Gloriously Ordinary Sundays - 4th February 2024

The second test for Gloriously Ordinary Lives is about the words we use. Sometimes they’re so glaringly and obviously not Gloriously Ordinary – when we talk about people as ‘cases’, as ‘complex’ or being ‘placed somewhere’. Sometimes though, it’s a bit more subtle.

Last week I met with the lovely Heidi, who works for the organisation that supports the girl, to catch up with how things were going. As we were wrapping up, she said that she was going to visit the girl ‘in her house’ this week. After looking at each other and going … ‘house?’ …. ‘home?’…. we spent a few minutes unpicking - it didn’t feel comfortable. 

The girl does live in a house, as do most of us (apartment, yurt and mobile home dwellers also welcome and respected) but the key is, when I go to visit my friend Claire, I just say, ‘I’m going to see Claire’. The realisation Heidi and I came to was that ‘the girl’s house’ is a bit like, ‘the girl’s service’. It’s a thing that belongs to the organisation rather than just someone living their life. Is that heinous? No, but it’s good to reflect. It gets clunky sometimes - and that’s ok. 

I’ve had a couple of requests this week for a more detailed guide to language and how we use it, and whether that is something that Gloriously Ordinary Lives might do. I had to go for a long walk to ponder that one, but the answer is actually easy – no!

The point of test two is it gives you everything you need, and a way of checking yourself and each other – both as human beings and as organisations. Sometimes when you explore test two, you’ll have aha moments that lead you to know something big needs to change; the adverts you write to recruit people, your policies, how your record the day to day of people’s live ….your website. Other times it will be more subtle, and you can just have a curious moment about whether talking about visiting someone in their house really is Gloriously Ordinary.

PS. Did you see? The Gloriously Ordinary Sundays Podcast is here! Come and listen to episode one where I catch up with the wonderful Anna Severwright from ⁠Social Care Future⁠!