Professor Tom Shakespeare, Professor of Disability Research, delivered the Catholic Union’s 2024 Craigmyle Lecture on 19 November entitled ‘Make a level path for my feet: disability equality, and love’. Baroness Hollins, President of the Catholic Union, chaired the extremely well attended event held at the Royal Society of Medicine.
Professor Tom Shakespeare says: “There is unfamiliarity with and prejudice against disabled people. But why does your lack of familiarity mean that people have to suffer negativity? It’s a vicious circle: first place barriers in our way, then blame those people who manage to overcome those barriers. In the Kingdom of God, we are all equally valued; you are not better than the person you help. There is nothing about us without us”.
Professor Shakespeare referred to the barriers of access and attitudes and discrimination which in turn are a large part of why disabled people are twice as likely as people without a disability to be unemployed. He urged us to approach helping people in a different way, so that it is seen as solidarity, not as charity, and so that we can still be equals. There was a discussion about how caring solidarity had an intergenerational cyclical dimension to care where over time, we are all carers and cared for where ultimately, we are investing in our own future.
Baroness Hollins, President of the Catholic Union, says: “Tom is indeed a farmer of thoughts and we are very honoured that he delivered the Craigmyle Lecture. He gave us much to consider especially the concept of caring solidarity which should break down false barriers and encourage each and everyone’s contribution, all as equals. The concepts of caring for and caring about are central to the way we love one another”.
The Craigmyle Lecture 2024, sponsored by CCLA and collaboration with University of Birmingham and Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln, is the Catholic Union’s annual flagship lecture, giving a platform to a prominent public figure to talk about a matter of importance to Christians and wider society in this country. Some of the previous speakers have been Dame Rachel de Souza, Baroness Hollins, Lord Bird, and Sir James MacMillan.
Lord Craigmyle (Donald) was a former President of the Catholic Union after whom the lecture series is named. The current Lord Craigmyle attended this year’s lecture and said a few words about the history and legacy of the lecture.
The transcript of the lecture can be read here.
The event was sponsored by CCLA.