‘The Moment We Assess Human Value by Ability, Productivity or Achievement, We Lose Our Humanity Itself’

Stephen Unwin shares an extract from his new book exploring all he has learned on the journey so far with with his son Joey, who has severe learning disabilities

Twitter (now X) is, by any standards, a cesspit. Imagine my surprise, then, when a jokey tweet of mine set off an enormous wave of love, pride, and the best in humanity.

It was the afternoon of New Year’s Day 2021, and Joey and I were giggling at one of our routine jokes. I took a few selfies of the two of us on my sofa and posted one with the ironic message: “So terrible being the dad of a learning-disabled young man.”

I thought nothing more of it until I returned to my phone and saw a steady stream of notifications. I was especially struck by the dozens of pictures of families doing happy, ordinary things: climbing mountains or walking on a beach, bouncing on trampolines and posing in Christmas pyjamas, all laughing, smiling, and having fun.