For lived experience to be a resource enabling disabled people to take authentic action.....

Bernd Sass and Peter Beresford claim that the 'lived experience of disabled people is the most under-used resource in social care' which is why SEMPA (Supporting Employers Managing PAs) makes the lived experience or stories of disabled people who employ their own PAs shared on video, available as a resource to those new to this role.

I was very fortunate to work for the Grubb Institute about 10 years ago where I learned how to 'work with lived experience' and whilst I used this understanding recently as the foundation for SEMPA's latest product (on the Contract of Trust: go to  http://www.sempa.co.uk/2014/08/sempa-cic-contract-of-trust-promotional-video/ for its promotional video) I have felt the need to update my theory and practice.

I had a very helpful Skype conversation this week with John Bazalgette one of the Directors of the Grubb Institute at the end of which he sent me an article entitled 'Leadership: The impact of the full human being in role'. As I progress through it I want to share what I discover through my blog.

John believes that "for experience to be a resource enabling authentic action" three conditions need to be taken into account:

1. The first condition is "valuing lived experience".....in the "here and now" because it is "the best and truest place to be in; being anxious about past and future achieves nothing, since these are beyond the control of the individual". Given 'choice and control' is vital to disabled people as they strive to live independently, lets start by 'valuing lived experience' as something we can control
2. The second condition is that the structure or framework we are operating in provides "sufficiently predictable circumstances under which (we) can create together patterns of mutual expectations" to achieve the task or goal we set out to do. If we feel safe in such a structure we can explore the rich and diverse experiences we have such as "love and hate, despair and hope, exhilaration and boredom that constitute the realities of working life together", and 
3. This in turn creates the third condition which is "working in role". It is only when we know what the purpose or task of the structure or framework is that we can identify the role we need to take up to achieve it. For example if the structure created is about 'a disabled person being cared for' then this dictates the roles of the carer, providing the care, and the disabled person receiving it, as a recipient of care. A different structure might be where the disabled person wants their independence (as their goal) and so creates a framework or structure to achieve this by, for example, employing their carers; here the roles become employer instructing their personal assistant to give them care.

In order to get the best out of the above John refers to the importance of "the spirit of enquiry"; more about that in another blog