Is work all it’s cracked up to be?


As the campaign to ensure people with learning disabilities gain fair access to the workplace steps up, Simon Duffy sounds a note of caution.

Dr Shigeaki Hinohara, who lived to be 105, said, “Don’t retire, and if you must, retire much later than age 65.” He believed human life is all about contribution and that we need to be doing things, for other people, if we want to thrive.

For people with learning disabilities, opportunities for such contribution are reduced by a combination of low expectations, a crazy benefit system and the attitude of employers. The employment rate for people with a learning disability is 6%  but when Learning Disability Alliance asked people what was most important to them work was very high on the list.

In the days when normalisation was a powerful movement for change then helping people to get and keep work was one of the most straightforward routes to helping people develop a ‘socially valued role.’ What is more, supported employment, social enterprise, self-employment and apprenticeship schemes like Project Reach,  all have great track records for supporting people, sometimes people with the most severe impairments, into work.

A balanced life

If someone wants a job they should be able to get one. However, as a philosopher, I am struck by some of the questions we don’t ask about work. For instance, Aristotle would have wondered why we did not value our free time more to contribute as citizens: help others, teach and get involved in the politics (literally, community life). Christian theologians would wonder why we think work for an employer is proper work, but the work of love – taking care of each other – seems less important. This doesn’t seem right or logical.
It struck me recently that every week we live through an ancient pattern which tells us what a balanced life includes.

–  Monday (lundi) is the day of the moon, for dreaming, thinking or talking.

– Tuesday (mardi) is the day of Tyr or Mars,  a day of service and citizenship.

– Wednesday (mercredi) is the day of Woden or Mercury, a day of exchange or business.

– Thursday (jeudi) is the day of Thor or Jove, for making, growing and building.

– Friday (vendredi) is the day of Freya or Venus, a day for loving and caring.

– Saturday (samedi) is the day of Saturn, a day for relaxing.

– Sunday (dimanche) is the day of the sun or the day of the Lord a day for rest and thankfulness.

How do we get a life in which our contributions are balanced and include all the different aspects of a good, human life?

 

Narrow and shallow

The kind of society where doing what other people want – which is what employment means – is not the kind of society in which any of us, but particularly people with learning disabilities, will thrive. It is a narrow and shallow vision of the good life.  We need to think differently and start to plan and organise differently.

The case for basic income (a secure and regular income for everyone) will continue to get stronger. More people will realise that they can contribute locally and bring about wider social change as active citizens. Support organisations will start to realise that they should be engines for building community – in all its richness – not containing people in social isolation.

We need to be more confident in redefining the meaning of work and ensure every one gets the chance to contribute in the way that makes most sense of our gifts.

Dr Simon Duffy is Director of the Centre for Welfare Reform and Secretary for Citizen Network

 http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/