It Could Be You
Handbook for real people and policymakers
Penny Melville-Brown
Having read it
★★★★☆
Observant and honest and puts forward good ideas that are grounded in much common sense and plenty of lived experiences, from the author and many others.
Hopefully it and the author’s insights, efforts and experiences over the last thirty or so years can add meaningfully to further conversations and efforts, certainly for policymakers, to better understanding and approaches for empowering and involving PLUs so that hopefully, as shown in the book by many mentioned examples, there are more conducive ways to proving and instigating systemic changes of many a state institution and service as well as commercial attitudes and approaches so money is actually saved, better directed and used so ultimately everyone benefits, not just the apparently impaired.
Plus, better labelling really does help:
Finally, while writing this, I got thoroughly fed up with phrases like ‘disabled people’ and ‘people with disabilities’. I’m one of them and so are, potentially, many of you readers, so meet ‘People Like Us’, shortened to PLUs, the real people behind the ‘disability’ label.
A good passage
Humans are wonderfully adaptable to survive but can be amazingly blinkered to others who do so.
A second good passage
More control and confidence can give PLUs the courage and commitment to take on the challenge of making a comeback.
A third good passage
The automated systems, checklists, data predeterminants, access to our personal data and bank accounts all tend to reduce us to numbers, not people. Add the distinct possibilities of inherent bias in Artificial Intelligence for more risk. When we PLUs can’t tick their boxes, we may be on a hiding to nothing without a whole system reset.