Word Of The Day - Use And Abuse Of The Word Vulnerable
Word of the Day
U&K's Words of the Day, on social media have been used in many ways: personal reflection or for a mental health campaign. David Wolverson, one of the original supporters of #usefulandkind (Chair and CEO respectively of two Mindful Leadership Foundation clients) has been stirred by the recent use and abuse of the word ‘vulnerable.’
Who are we calling ‘vulnerable’?
This short piece started with a conversation with Duncan about why I was sick to death about the government, news channels and a lot of people talking about vulnerable groups of people. So Duncan challenged me to write down my thoughts.
It may seem strange but my thoughts went back to a 19th century pub sitting at 275m on a high moor near Keighley. On the scruffy walls was painted this saying
‘ There’s nowt so queer as folk.
All the world’s queer, save for thee and me
But even thee’s a little queer”
I loved it both for its Yorkshire tone of exceptionalism but also as a reminder how that can drill right down to personal relationships with only the speaker seeing themselves as the ‘normal’ one.
So it is for me that use of ‘ vulnerable’ to describe so many people is nothing but a label to ‘other’ them. They are not ‘us’. The ‘vulnerable’ need help to be shielded or housed or fed or cared for whilst ‘we’ do not need this help. Yes it is true that some people do need help (often due to the savage withdrawal of public safety nets, in the UK, over the last 10 years) but as we are learning in the times of plague those of ‘us’, (the Prime minister, and many cohorts of the under 40’s) who would never class themselves as vulnerable fall prey to this virus, sadly sometimes to fatal effect. Exceptionalism is no protection from this disease!
So my plea is stop the use of ‘vulnerable’ as label. We are all at risk from this dreadful virus, just some much more so than others. But the risk can materialise for anyone of us; we really are in this together.
David Wolverson
From U&K’s perspective we would look at the dictionary definition and cultural usage:
Capable of being physically or emotionally wounded - susceptible
open to successful attack
Capable of being persuaded or tempted
From our perspective we are all both glorious and messy. We are all susceptible or prone to outside forces. We are all susceptible to Covid-19, but some of us are more susceptible, more prone, more likely to either succumb through age, poverty or underlying health. And at the heart of pro sociality, being useful and kind is this sense of equality, the helper isn’t ‘better’, but it is our ‘duty and joy’ to reach out to others as they may to us. But it also speak to privilege and for my generation acknowledging that and making some sacrifices (after free education, no war, no National Service, jobs, houses and pensions) of time, money and thought.
U&K’s take on vulnerable then is:
When are you vulnerable? How can you help those who feel it today? Whether it be you, others or the world.