On power-sharing, privilege and possibilities

This month I’ve been navigating the complexities of collaborating on a project to improve outcomes for people with a disability who come into contact with the criminal justice system. We’ve been striving to create the conditions for people in very different circumstances to participate in the design of an online resource – magistrates, lawyers and people with experience of both cognitive disability and involvement with the justice system. This work has been raising questions about how to adequately acknowledge and respond to privilege, stigma, trauma and colonisation. And I’m thinking a lot about who is in the room and who has a voice to make or challenge those acknowledgements.

This blog post from some inspiring thinkers and leading practitioners working across design, evaluation and social change really resonated with me. It doesn’t pull any punches – “the distance between those with authority to make decisions and those bearing the consequences of those decisions has resulted in an extraordinary and continuing record of policy failure” – but it offers solutions as well.

– Emma Blomkamp