten of us may choose, that's a huge group. 

Truth is terminology, or lack of it, hinders definition or clarity. A single word, disability, covers so many notions, it’s not surprising we struggle to find accuracy - let alone alignment or agreement.  Words fail when it comes to nuance: label, diagnosis, politics, difference, impairment, network, community - disability has been used willy-nilly and every which way. To define ableism, I have used ortho-toxic, a portemanteau term, to describe the violent ideas and assumptions imposed on the disabled population. It means I don’t have to point a finger - at individuals or groups - people can identify as they wish.  It’s clear it’s not always a reflection within easy reach, many will say they’ve never encountered sexism, for example, others say islamophobia appears the minute they cross their own doorstep. 

It is surprising how many of us can ignore the subject of disability altogether, while others see it as an aspect of human diversity, yet more will recoil in horror or embarrassment… how dare you bring your elephant to the room…  it’s hard to identify, as I explained, you run the risk of being dismissed [see Kafer on testimonial injustice].

Misrepresentation is evident in the textual world, where a noticeable silencing tells us that disabled people are untrustworthy.  Disabled people are not recognised as authors, thereby denied a voice in mainstream debates that impact them negatively. Rarely referred to as writers with authority, creators of knowledge, in documents that largely reinforce their marginalisation instead.

Why would I lie?

This shape of silence is hard to describe but essential to describe the framing of d/Disabled authors in text. Selective editing of 1st hand experience, giving a framed story with a medicalised view of the person as the problem. Denying the systemic, institutional and social violence reminiscent of #MeToo and #BLM campaigns. It seems the paid-pen exercises its privilege, not exclusively held by white, professional men, but under a more omnipresent cis/white/elitist gaze. Resistance is far harder for the pens held by those not fighting racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance or prejudice linked to partner and family choice. The 9 protected characteristics should be equitable categories, but cumulative impact is rarely articulated in guidance. If disability is mentioned on reference lists, details are shed, and divergent voices are erased, as unconsciously layers become shorter to save wordage in the final draft. Where disability may be ninth in a list in the introduction, sometimes mentioned in the review, it then disappears in discussion… as for the reference section watch the tumbleweed.  Of course, disabled writers may not identify for fear of having their texts judged harshly, and many write from 1st experience rather than with activism or accountability to other disciplines and professional journals. Disability in title rarely translates to existing knowledge, or knowers in the narrative. Assumptions and bias obvious in the individualising, personalising, uniqueness of condition or individual. This writes away the dimensions of institutional and systemic discrimination and societal disadvantage.

The impact of silencing is apparent where assumptions become myths reinforcing the stereotypes that themselves grow from ignorance - not experience or research evidence. The belief that a mere few need consideration, therefore the problem can be attributed to the unlucky or the undeserving. The omission in disciplinary and professional texts, forgotten in the granular, or believed to be the problem [cost] of another department, profession, or institution. The idea that there’s a line to be drawn between those who can and those who cannot fit into the system; the rules imposed keeping some watching from afar and others further yet beyond the walls. Finally, the dehumanising of those then viewed as public property; from research to the pool-side, experience is used, revised or demanded as it is considered both cheap and devoid of typical privacy - no consent or care required in the probing.

Accountability, or rather the legitimacy gap that is articulated here, denotes a breakdown of trust where reputation lacks any acknowledgement to the disabled population, disability equality or the interests of the disabled people’s movement [D/deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations].  Where legitimacy theory can be defined as the ability to respond to civil groups it will need to demonstrate an intent to address their interests fully in organisational accounts - and society’s storytelling. 

As Oswick et al. put forward, a radical travelling theory is one that moves beyond its own domain of production to be adopted by existing ones with equal measure. A theory that adopts anti-ableism in its intent, therefore, needs broad applicability [Social Model]; so that it can effectively begin ‘a process of repackaging, refining, and repositioning a discourse (or text) that circulates in a particular community for consumption within another community’ (2011, p. 323).

From the sadness at birth, testing for school, a poor practice that stigmatises, barriers, denigration and rejection in the workplace, made victims by justice and barred entry to transport, housing and leisure, the reduction of the human rights agenda applied to disabled people is reduced to care and cure, and adds massive cost to society. Plus, there's no price on the emotional burden imposed on many!

Trust me!

