Foolishness, disability and the UK becoming more competitive in a global market.

(This blog represents the personal views of Nigel Fenner, and not those of Hertfordshire PASS.)

The current economic uncertainty here and in Europe, and what the UK might do to 'grow its economy' enough to be able to pay off its debts is a key challenge at the moment. I get a sense many people feel that a return for the UK to manufacturing (beyond our reliance on 'banking and finance') is considered key - following the trend set by Germany over the last few decades. From reading the papers and watching the news on TV, I understand we're good at high-tech manufacturing ( - like Formula 1 racing cars), and also innovation in 'bio-technology', and computing.

So what do we need to do to enhance such 'high-tech-ness' and innovation? Steve Jobs (Founder etc of Apple) talked about 'staying hungry, and staying foolish' which I heard on Radio 4's Today Programme, the day he died - on the 6th October. This might have passed me by except that later in the programme there was a feature on a new play opening at Hampton Court Palace entitled 'All the King's Fools' exploring the relationship between Henry VIII and his court jesters, or fools, whose role "was not only to entertain the king but to bring him truth, (given) the fools were thought to be conduits to the divine - able to channel the word of God to the monarch" (BBC News online). According to Dr Lipscomb (Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia) the "natural fools" in the king's court "might well equate to somebody with learning difficulties or learning disabilities today".

So, are there any 'natural fools' that Steve Jobs might have referred to, to exemplify what he meant? He might have mentioned Bill Gates of Microsoft who is autistic, or Albert Einstein with Aspergers Syndrome, or Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, who had a learning disability, as did Thomas Edison who invented the electric light bulb. In addition both Henry Ford, and Leonardo da Vinci had dyslexia.

(Look also at a blog I wrote in 2009 entitled 'Boppi's song and Darwin's survial of the fittest': http://nigelfenner.blogspot.com/2009/09/boppis-song-and-darwins-survival-of.html )

Today though in our society, it strikes me that having a disability is by definition viewed negatively, so that there is little opportunity for disabled people to develop any capacity to be 'conduits to the divine', and / or become the next generation of innovators needed at this time in the UK.

I hope though at Hertfordshire PASS we give people with a 'learning or physical challenge' ( - the term that the PASS staff who are disabled prefer to call themselves) opportunity to innovate. This comes from being user-driven so that now we have staff in place who lead on pioneering innovative solutions promoting independence for their (disabled) peers. Such innovations we can boast include an apprenticeship programme resulting in Hertfordshire PASS being one of only two charities listed in the Top 100 Apprentice Employers in the UK for 2011 by City & Guilds, and the National Apprenticeship Service. We're also pioneering the first ever (so we are told) apprenticeship in 'being an employer of personal assistant(s) / carer(s)' so enabling (disabled) people to live independently, rather than being taken into care by the local authority.

I'm not saying that what we're doing can solve the UK's current economic woes, but with economists and politicians 'scratching their heads' regarding what should be done, we do feel we have something to offer.