Nnotes

There is a system which is the modern arbiter of the human condition. It's method of change is pathologisation and homogenisation. It is called the psychiatric system or the mental health system.

Another facet is its existence as a system which compensates for the inequality pandemic created by a number of factors collected together as the industrial revolution and its standardisation principle.

The illness paradigm is false. Disadvantage, disability (The same thing?) And distress are very real for those indicted by psychiatric system and other disadvantaged groups. Particularly with so- called mental illnesses, the homogenization treatment model made things worse as did the period of the great psychiatric confinement where the mad disappeared en masse from the sight of mainstream industrial age society.

As the beginning of a new age was heralded came the social model of disability and the idea of integrity of disability. The former said society was the cause of the disadvanTage and inequality suffered by disabled people ( a property poorly quantified by psychiatric studies which define the prognosis associated with a psychiatric label.) And the latter says- for want of a better language- disabled people have a right to be disabled and represent a valuable part if the diversity of humanity. This is a fundamental statement of equality.

Later on came the explicit prioritization of equality for a variety of disadvantaged groups. The imperative for equality can be found in vision in certain points in history, for example after the American civil war or Russian revolution. Sadly those who came afterwards failed miserably to hold the vision close to their hearts.

There is a simple step which could bring a leap forward in the improvement in equality delivered through employment. I'm still working on it but the essentials are simple: measure and improve equality in the workplace. The project is called Equality First. It's a working title and a work in progress but the ambition is to make a giant leap in addressing the impact of disability and disadvantage using social model solutions.

- sent from my smartphone