Self care. Two words mentioned so often, it’s almost cliche. But, as cliche as it may be, self care- meaningful, purposeful self care, is also important. Self care, though is more than just taking time out to do things you enjoy. Self care can be doing things that you need in order to keep yourself well. No matter what it looks like, self care is important, both the kinds we plan that may become routine, and the self care we put in place on a more urgent, at times ‘emergency’ basis when things arise and we need certain aspects of self care to cope.

Some societal ideas, or constructs grow to become ingrained expectations- the way things are done, or the ‘normal’ process. But, these things don’t always work for everyone- particularly those of us belonging to marginalised identities. We are people for whom the world wasn’t necessarily built or constructed. Part of what the world not being built for us can mean is that sometimes, things don’t always work for us the same way they do for most people, or the way society has decided they ‘should’ work. And when something doesn’t work for you, there’s a few options- you could try to conform, you could give up, or, you could try to change the way the thing is done, and make it work for you instead.

The idea of reasonable adjustments is to provide equity. Equity is excellent. For me though, the term, ‘reasonable adjustments’, not quite so much…

Adjustments is ok- adjustments are necessary at times. But I have always struggled with the first part, ‘reasonable’… Because everyone has needs. And everyone’s needs are legitimate and valid.  

Accessibility describes something that can be accessed by as many people as possible. Most often, accessibility is thought of in relation to disability, but as the definition suggests, accessibility applies to, and is important for, everyone, not just disabled people. I like to think of the things someone needs to facilitate access as their access needs.

Someone with a lived/ living experience is someone who has direct experience of something. A shared/ or similar lived/ living experience means there is a cmmonality among experiences.