Just ‘any effort’ isn’t sufficient, the imperative behind practice needs to be with the right effort and have deliberate intentionality. While good, best and proactive practice sometimes equates, addressing ableism doesn’t happen by accident while chasing efficiency. Because being better at treating people fairly means recognising an agenda broader than financial value. Divisible or conditional human rights is a nonsense! Cutting down on worth and values, will not achieve more equitable culture(s). Practice will need to change to avoid the very activity that compounds the structural discrimination and the impact of inequality experienced by so many.  Addressing ableism is like tapping your head while rubbing your tummy, different actions are required at individual, team and organisational levels. 

 

 

Bibliography

Aikaterini Malli, M., Sams, L., Forrest, R., Murphy, G., & Henwood, M. (2018). Austerity and the lives of people with learning disabilities. A thematic synthesis of current literature. Disabiity & Society, 1412-1435 .

Anderson, T. (2017). Telling the story of disability. Retrieved 11 10, 2018, from Washington state university libraries: https://research.wsulibs.wsu.edu/xmlui/handle/2376/12238

Beauchamp-Pryor, K. (2012, 6 20). From absent to active voices: securing disability equality within higher education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16(3), 283-295.

Beresford, P. (2003). It's our lives, A short theory of Knowledge, Distance and Experience. London: Citizen Press / Shaping our lives.

Campbell, J., & Gillespie-Sells, K. (1991). Disability Equality Training: a trainers guide. London: CCETSW.

Chapman , L. M. (2013). A Different Perspective on Inclusive Practice Respectful Language . Huddersfield: EQTraining Publishing .

Chapman, L. M. (2016, feb 26). The words that bind us . Retrieved Aug 12, 2017, from The Language Of Respect : http://languageofrespect.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-words-that-bind-us.html

Crow, L. (2014, 8 28). Scroungers and Superhumans: Images of Disability from the Summer of 2012: A Visual Inquiry. Journal of visual culture, 13(2), pp. 168-181.

Disability Rights UK. (2012). The Equality Act and disabled people. Retrieved 11 13, 2019, from Disability Rights UK: https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/equality-act-and-disabled-people

Dolmage, J. T. (2017). Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. San Francisco: University of Michigan Press.

Ellis, K., & Kent, M. (2016). Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives [Kindle Edition]. abingdon: Routledge.

Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2016). Crime and disabled people: Measures of disability-related harassment 2016 update. Equality and Human Rights Commission. Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Fenney Salked, D. (2016). Sustainable lifestyles for all? Disability equality, sustainability and the limitations of current UK policy. Disability & Society, 447-464.

Frame Works. (2016). How to Talk About Disability and Human Rights. Frame Works. Washington: Frame Works.

Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford: Oxford university press.

Fullan, M. (2011). The Moral Imperative Realized. Thousand Oakes: Corwin sage.

Goodley, D. (2012). Disability Studies: An Interdisciplinary Introduction. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Hall, A. (2016). Literature and Disability (Literature and Contemporary Thought) [Kindle Edition]. Abingdon: Routledge.

Hawley, K. (2012). Trust: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) kindle edition. Ashford: OUP Oxford; 1 edition .

Hughes, B. (2015, Sept 11). Disabled people as counterfeit citizens: the politics of resentment past and present'. Disability and Society, 14.

Hybels, R. C. (2017, 12 13). On Legitimacy, Legitimation, And Organizations: A Critical Review And Integrative Theoretical Model. Academy Of Management Proceedings, 1995(1).

Inclusion London. (2020). Disability hate crime . Retrieved 4 4, 2020, from https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/campaigns-and-policy/facts-and-information/hate-crime/

Kafer, A. (2013). Feminist, Queer, Crip. Indiana: Indiana University Press.

McRuer, R. (2006). Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability (Cultural Front) [Kindle Edition].New York : New York University Press.

Orton, J. D. (1997). From inductive to iterative grounded theory: Zipping the gap between process theory and process data . Scandinavian Journal of Management, 13(4), 419-438.

Oswick, C., Fleming, P., & Hanlon, G. (2011). From borrowing to blending: rethinking the processes of organizational theory building . Academy of Management Review, 318–337.

Papworth Trust. (2018, 5 5). Papworth Trust's Disability in the UK: Facts and Figures 2018. Retrieved 8 16, 2018, from Papworth Trust: https://www.actionduchenne.org/news/papworth-trusts-disability-in-the-uk-facts-and-figures-2018

Pennycock, A. (2010). Language as a Local Practice . Abingdon: Routledge.

