It may be more congruent with a rights-based approach, writes Adrian Voce, but promoting ‘free-range childhoods’ alone will be less effective without also highlighting their absence – and ‘nature deficit disorder’ is as good a way as any.
The recent debate about the relative merits of the terms ‘nature deficit disorder’ and ‘free-range childhood’ as part of the play movement’s campaigning lexicon reminded me of another metaphor which might help to place the debate in a wider policy context and show that they each have their benefits and limitations.
It is heartening to see such a clear exposition of one of my favourite notions - thank you, Adrian. Makes a change from the recent misrepresentation of my ideas by one who should know better.
Arthur, I very much enjoyed reading Adrian’s piece, and the comment string below. Of course, as a disability activist, I am pleased to see a ‘mainstream’ (sorry!) reference to not just the Social model’, but its broader context. I too like the PBI idea, as do I the Sky Larks and Canaries distinction. I am less comfortable with the tail end of Adrian’s analysis about the use of the media, and would tend to suggest that, as far as the media are concerned, the more we stick to unarguable fact, and the less we use interpretable metaphors, the better (or at least safer). Rory Heap