The Latest Bulletin

If you caught even part of BBC Three's Defying the Label season - the channel's biggest ever season of disability related programming - it was easy to sense the relish of the commissioning editors. Over the past month, there have been 15 specialist documentaries, current affairs features, a factual drama and a comedy panel game show that covered topics ranging from sex and relationships to hate crime. At times, it was as if BBC Three felt they were single-handedly filling in the wasteland of mainstream coverage of disability. Perhaps they were. In my weaker moments, I would prefer a television-wide ban of every disabled person in the country than to watch another makeover programme renovate a disabled person's house or…

Some people are able to reflect the light that lands on them, to take directions or assets or energy and focus it where it needs to be focused. This is a really valuable skill. Even more valuable, though, is the person who glows in the dark. Not reflecting energy, but creating it. Not redirecting urgencies but generating them. The glow in the dark colleague is able to restart momentum, even when everyone else is ready to give up ... https://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/08/glow-in-the-dark.html

At Unseen we are working towards a world without slavery. It’s a big aim and a big task, but we believe we can do it. By concentrating our efforts on three main areas - supporting, equipping and influencing - we can start to tackle the issue in a way that really works. Our specialist care is the first step in the fight against slavery. Through supporting survivors, our provision gives them a safe place to recover from trauma and rebuild their lives. https://www.unseenuk.org/about

Neil’s Effective Writing e-book is now on Kindle (and other e-book platforms) as are his two brand new e-books, A Career in Social Work and How to Do Social Work. For a limited period they are available for only 99p each. We hope you will like them and feel able to give them a positive review. https://astore.amazon.co.uk/neilthomp-21?_encoding=UTF8&node=14

The mantra of being ‘balanced in all things’ is a well-established idea, but there is a paradox here. If we are aiming to be balanced in all things, doesn’t that mean we are being extreme (and therefore unbalanced) about being balanced? Shouldn’t we be trying to find a balance between being balanced and unbalanced? ... https://neilthompson.info/index.php/get-the-balance-right/

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published new guidelines which are aimed at helping to improve employee health and wellbeing. The guidelines were developed in response to recent research indicating that 27 million working days were lost due to stress-related illness in 2012-13. The chief aim of the guidance is to build a leadership model which promotes the wellbeing of employees, informed by an understanding of the role corporate culture can play in this. There is particular focus on the role of line managers in developing this model. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7794015e-2781-452f-8338-e8a4285663dc

My 16-year-old son with autism has two loves in his life: teddy bears and music. He likes the same Top 40 pop songs most kids like; it’s something he gets lost in. He dances with his head. Sometimes, his body is so rigid that other people think he’s awkwardly swaying. With padded headphones, which don’t cause him sensory discomfort, and an iPod, he does his own version of musical head-banging. He’s happy. Over the years, we have included Andrew in nearly everything his siblings do. At 5 feet, 10 inches tall, he may no longer be the cute little boy I could scoop up into my arms during a meltdown in the supermarket, but he belongs in our community.  This…

There's the obvious sort of laziness, the laziness of not trying very hard, of avoiding strenuous tasks or heavy lifting, of getting others to do your work or not showing up for many hours each day. We're quick to point fingers at others (and ourselves) when we demonstrate this sort of sloth. But there are other sorts of laziness, and they're far more damaging. There's the laziness of racism and sexism, which permits us to write people off (or reward them) without doing the hard work of actually seeing them for who they are ... https://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/08/laziness.html

We are launching our new campaign to reduce inequality and poverty across the UK. Under the banner of Make My Council Fair we are calling on people everywhere to lobby their local councils to make concrete and practical changes that will reduce inequality and poverty in their areas. Everyone has a council, so everyone can make a difference! People can pursue this campaign individually but we think it will be a lot easier, more effective and more fun if people do it in groups. You can join one of our existing local equality groups here - or you can start one up if there's no group currently near where you live. https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/tackle-inequality-poverty-where-you-live-0