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Sergiovanni, T. (1985). Landscapes, mindscapes, and reflective practice in supervision. Journal of curculum and seprevision, No 1.5-17 5.

Slorach, R. (2015). A Very Capitalist Condition: A History and Politics of Disability. London: Bloomsbury.

Smith, D. (2016). Disability in the United Kingdom. Papworth trust. Cambridge: Papworth trust.

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Trust

Shattered!

I remember years ago working for the Work Foundation, on the Commissioner’s Leadership Programme. I was listening to the gentleman speaking before me talk about trust. He said that trust once broken, was like a dropped plate, once shattered it was fragile and rarely the same again. This troubled me, I’d like to think that over time trust can be rebuilt, and that conversations within relationships can help us feel safe once more. 

Roll on a few years, another conference, another speaker, and I hear that trust cannot be demanded. "You can’t send a memo on Friday night asking for more trust on Monday morning.” Indeed, I’d have to say that the words ‘trust me’ tend to solicit an opposite reaction in me. It is up there in the red flag department with ‘I’ve worked with someone like you before’ and ‘we’re inclusive’. The most reflective among us will say ‘I trust you’ rather than ‘trust me’ when seeking to establish safety in an exchange.  Invariably it’s not a hiccup, but a big crash when trust breaks down, and things fall apart.

 

 

I have been accused by DM of hating men and non-disabled people. Both are untrue as far as I can trust myself, but I do indeed rant against the sexism and ableism I experience. These DMs typically arrive shortly after I have highlighted the fear, pain, and harm caused by ignorance, injustice and disadvantage. More specifically when I’ve called out poor practice. My tone is no doubt angry, as these are situations where I am calling on others to understand the cost of discrimination – the huge emotional labour of fighting for safe space. It’s very easy to say I should trust people to be kind, but without having been able to take it for granted doing so is very difficult. Several times this past year I’ve been treated unfairly. So it’s not that I don’t want to trust the next person, it’s that I did trust the last, and the few before that, and they dropped the plate… they refused to hear what I needed to say to be able to work without fear. Furthermore, in one case I asked for help, reasonable adjustments were agreed but later refused because I was too stupid to understand what inclusion meant. I was left shattered, shamed and humiliated. 

 

So baring scars I’ve asked to be heard, and it’s a game-changer! Starting a new job recently, my now colleague, asked what I needed before work went ahead. After a five minute conversation, we agreed that the difficulties I listed weren’t deal-breakers. I also felt happier, as the probable extra effort to come had been acknowledged. As it happened help wasn’t necessary, but I knew that if problems should occur I would be allowed to speak before they became catastrophic. More importantly, I felt trusted, therefore no longer fearful that I would be penalised for not having voiced my weaknesses.  I took this learning to my next job… 

 

Whether you agree with disability equality is not the key here, it’s whether you can work in ways that express it. Without that commitment, I can’t rely on practice that doesn't counter your organisation’s ableism. Therefore I will continue to find it hard to trust without dialogue. I will need a few minutes to hear in your voice or see in your face, that you understand the position I face. Because, without you acknowledging my fears, you will not able to address them.

 

The point of this bletther is to move away from woe-me. I understand that the current circumstances have put pressure on us all. But I’ve been left ashamed and shattered far more than once this year!  To trust again will require dialogue. I am no more vulnerable than anyone else, but fragile I am, from repeatedly being shut down when I needed my fears heard. Fears that have grown over the years, ignored or dismissed, so that now the tiniest of pressures can make me crack. The fissures may not be of your making, but as my new colleagues have shown trust can be rekindled. Thank you Lucy and Kevin for always asking!  

Ableism ?!

The word ‘ableism’ has gained much currency these past few years. I have noticed the hashtag increasingly being used by the disabled community across social media. Yet, it has no doubt remained a mystery to many. But for Disabled people, the activists among us, it has become hugely significant, as it represents a parity to sexism, classism, homophobia, racism, religious intolerance… words used daily to denote the organisational, institutional and structural injustice many individuals from marginalised groups face.

 

A working definition:

Without a definition, there is no way of identifying the characteristic discrimination imposed on disabled people. If we don't speak about ableism, it doesn't exist, because it is not something we give time to - or that we acknowledge. I work to two definitions based on what I’ve read:

Ableism: a specific type of oppression, akin to homophobia, racism, classism, ageism, and sexism, held in the culture and language that inform society’s debates.

