“We created this new benefit for people with disabilities but only few of them were able to get it.” Government representative said this at a conference recently. It’s a sentence remarkable by its honesty. It’s very typical otherwise. I’m not sure how many times I’ve heard some version of this. I’m sure I’ve used it […]
Category: English
We want to understand the world we live in
Article with Soufiane El Amrani in Impact, magazine published by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, USA. This issue was dedicated to plain language.
Radical can do
It started yesterday as a late night joke. It works in the morning (and always). Actually, it started about two years ago. While we were at a conference in Copenhagen, Theresa Shearer FRSE urged me to go see Kim Scott talk about her book and the practice of Radical Candor. One of many good recommendations […]
How big things get done
Hey Milan didn’t you say there were *two* books you’d recommend on deinstitutionalisation… I did, din’t I. Same as the first one, the second book isn’t about deinstitutionalisation either. It was written by Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner, and is called How Big Things Get Done. The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project, from […]
On fruits of labour
Earlier this week I was in a workshop to learn, share, discuss disability rights and policies in the EU, with special attention to deinstitutionalisation. The message I brought was quite simple: Policies matter, and they have direct impact on people. It can take (scratch that – it takes) many years.It can be hard to see.(And […]
Writing
I wrote 19 football articles the past half year. I have 3 things I learned through it, useful in my work. And yours, if you’re in anything that involves telling people about your work. 1. Commitment After game 1, I decided to write about every game I’d be in. 19 games later, that’s what I […]
DI is not a rocket science
As organisations of people with intellectual disabilities, and other advocates, we spend a lot of time demanding deinstitutionalisation.We also need to give time to working with those who make it happen. It’s about demonstrating to those responsible that deinstitutionalisation is doable.It has been done.It is being done.It can and will be done. Deinstitutionalisation is not […]
So this just happened
We are at a “diversity and inclusion” event organised by what is considered an elite European institution.Speakers say “diversity” and “inclusion” a lot. Nobody mentions people with disabilities (except when Disability Rights Strategy is listed), unless I missed something. Towards the end, my colleague asks about disability policies, and the next question is about disability […]
“How to change things when change is hard”
Hey Milan, would you recommend any books on deinstitutionalisation, I was asked recently. And sure enough, I shared some reading I find useful and interesting. But I didn’t mention the two books that I consider the most important, and use almost daily in my work. Neither of them is about deinstitutionalisation. But both are. Take […]
Hey Milan: What do you think works in advocacy and communication?
I’ve been talking with some organisations looking to improve their communication and strategies promoting deinstitutionalisation and community-based support over the past couple of months. Asked about my experience in what works and what doesn’t, there are 3 ideas behind what we try to do and I think works. Maybe you’d be interested to hear about […]