Dawn shares her thoughts around the use of language in social care, in particular the use of the term 'customer' and why it shouldnt be used in the context of referring to people who access care and support services.
Transcript
My name is Dawn Mills. I'm a late diagnosed autistic woman with some experience of, um, using social care in relation to care responsibilities for, um, my parents. The one word talking about language today The one word which, um really gets me is the word customer. The reason why the word customer, um it makes me cringe so much inside is because it's disingenuous
It represents, um a power balance that is not there. I do not come and would never come to social services like I am shopping for a dress. It is not a positive choice
It is a position of desperation where help is required. I do not have freedom to choose. I don't want to go to Warwickshire
I prefer Tyne and wear. I do not have the choices that a customer has. Nor do I have any power or influence within those interactions
I can't say I don't like that particular dress. May I have another one and expect to be given another one? I cannot negotiate for price. So the minute I hear the word customer, I start to squirm inside because I know it's not right
And the fact that I know it's not right will immediately have me wondering how you really see me. If people are not dealing on an honest basis to start with, I'm already on the back foot and no, it's not an accurate description. And of course I'm autistic
I'm also literalist. Um, I know in in another life, I'm also, um, a linguist, and I have postgraduate qualifications and socio linguistics. So I know that the language that we use in many ways both reflects and forges the attitudes and perspectives that we have
Those attitudes and perspectives will inevitably translate into the quality of relationships that we have and in the actions that we take. And I cannot underestimate the importance of thought about the language that we use and that may be embedded in and reflect all sorts of terms and descriptions within an everyday professional context that you would never imagine is affecting the person that you're actually dealing with but nevertheless expresses something about your relationship to them and the processes that they are going through. If we think about, say, in modern terms, time in the modern context, um, the increased awareness of the importance of pronouns and how that affects relationship
How in the past we've used terms to describe religion or race or gender. What we're dealing with here is no different. It is the inalienable right of individuals to choose the terms that describe them, but also to to have their feelings taken into account when the descriptions of their relationships, the processes they go to go through their daily activities, um, are also described
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