About Beautiful Lives
For much of history, people with learning disabilities have been regarded as unworthy of interest - often seen as a threat to the social order and sometimes dismissed as barely human. While recent years have seen an improvement, learning-disabled people are still treated as fundamentally different. Beautiful Lives is a personal and pragmatic account, told through the eyes of a father whose son has severe learning disabilities. From early civilisation to the chilling realities of twentieth-century eugenics, this powerful book uncovers a startling and rarely told history - one deeply embedded in the challenges still faced today. Stephen Unwin shapes this history into a powerful story of love, lived experience and the long struggle for a better future.
Reviews of Beautiful Lives
His critique of policy and the current state of care makes Beautiful Lives essential reading for all those shaping policy or providing healthcare and those who care about the lives of people with learning disabilities. - Baroness Keeley, politician and campaigner
[An] important, intensively researched and beautifully written book . . . I hope that anyone in a position to make positive change will read it and consider carefully how we can move a little closer towards recognising and accepting that every human life is equal in value and every person has the right to be happy. - Jane Asher, President of the National Autistic Society
This is a superbly written, even entertaining treatment of a sombre topic - how people with learning disabilities are marginalised and ignored. I could not recommend it more highly. - Jan Walmsley, Visiting Chair of Learning Disability History, Open University
About the webinar
This event is hosted by the Kent, Surrey and Sussex adult secure care provider collaborative and is open to all. Please do share!
The talk will be followed by an interactive Q&A, giving you the chance to engage directly with the author and explore the themes of the book in more depth.
Register now to be part of this important conversation about dignity, rights, and what it truly means to live a beautiful life.
