In this piece Paul talks about the different ways he contributes to society and takes a scythe to the misconception that homeless people don’t work.  

 

Transcription of audio.

One of the biggest myths around homelessness is that people without homes don’t work. Well, anybody that knows me knows that’s a complete mythology, and many people like me will continue to work. The only thing is we don’t have a place of residence to lie our head down at night.

Just this week, for instance, I’ve got an article coming out in the pavement, I’ve done a podcast about welfare and health for the King’s Trust. This morning, I have been helping the Museum of Homelessness hopefully secure the Gulbenkian Prize for Social Campaigning Museums. It’s constant.

So having no home doesn’t mean having no work. In my instance, it’s therapeutic work. I don’t work to earn money, I work to stay sane and I don’t really see it as work because I’m a creative. And being creative means whether I’m putting on a play as I did last year, the Camden People’s Theatre, whether I’m staging a photographic exhibition and I did the gallery at OXO on the South Bank. All of these things are done to make me a contributor to society. I don’t need to be an economic battery to do so. I don’t need to be making someone else rich to do so. I can contribute to society in many other ways, and the reason for that is my illness.

I suffer with chronic fatigue syndrome, which makes it impossible for me to do a nine to five job because some days I just can’t work. And it’s unreasonable to go to an employer going,

‘hey, give me a job. I might not be here for the next two years, but you’ll have to pay me anyway.’

Nobody should be in that position. So I take my time and I adapt my lifestyle to fit my illness. That meant when I had a home having a television, two television production companies, one not for profit, one profit, which meant that I could work when I wanted to work and then had a team of people around me that would enable the projects to continue regardless of whether I was functioning or not. Now, of course, I spend most of my time battling with stupid local authorities, chasing money from the DWP in disability benefits and squandering time. That’s not contributing to society at all. So if you think that people who have lost their homes can’t work. Take a look at my track record over the last 11 years and ask yourself the question yourself the question.

‘Could I have done that without a roof over my head?’

Because there are many people like me and we should get more consideration when these things are talked about.

 

LINKS TO SOME OF THE WORK PAUL IS INVOLVED WITH

Paul’s play ‘Fifty Years of Trying‘ (The last thing performed at Camden People’s Theatre before lockdown on 16th March 2020)  https://youtu.be/eNIfDAiTL6k

Paul’s Photographic Exhibition: Paul Atherton’s Greatest Londoners https://www.oxotower.co.uk/events/paul-athertons-greatest-londoners/

Just about to go in with the Museum of Homelessness as a pitch to win the 1st Gulbenkian Prize

https://twitter.com/CGF_UK/status/1348935395589971968?s=19

Appearance on Eddie Nestor’s Drive Time show on Monday night 17:40 – 18:00 (25th January 2021) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7gy

Kings Fund podcast (about Health & Homelessness) https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/podcast

Paul’s first piece for Pavement Magazine    https://www.thepavement.org.uk/. [See main article for direct link]

For more about Paul Google Paul Atherton’s Wikipedia page.