Anti-ableist: a defined position against ableism, the characteristic oppression that disabled people face - as in feminist or anti-racist.  Theorising, for example, with an anti-ableist legitimacy involves explicit reference to disabled people as tellers in a storytelling that holds their interests at their heart.

 

I work as an anti-ableist, which means in seek in my practice, and my writing, to articulate an opposition to the ableism in the world around me. Notwithstanding the experience of individuals, and while allowing them choices of identity, I act to disrupt the institutional and societal narratives that perpetuate ableism. Disabled authors have gone to great efforts to define their experience, by doing so they encourage us to focus on the injustice they face.  Moving beyond issues of identity is critical, because while the predicament of impairment or difference and personal prejudice is significant, but it does not go far enough to explain the startling figures that characterise the inequality the disabled population face. Yet it is an inequality many cannot put a word to, despite its toxicity and omnipresence, the storytelling that surrounds us is ableist.

 

In the same way that critical race theory has given us a language to articulate the structural racism people face, critical disability theory has led to a growing terminology for the societal discrimination imposed on disabled people as a marginalised group. As a specific, insidiously hidden discrimination, ableism has a unique character. The idea that disability sits on a continuum at the opposite end to ability is to misunderstand the meaning of the marginalisation imposed on disabled individuals. If there is an opposite, it isn’t perfection, skill or ability, but a lack of privilege - the possibility of living without being viewed as a problem. It is the notion of ‘able’ as the norm that defines the unearned privilege afforded to those who do not need to answer questions about their difference. Beyond individual experience, ableism is held in conversations at group, department, organisational, local and national levels. Each holds a distinct way of silencing, or distorting, the voice of disabled people by denying their experience, domesticating their ideas, appropriating their knowledge or refusing to theorise by including divergent ideas.

 

It is not so much that people go out of their way to speak badly of disabled individuals, it is more so that we’ve become accustomed to believing the tales we hear about them. Therefore, disabled authors are less frequently referred to as trusted and truthful storytellers. More often found in specialist literature, their accounts are often absent from organisational, institutional and public debates. Furthermore, in the media, disabled people are often described as saints and sinners that laud or vilify their individual stories. It is in the globe-local storytelling that the voice of disabled people is erased. Furthermore, we’ve forgotten to question why. When written into guidance, policy and strategy, the assumptions derived from the saint/sinner stereotype become apparent, not as a caricature so much as forgotten altogether. That’s to say most will forget to think of disabled people as a sizeable population entitled to parity rather than the isolated individual needing to get off their backside – because the saints are doing it so valiantly. Ableism is not written into organisational accounts, however, documents such as audits, reviews, external communications, and annual reports generally fail to name the negative impact of the business on the disabled population. Thus textual worlds fail to articulate an opposition to the institutional disablism within a sector or the ableism in society more widely. Therefore, failing to acknowledge the contribution to human rights erosion imposed by growing inequality, and the lack of measures to gauge it, while attention is focused on what makes money.

A cycle of misrepresentation 

How does a gap in legitimacy grow between organisational accounts and the voice of D/deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations?  Why is there an absence of measures calculating prejudice, disablism and ableism? A lack of response-ability towards the disabled population. 

A vicious circle: 

 

As the diagram above illustrates, a cycle is perpetuated in conversations where the speaker reacts to what they have heard about disabled people [prejudice], rather than question the storytelling that misrepresents them. In the assumption that what the speaker has read or heard is correct, many will repeat largely exaggerated ideas, rather than stand against the ableism within the account. In society's storytelling, where the voices of disabled people are missing, their interests are often replaced by problems based on assumption -  rather than disabled people's experience or research evidence. In turn, these unchallenged beliefs left unquestioned drive negative attitudes. In this cycle, ableism often goes unnoticed, hidden in words, phrasing or sayings that seem innocuous but no doubt harm. This harm will be reacted to more or less subconsciously, with feelings and reactions in individuals who may also internalise ideas about themselves - the stereotypes. 

   

Often the gap between what we believe and what we think is so great, that it is hard to think ourselves out of a stereotypes by changing the words use or the actions we take.  

How do we interrupt this cycle?

Each arrow calls us to stop and think in order to change things in different ways.

