What is Vulnerability?

• The word 'Vulnerability' is included in laws, regulations, guidance and best practice

• We believe empowering, supporting and protecting people is good

Vulnerability is an important and growing area for businesses, organisations, charities and professionals. 

There are many different ways of understanding Vulnerability and it is now included in laws, regulations, guidance and best practice.

We believe empowering, supporting and protecting people in Vulnerable Circumstances is good.

• This can vary for very important reasons. 

When you say 'Vulnerable' it is important to understand how you are using it.

Here is are a few examples-

1. Some people might consider themselves Vulnerable because of a condition, or circumstance, etc. and they might call themselves Vulnerable.

2. Some people might describe themselves as being in a situation which makes them Vulnerable. 

3. Some Professionals may describe someone as being Vulnerable.

There are important difference between these examples. 

The first group define themselves as Vulnerable.

The second group describe themsevles as in a Vulnerable Circumstance . 

The third group are defining a person as Vulnerable because of a specific characteristic (legal, medical, etc) they are using to label someone as Vulnerable.

• It is important to define Vulnerability

Definitions can change and be different in different places. It is important for professionals and organisations to be clear on how they define Vulnerability. One example of defining Vulnerability is from the Financial Conduct Authority:

'A vulnerable customer is someone who, due to their personal circumstances, is especially susceptible to harm, particularly when a firm is not acting with appropriate levels of care. '

(Financial Conduct Authority)

This is a clear example where Vulnerability is defined as being because of a circumstance, and not because of who someone is or anything about them as a person. 

Other definitions may define 'a person' as Vulnerable. We believe this is (often) problematic for people involved.

• We use 'people in Vulnerable Circumstances' and avoid saying 'Vulnerable people'.

Using 'people in a Vulnerable Circumstance' instead of 'Vulnerable people' has several benefits. 

1. 1. We aren't making any comment or presumption about how that person might describe themselves (we are only describing a circumstances potential affect on them as an individual).  Simply, this stops us making assumptions.

   2. It allows the individual (if they want) to describe how they describe themselves. i.e. describe whether they see themselves as Vulnerable or say they have been disadvantaged because of their circumstance.

If they don't want to self define, they still can describe themselves as being in a Vulnerable circumstance. When someone with power defines someone in a way which is different to how they see themselves it can cause many problems. It can cause conflict, cause harm and reinforce systemic prejudices with some groups. 

1. 3. It helps avoid overlap or confusion with legal or professional terms. 

Some people will use legal or professional definitions of 'Vulnerability' more or less than other people. If you start conversations using 'Vulnerable person', you might just cause confusion with other people who use 'Vulnerable person' in a different way. When working with people in Vulnerable Circumstances, not being clear or being confused is a very unsafe place to start.

• Staff and volunteers may also be in Vulnerable situations

When thinking about Vulnerability, we focus on thinking about helping customers, users, clients and supporters.

It is important to remember staff and volunteers may also be in Vulnerable situations.

Trying to analyse if someone is in a Vulnerable Circumstance is valuable, however, done quickly it can be confusing and frequently open to bias. 

There is alot of things which might cause people to be in Vulnerable Circumstances, but we believe it's very important to remember that anyone can be in a Vulnerable Circumstance. 

Starting from understanding that anyone can be in a Vulnerable Circumstance is simpler and very practical.

• Vulnerability and Safeguarding are different

Vulnerability professionals work with Safeguarding professionals, but Safeguarding has its own rules, and Vulnerability has different rules.

It is important to know Vulnerability and Safeguarding are different and do different things. Knowing this is a good start and this will become clearer the more people work on each area.

• The UK population (2015) is estimated to be 65.1 million.

• 850,000 people are (estimated to be) living with dementia in the UK. 

• One in six adults is living with a mental health problem. 

• Major depression affects around 1 in 10 or the general population at any time. 

• 6,188 suicides registered in the UK in 2015. This is over 16 a day.

• One in six of the population has some form of hearing loss. 

• Over two million people in the UK are living with sight loss (2015). 

• Around 100 people each week are diagnosed with MS. 

• It’s estimated that up to 1 in every 20 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia.

• Every day 150 families in Britain become homeless. 

• Almost 822 cancers were registered per day (2015).