Life, Love and language - it’s personal!
Author: Marianne Selby-Boothroyd
Continuing the Conversation
Part of the Estia Centre's Learning Together 2026 blog series, featuring articles from conference speakers and contributors.
When We Forget the Person
In Learning Disability Week (when I am writing this), the final report into the abuse at Muckamore Abbey Hospital has been published. The headline s I’ve seen talk of “vulnerable patients”. There are statements about this being a “turning point”, a “significant moment”, being “committed to learning” and to “reduce the risk of such failings happening again”.
Except, we’ve had these significant moments before haven’t we? These turning points, a commitment to learning and reducing the risk of it happening again. Except it does then happen again. And again.
There has been a lot of talk about how we know the answers, how to get it right for people, yet still little changes for lots of people.
Maybe we’ve focused too little on the underpinning principle. It isn’t simply - or should that be simply isn’t - about system change, capacity, cost, regulation , the list goes on and on .
It Starts with Us
The underpinning principle isn’t a list that goes on and on. It is simpl e . I t isn’t them, it’s us.
Bryony Shannon sums it up perfectly here .
Whether you support someone with a learning disability, you are the CEO of a support provider, you commission support, you provide healthcare, you commission healthcare, you regulate support, you are a parent, friend ( you’ve guessed it, the list goes on and on …), your starting point is us and we.
When the focus is on system change, money, regulation, capacity … we stop focusing on people. You, me, us. It can be hard to focus on the who i t is fundamentally about and who can make it different and better . You, me, us.
There are lots of great things happening to help us think and “be more we” . It is worth checking out Gloriously Ordinary Lives , the Be Human movement , and Learning Disability England’s work .
For all of us, regardless of who we are, the job we have, the relationships we have – it all comes down to what we do to others, would we do to ourselves? How we talk about others, do we talk about ourselves in the same way? It is personal.
About the author
Marianne has supported people with learning disabilities and autistic people for over 30 years in lots of different roles. She is also a mum to 3 boys, 2 of whom are autistic and one who has Down syndrome. Marianne currently works as a freelance trainer and for Learning Disability England.