 

Spot the stereotype: there’s no easy solution, foremost we need to be willing to learn from disabled individual's experience, knowledge and professional wisdom. That's disabled authors as storytellers: activists, professionals, academics, and D/deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations. Personal accounts will vary, and no disabled individual owes another a story. There are forests of information [books, websites, videos, podcasts…] take it steady. I suggest short introductory texts, preferably with a degree of rigour, based on evidence, because while unique perspectives can be made to fit a dominant narrative [ableist], getting the framing right alters the narrative.

 

Challenge assumption: Reflection isn’t easy, but time taken to think about immediate re-action, to determine why we act / think certain ways, may interrupt a bias we aren’t aware of.  The pervasive, often innocuous, nature of stereotypes in our conversations and across media, means there is lots to unlearn…. Literally unthinking the unthinkable is a job in itself. Disabled or not we owe it to those around us to figure out the lies and the myths that perpetuate negative ideas in storytelling. 

Consider the tellers: try to understand stories from an alternative perspective, placing disabled authors as the pen-holders. In most everyday conversation, the tales we tell, the unchallenged storytelling, erases the experience, knowledge and wisdom of disabled people. Sometimes in ways even they cannot put into words. The more you hear you’re rubbish, worthless, weak, wrong, pitiable… the more you believe it. The more you feel rejected, the more you fight or give up. No two disabled individuals will have the same feelings. [heavens, my feelings change every hour on the hour]. I’m always grateful when people interrupt my learned thinking. 

 

Understand communication: behaviour that confounds you may indeed be a challenge to be more empathetic. Are disabled people responsible for stereotypes, or have we led them to act in response to a single choice between saint or sinner?  No one can answer this without first trying to understand the internalised ableism may lead individuals to do things that mistily those around them. Hushing the voice that says you’re rubbish, work harder, prove ‘em wrong, show strength, hide vulnerability, is not only difficult but hugely exhausting. 

Be disability specific – anti-ablism 

D/deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations present an authentic source of the population’s interests in a way that unites a multitude of voices on a joint vision. Activism is a more complex notion than choice of identity and personal experience, as it draws on evidence and knowledge which can also subject to ableism. It certainly is a way of avoiding the problems often attributed to disabled people as a group. 

 

Human rights and movement interests: 

 

 

For professionals willing to address this matter, Disability Equality is a subject area based on disability studies that provides a good entry point. No doubt due to the barriers faced by disabled individuals, and the lack of recognition the Disabled people’s movement receives as an equivalent voice within civil rights groups. There were no words framing ableism until recently, akin to feminism, sexism, homophobia, or white privilege. Despite an era of rising social awareness, the institutional and societal injustice specific to disability had no name, no voice, and little more than a network of grassroot organisations with an oral history.

 

Bibliography

Ahmed, S. (2017). Living a Feminist Life [Kindle Edition] . Duke University Press.

Aspie, S. (2018, 8 2). Read ALLFIE campaigner Simone’s “barnstorming” speech to the Global Disability Summit. Retrieved 8 22, 2018, from The Allaince for Inclusive Education: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/blog/read-allfie-campaigner-simones-barnstorming-speech-global-disability-summit/

Bebbington, J. (2011). Sustainable Development: A Review of the International Development, Business and Accounting Literature. Univ of Aberdeen Acct, Finance & Mgmt Working Paper No. 00-17 .

Brown, & Leigh. (2018). Ableism in academia: where are the disabled and ill academics? Disability & Society, 33(6), 985-989.

Deegan, C., & Unerman, J. (2011). Financial Accounting Theory: European Edition (UK Higher Education Business Accounting). MaidenHead: McGraw-Hill Education.

Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2018). How is the UK performing on disability rights? The UN’s recommendations for the UK. Equality and Human Rights Commission. EHRC.

Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2018). Progress on disability rights in the United Kingdom. Equality and Human Rights Commission, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Scottish Human Rights Commission. Equality and Human Rights Commission,.

Equality and Human Rights Commission. (April 2017). Being disabled in Britain - A journey less equal. Equality and Human Rights Commission. London: Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford: Oxford university press.

Goodley, D. (2014). Dis/ability Studies: Theorising disablism and ableism. London: Routlege.

Kumari Campbell, F. (2009). Contours of Ableism: The Production of Disability and Abledness. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kumari Campbell, F. (2019, 5). Precision ableism: a studies in ableism approach to developing histories of disability and abledment. The Journal of Theory and Practice, pp. 1-19.

