The Productive Pessimist

  "It's not pie! More for other people doesn't mean less for you!" This was the howl of social media's self-declared #neurodivergence, #disability communities in the late twenty-teens and into the twenty-twenties. It sounded almost convincing, a worthy rallying call that everyone who wanted to be On The Right Side of History should immediately get behind. And if you dared  to hesitate to get behind the statement, if you so much as thought  that it maybe didn't sound quite  right - well, you were privileged , you were guilty of ableism , you just wanted disabled people to not exist!  If you were  disabled yourself, and had some reservations about the pie-ness of inclusion, then you were "everything that's wrong with the world!" But - as so often happens - those who were hesitant have been proved right.  It turns out that, as many disabled people with observable, high-impact impairments, who need  workplace accommodations - and, most importantly, w...

  It's fair to say there's been quite a few crises doing the rounds recently. What many people may not consider when the next crisis hits the news, and the discourse centres the people impacted by  the crisis, are the people trying to lead through  the crisis, and bring it under control. Recent years have shown a rising trend of anti-leadership rhetoric, especially on social media, with the attitude being that no one actually needs  leadership, people are completely  capable of solving every problem they could ever encounter independently, business leaders don't actually do any work, but just take money from hard working people, and deliberately make life harder for people who are already struggling more than enough.  This attitude is driven by concepts such as the wisdom of crowds, which are increasingly being not so much debunked, but placed back in their original contexts - for example, that it is not that any crowd  will have greater 'wisdom' than ...

  TW: Mentions of su*c*dal ideation, su*c*de attempts ....................................................................................................... September is Suicide Awareness Month, with next week (Tuesday 10th September) being Suicide Awareness Day. Employers As an employer, you are probably never going to know if any of your team have attempted or considered suicide.  It's not something people are supported or encouraged to talk about in their workplaces.   It's actually still frequently seen as "selfish", as "undermining morale"  as "unfair to management and colleagues" for people to even mention anything more than being a little 'down' or 'anxious' at work. Even in the context of burnout, junior employers frequently get the response, when they try and raise how they're feeling, and seek support, of " Everyone is struggling right now. You need to focus on how you can help your colleagues." If 'ever...

  BBC Panorama Life School Wirral   (trigger warning for physical and verbal abuse, discriminatory language) prompted us at The Productive Pessimist Ltd to reach out as a matter of urgency to Life Wirral.   While the school has, rightly, been closed by the local authority, we have identified serious risks for any situation any of the leadership team from Life Wirral may enter into in the future, and for any attempt to re-establish the brand if re-education around both effective support and education for SEN children, and effective and appropriate management practice generally, is not provided or engaged with. The problems of Life Wirral aren't isolated. They are problems that are entrenched in British ideas of management, whether that is management of adult members of staff in a business, management of students in a school, or management of behaviour.  Britain is a nation built on conquest and control, and the Protestant concept that people 'earn' compassion, a...

  "Mental health at work" has become something of a buzz phrase in recent years, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. "Mental health" is the reason people "need to get back to the office" - because the extroverts are suffering, since they're no longer able to dominate meetings, talk people into agreeing to take on more work than they're actually comfortable with, or enthusiastically create a situation where, if getting drunk with people you already spend too much time with, or leaping on a zip wire, aren't really your thing, you're "unadventurous", "anti-social", and "not really a team player." The UK government insist work is good  for our "mental health", even as successful GPs decide they literally can't carry on anymore, and choose a permanent solution to the problem of burnout.  While the low wages, in comparison to the cost of living, and long hours of many jobs are actually c...

  “I don’t want your face looking like that while I’m talking.”  (Face was ‘bland neutral.’) “People here don’t like you, because you’re too negative.” (Used very light sarcasm to defuse workplace tension.) “I think it’s a bit inconsiderate to overshare the way you do…everyone is struggling here, and they don’t need to be worried about you.” (Had responded to “How’re you doing?” with “Okay, I think…it’s been a bit tough at home, but I’m getting through. How’s everything with you?”) “We need happy, bubbly team players here - if that’s not how you feel, every day, then I’m sorry, but we’re just not the right place for you to thrive.” (Person was behaving normally, being professionally welcoming, supporting their colleagues.) Employers don't want to employ people with "mental health problems" (or disabilities), but the government don't want those people claiming welfare. Yes, depression and anxiety are natural, normal responses to life, especially life as it is current...