Language matters. I know you know that, or you wouldn’t be reading this. I stumbled upon a new one for me last week, ‘additional support needs’. I think the ‘additional needs’ one has made it onto my radar, along with ‘special educational needs’, of course, but I picked this new one up in a post on social media that described an event around ‘inclusion and ASN’, so I had to dig deeper.

Test One for Gloriously Ordinary Lives is all about thinking whether the support someone is getting is what we'd want for ourselves or someone we love. One of the things we focus on is our daily rhythms, rituals and routines. As humans, we are creatures of habit. The detail of how we live is critically important to how okay we feel and how gloriously ordinary our life is. It's definitely all in the detail.

In episode 3 of the Gloriously Ordinary Language Myth Busters, we’re busting the myth that we need a glossary or language guide.

Podcast by Tricia Nicoll and Bryony Shannon.

Hello, and a very Happy New Year to you all. I really hope your end-of-year break was everything you hoped it would be. But I suspect that for many of you reading this, that's not the reality of the last couple of weeks. Full disclosure, I find Christmas and New Year incredibly hard, and this has been a particularly tricky one...

Quick one this week aimed mainly at me as I challenge my thoughts and beliefs about what is right and what is truly gloriously ordinary. I come back to that most hateful word in the human language: SHOULD.

In episode 2 of the Gloriously Ordinary Language Myth Busters, we’re busting the myth that because the language is in the legislation we have to use it. 

Podcast by Tricia Nicoll and Bryony Shannon.

At Social Care Future, we talk a lot about reframing social care. There's a reason our vision is about living in a place we call home with people and things we love, not about well-organised and regulated four visits a day. Social care is about the support we need to live our Gloriously Ordinary Lives. Unfortunately, that's not the story many people know – inside or outside social care.

This week, three great stories showed me how the Gloriously Ordinary Lives lens helps us think differently about our role in social care.

Test three started out as quite a straightforward one in my head, I think.

Take a mental image – what does it tell you?

Make a judgement - would you want that on your phone or would it make you sad, embarrassed, frustrated?

An easy way to think about whether someone’s life (or the support they are getting) really is gloriously ordinary. I’m coming to realise it’s hugely more than that.

Introducing… Gloriously Ordinary Language Myth Busters! Podcast by Tricia Nicoll and Bryony Shannon.

I've had a lovely couple of days at a Dovida conference in Dublin. A highlight was watching two police officers having a kick-about with some local boys – and an opportunity to capture a great photo test! Other lovely moments during the conference included some brilliant, and important discussions, about things that were making sense to people about Gloriously Ordinary Lives, and also things that were not making sense.

There was a post going around social media last week about a young autistic man losing his work experience at Waitrose.

There’s rightly been a huge amount of outcry about this, but some of it has missed the mark, I think. Here are my thoughts.

I’ve had a few conversations over the last month around Test Two and the idea of, ‘Would I use that language in my kitchen with my family or the café or pub with my friends?’. People rarely have an issue with the test, and I’ve yet to find someone who doesn’t agree we’ve created a bunch of daft and othering language in our world of social care. The sticking point, which I find fascinating, is the apparent conundrum of which words to use instead. Turns out, the answer might already be in your kitchen.

In episode 14 of the Gloriously Ordinary Lives podcast, you'll hear that I am absolutely thrilled to introduce you all to the lovely ⁠⁠⁠Marianne Selby-Boothroyd⁠⁠⁠, who's joining the Gloriously Ordinary Lives team... that's right, the Gloriously Ordinary Lives team! How exciting is that?

Have a listen, and we'd love to hear what you think!

I've just come back from one of my favourite days of the year - our annual Social Care Future gathering. Support workers, social workers, families, commissioners, directors, disabled people, policy makers, older people... all united by our shared passion for creating a Social Care Future where we get to live our Gloriously Ordinary Lives. Here are my reflections.

Over the next few weeks we're going to be putting together another section on the website: the stories of Gloriously Ordinary Lives. Dead simple, just places where real people are trying stuff out and it feels a bit Gloriously Ordinary. Today I thought I'd share a story from each test that might give you a little bit of inspiration - certainly things that have made my heart sing.

This is week two of me reflecting on unregulated versus regulated care and support, exploring what regulated organisations can learn from personal assistants and micro enterprises so that good people don't get caught up in processes that actually get in the way of people's lives being gloriously ordinary.

This one’s all about what good support really looks like. There’s been a lot of noise in the press and on social media about the supposed danger of unregulated care. I share my experience of employing personal assistants and working with micro-providers — and why choosing who supports us, based on what matters to us, works.

This one’s all about how easy it is for things to turn un-gloriously ordinary very quickly and without malice or intent. I've had several conversations with families about things that aren't awful, aren't 'oh my days that's appalling'…but just aren't right. They fail the Five Tests for Gloriously Ordinary Lives in low-level ways - things you might think don't really matter, but they add up.

In episode 13 of the Gloriously Ordinary Sundays Podcast I chat with Beverley Samways from Unique Connections.

I recently came across the work of Unique Connections online, when exploring how I could help and support The Girl to live a gloriously ordinary life. Beverley and I talk all about the importance and power of seeing the emotional person behind the behaviour, and how being truly present with someone can replace self-injury with connection and words.

* Trigger warning - we talk about self harm *

This one's all about identity. I’ve hesitated over this blog. It’s the last of three (for the moment) about the role of inclusive education in enabling Gloriously Ordinary Lives, but it’s taken me to a tricky place personally. This is probably version 34 as I’ve struggled to find the right words, or even to be clear about what I want to say, so apologies now for my clumsiness.