McPhail, K., & Walters, D. (2009). Accounting & Business Ethics. Routledge.

Nind, M., Sheehy, K., & Simmons, K. (2003). Inclusive Education: Learners and Learnng Contexts. London: David Fulton.

Pease, B. (2013). Undoing Privilege, unearned advantage in a divided world. London, New York: Zed Books.

Slorach, R. (2016). A Very Capitalist Condition: A History and Politics of Disability [Kindle Edition]. London: Bookmarks.

 

 

Thank you Ashton Sixth Form College FD Students

Here’s the post that served me as a crib sheet:

Dear learners 

Thank you Ashton Sixth Form College for welcoming me to your community of learning. I was delighted to meet you and answer your questions about my handbook: A Different Perspective On Respectful Language.

 

Q: You describe inclusive practice as a leadership activity, with this in mind do you believe that all schools can offer complete inclusion 100% of the time due to the differing needs of pupils, resources, staffing and training? 

A: I believe that inclusion as a term cons us into thinking there is an option that is currently unavailable. Given variations in practice, contradictory aims, and competing strategies across schools, it seems that no space at the moment is without the sexism, racism, homophobia, religious intolerance, classism, ageism… that threatens the belonging for many. Therefore, as individuals from marginalised groups cannot trust a safe choice, inclusion is no option. Inclusion is probably safer as a vision, a direction or a north star to follow.  

When people say they do inclusion it’s a red flag to me, it so often means there has been little thought about those beyond the walls, and those most marginalised by organisational culture.

Short answer: no!

 

Q: What made you so passionate about equality and inclusive practice? 

 A: Being denied participation in primary schools, being bullied in secondary school, and being abused at college, certainly lit a fire in me to right the wrongs I’d experienced. Evidence suggest education currently does more to divide and deepen inequality. For too many belonging demands more than is possible in terms of fitting in, and for a few education is not a safe space. As for segregated provision, for individuals it is still where there is the highest probability of bullying and harm.

 

Q: Was it your experience in a teaching role?

 A: In many ways becoming a facilitator gave me a voice. Not an expert’s privilege, or an authoritarian highhandedness, but a more equal say in community conversation.

 

Q: Did you face any major barriers to inclusive practice in your role?

 A: Many, but the most painful was the look in some people’s eyes that education was wasted. The belief I would never work. In very real terms I was repeatedly told I’d come to nothing, and was therefore a waste of time and energy. 44 years on I’m ‘Dr Chapman’. However, the barriers have been huge, the cost disproportionately high and the effort was enormous. For me, but also  for my family and my friends. My sister completed in 8 years a journey that took me 20.

 

Q: Do you believe that all children with additional needs or disabilities should attend mainstream schools/settings? 

 A: May I refer you to the first question, it is a difficult and nuanced discussion. Carers and disabled children face an impossible choice. As it stands I don’t think we can safely send any disabled learner to their local school without risk. Variation is such that while inclusive practice is widespread, not every difference is accommodated, embraced, encouraged everywhere. The options we do have tend to fall into different ways of mainstreaming, that's on a vague continuum between segregation and integration, both allowing us the idea of a the non-learner. There are wider questions about education, as distinguished from schooling, that need addressing. We still ask who fits, rather than does the institution serve purpose? ‘Should’ is also problematic here, who chooses who’s in or who’s out? 

As my friend and colleague Kay Sidebottom says with such heart: who gets to define culture? What the rules are? Who must conform and who is rejected?

 

Q: Do you think it depends on the individual needs and abilities of each child? 

 A: EVERYONE CAN LEARN, EVERY CHILD HAS A RIGHT TO EDUCATION. As a global family we are failing to uphold the fundamental human right to education.

 

Q: I work in a primary SEN school in a class of 8 children who are non verbal. We have some children who do not have the understanding or any reaction to talking on their level, shouting, humour etc even though we are aware that we have respect for these children how do we know that they know this?

 A: if you had met me 44 years ago, I couldn't walk, hold a pen, make a mark, speak your language … yet I leaned and have proved many assumptions wrong. Having been exposed to the most disempowering prejudice, I’ve had to unthink a lack of aspiration. Would Stephen Hawking have been supported if he’d come to school with the communication needs he had once he succeeded?

 Expect the least dangerous assumption* , if you treat them everyone with empathy, care and consideration, assuming they can’t say but do feel everything as much as anyone then there’s a possibility of least harm. If you assume otherwise the damage could be enormous, painful and last a lifetime.

