....are not normally favourite things to do. I understand they need to be done, and done well, I just don't enjoy it. However that was my task here at Brook yesterday and will be again today.
Contrary to my expectation, it has been an absolute treat because it has given me greater insight into the determination and courage of so many people in Brook who have provided high quality services for young people, often in a hostile environment. It has also reminded me how much has been achieved since 1964. There are boxes and boxes of letters, negotiations and records of discussions about confidentiality and young people's rights to sexual health services and education. Negotiations that have helped change attitudes towards a more positive view of young people's sexuality.
So, it is new year resolution time - if you make them, as you write your list consider the words of Marian Wright Edelman an American attorney and civil rights activist who said 'if you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.'
3 comments:
Happy New Year to all at Brook!
So... Brook now has a male CEO AND a blog. Great to see it's evolving...
I used to work at Brook Central developing and managing the Young People's Information Service to include the text and online messaging services.
Now I work for a charity called Disability, Pregnancy and Parenthood International (www.dppi.org.uk). We'd like to see more sexual health information work aimed at disabled young people, who are often given the message that sex and relationships (and certainly parenthood) are not for them.
If Brook (or other organisations) are running accessible teenage pregnancy/parenthood services for disabled young people, we'd love to hear about it for a possible feature in our journal.
This links to my personal blog address but for DPPI matters, please get in touch via shanta@dppi.org.uk.
Best wishes
BTW, I requested a review copy of the Brook posters/booklet set ‘Young disabled people can…’ ref P1 for a possible review feature in the Disability, Pregnancy & Parenthood International (DPPI) journal and was told that Brook don't send out free review copies...
You might want to look into that one!
Shanta
Thanks for your comment Shanta,
There is definitely a need for more work aimed at disabled young people. Do you know of Image in Action? They do brilliant work. National Children's Bureau also worked with Council for Disabled Children and Contact a Family and produced some really good resources for young disabled people and their families.
I would be interested to now whether you think having a man as CEO or a blog is most progressive - they are interesting measures of progress you have put together there.
As regards a review copy, our policy is one of reasonable caution. We provide review copies once our distribution house has received consent from us. You will understand this makes sense given how many review copies are requested for sometimes little impact. I am told your review copy is on its way.
Post a Comment