Ending Social and Institutional Maltreatment: Listening to Hidden Disabilities Through Taking Voice Seriously
This year, for the International Day to End Poverty (IDEP), the theme, identified by the United Nations is as follows: Ending Social and Institutional Maltreatment: Ensuring respect and effective support for families living in poverty.
But what does that mean when we think about hidden disabilities, a topic that’s brought up a lot within our collective? How does this theme reflect the challenges that aren’t always visible but are deeply felt?
Hidden Disabilities and the Systems Around Us
For many people living in poverty, hidden disabilities such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, chronic pain, or mental health conditions are part of daily life. Yet, because these disabilities are not always obvious, people can face disbelief, stigma, or be treated as though their struggles are seldom heard.
This lack of understanding can turn ordinary systems- like welfare, healthcare, education, or housing, into sources of distress rather than support. When systems fail to see or believe people’s realities, they cause institutional maltreatment.
Respect and effective support begin when we recognise that not all struggles are visible– and that invisibility should never mean invisibility in policy, practice, or compassion.
Where Taking Voice Seriously Comes In
Our Taking Voice Seriously work is about ensuring that engagement with lived experience is ethical, meaningful, and effective. It’s about listening in a way that leads to change and collaboration, not just consultation.
When applied to hidden disabilities, Taking Voice Seriously challenges us to:
- Listen beyond what we see. Believe people when they describe their barriers and experiences, even if those challenges aren’t visible.
- Design and implement with, not for. Include people with hidden disabilities in shaping the systems that impact them, as well as thinking about the long term sustainability.
- Be accountable. Make sure that when people share their lived experiences, their voices lead to real change.
Ending Maltreatment Means Listening Differently
If we want to end social and institutional maltreatment, we must commit to listening differently, to every story, every experience, and every person whose reality doesn’t fit within institutional boxes.
Taking Voice Seriously helps us build systems rooted in belief, respect, and collaboration, rather than suspicion or standardisation.
Because ending maltreatment starts with one powerful idea:
Respect means believing lived experience, even when it’s unseen and unheard.