 

Q: Do you believe that some people can have their personal choices taken away from them to coincide with other people's beliefs, because of 'political correctness' and being afraid of having their own opinions? 

A: Yes indeed, there are many ways individuals, groups, and global populations get silenced. It’s not the words themselves that do most harm or good, but the way they are used. It’s rarely coincidence, most often it is arrogance, ignorance or a combination of both, with which some will value their own experience more than they are open to others. ‘Dominant’ narratives erase the contrasting views and discredit the experiences that are often pushed out of conversation altogether. If you say something unusual, many voices will often speak over you, and silence the experience you are seeking to share. 

Q: If we are identified by our use of language, whether it be individually, or in groups. How can inclusion take place? 

A: As I said earlier, inclusion is not a reality at the moment, see above, we can do better!!

Q: What is positive discrimination? and how can discrimination be positive? 

A: Well there’s a big question. Discrimination is caused by stereotypes, followed by assumption, if the assumption is positive you might end up being rewarded for success without effort – positive. Sadly, if instead people expect failure, it’ll be sought, and therefore more likely. 

If you’re asking whether procedures should be weighted, let’s say to take account of the barriers you’ve already faced, then that is fairer. Unfortunately most of us see our achievement as personal success, rarely factoring in the unearned privilege or the discrimination we’ve overcome, so we are probably not being honest with ourselves in terms of achievement. 

Q: In a situation where professionalism is essential, jargon and specialist language are inevitably going to be used. How can we be professional but include everybody at the same time? 

A: There’s a difference between a conversation within our direct community of practice and one that tries to extend beyond it. Truth: I don’t know! When I write for people I don’t know I try -hard and fail- to write in more everyday language. A bit like chatting over the fence to a neighbour. I use simple words to say deep stuff. The ideas I share might be challenging but there’ll be no depth or nuance in the conversation.  If I’m talking to a colleague, someone who shares an und of equality say, we’ll take shortcuts, acronyms, and terminology that allows us to talk about more complex stuff without having to redefine every 2^nd word.  Judgment of relationship and context is everything. Being mindful, and listening to who you are talking with will help.

Q:  Do you think schools are doing enough to develop the skills of young learners in having open, honest, respectful and empathetic conversations. 

A: Oh boy!! Not while those within them think remembering facts is a mark of intelligence, being silent is a mark of learning, and siting in rows to pass exams matters more than being open, honest, respectful and empathetic… [don’t get me started on politics, power, and wilful neglect]

Q: What would you recommend to a new teacher to support them in initiating and embedding the practice of inclusive language and meaningful conversations amongst young children? 

Know your stuff, by learning more stuff. The more you understand about learning the more you can support it. Find books, videos, YouTube, podcasts. Mistakes are part of trying, it’s fine to screw up, but not to stop learning from mistakes. Put what you are inspired by into practice, learn by developing more understanding, add reflection and adapt, do better. Learners deserve our best effort, not us theirs!! Speak of shared progress, celebrate effort and rejoice in discovery. What would worry me is if we spoke in a decade and you were speaking the same words – and your knowledge and nuance had not grown.

 A decade of conversation is not 10 years of saying the same thing!

 

*Carole Tashie taught me the least dangerous assumption.

Seeing the Charade: Written by Carol Tashie, Susan Shapiro-Bamard,  Zach Rossetti 2006, UK

 

Abridged Bibliography

Bhopal, K. (2018). White privilege the myth of a post-racial society. Bristorl: Policy Press.

Chapman, L. M. (2016, feb 26). The words that bind us. Retrieved Aug 12, 2017, from The Language Of Respect : http://languageofrespect.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-words-that-bind-us.html

de Waal, F. (2009). The Age of Empathy, nature’s lessons for a kinder society. London: Harmony Books.

Eddo-Lodge, R. (2017). Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race [kindle edition].London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Nind, M., Sheehy, K., & Simmons, K. (2003). Inclusive Education: Learners and Learnng Contexts.London: David Fulton.

Pease, B. (2013). Undoing Privilege, unearned advantage in a divided world. London, New York: Zed Books.

West-Burnham, J. (2009). Rethinking Educational Leadership. London: Continuum.

Wheatley, M. J. (2002). Turning to one another, simple conversations to restore hope to the future.San Franciscoq: Berret-Koehler publishers.