We Must Rest in Order to Dream

WE MUST REST IN ORDER TO DREAM by Josie Tothill, co-created with a number of people with experience of Social Care who are fighting for change, Alison Treacher – Co-Secretary of CaSWO, Natalie Summers, Julia, Oliver, Nudrat, Khadijah and Anonymous, who asked not to be named to avoid retaliation from adult social care.

This installation invites you to take time to rest and listen to the voices of people who have experience of social care. We have the collective wisdom to reimagine what support could be and the collective power to make it happen.

It is an honour to work in social care; it is joyful but it is hard. For most the conditions and pay are poor and we must navigate supporting people in a world that oppresses them. Many disabled people cannot access the support they need due to racism, queerphobia, poverty, persecution of the mentally ill, and fundamental ableism in our society. Disabled people and the workers in this sector need a revolution in social care!

You are hearing the voices of people in receipt of care and support that I work for, workers that I organise with and family members in Bradford who care for each other. In these conversations we dream of what our world could be like and ask: how do we get there? What do social services look like post-capitalism? What is a revolutionary understanding of mental health, disability and support?

We mustn’t burn out fighting for change. We must rest in order to dream.

Josie Tothill is born and bred in Bradford and now lives and works in Manchester as a Personal Assistant supporting disabled people.

Take a sheet and enter the installation.