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I first met Duncan in 2017 at the Who Cares? Scotland Summer Camp. I had just accepted a job and spent my first week volunteering on the camp site. Duncan was there throwing himself in elbow deep. He grabbed me into the festivities and showed me my inner youth-worker. https://twitter.com/whocaresscot/status/1263831997627146243
In between a performance in drag and climbing into a sleeping bag I spoke to him about my background in PR. I started to tell him about the new ideas I could bring to the charity. He told me it could wait. The campsite was for Care Experienced people. The work would come.
A few weeks later, I sat down with Duncan who told me about the history of the care system. In that moment I understood just how deeply embedded the oppression of Care Experienced people is.
I understood why I grew up being protested against and afraid to tell people who I was.
I understood why I grew up being protested against and afraid to tell people who I was.
The task ahead was insurmountable but he helped me see that I had it in me to become a campaigner, a youth worker and someone who was proud of my background.
Saul Alinsky said, “If people don't think they have the power to solve their problems, they won't even think about how to solve them.”
Duncan showed me and many others that we had the power and that through taking risks we could achieve change.
Duncan showed me and many others that we had the power and that through taking risks we could achieve change.
Last year risks took us to a partnership with a Hollywood studio and a screening of a movie. It sounds glitzy but even in that room in Soho we were still working. None more so than Duncan who made it into several reviews of the movie, Instant Family. https://www.metro.news/film-reviews-a-private-war/1433241/
It also took us into the offices around Holyrood, ensuring that the campaign for Care Experienced people was apolitical but at the top of the agenda.
Most importantly, the risks have taken us into the hearts and minds of the people of Scotland through the rally for love and into their living rooms calling for change now so that Care Experienced people experience a lifetime of equality, respect and love.
Thank you @duncdunlop for showing me that I had the power to bring change and that I'm more than a PR guy. I'm Care Experienced, I'm a campaigner, I'm a youth worker and I'm one of many who will not stop until we achieve fundamental change.
