I've followed the developments of the Commission on Social Security project for a couple of years, and as they've got a live-streamed event planned, I thought it might be worth posting about it in case others are interested. Their main concern is the development of proposals for a "decent" social security system. They have taken evidence via surveys of users of the current system, and the results have informed the plan. I think ME patients might be encouraged by the respectful and insightful way they have tried to go about the work, and along with the Chronic Illness Inclusion Project, it's possible there's useful learning here for setting up new collaborative projects. Obviously there's no guarantee that the outcomes will have any influence on future government policy, but if this kind of work isn't done (and is seen to have been done well), there's practically no chance of influencing it. The live-streamed event at Toynbee Hall on 10 October invites questions about and discussion of the plan as it stands. Here's a link to their home page: https://www.commissiononsocialsecurity.org/
(In case anyone wonders why I didn't include DecodeME or the involvement with the NICE committee as exemplars...I assume we'd all put those at the top of the list anyway!)
Just to bump this by way of a reminder—the livestream is on Monday. I checked with Michael Orton yesterday, and the footage will be available on the commission's YouTube channel afterwards, for anyone who's interested but unable to watch at the time. This link will allow you to watch live or look in on it later: tinyurl.com/yudmzyjn
