To HATE the phrase "lived experience"?

Did you read my post? I don’t work in academic publishing. That something is the case in the world of academia or medicine doesn’t mean it was the case in the wider world.

Clearly it’s spread beyond that usage but has become meaningless in the process. I can assure you that in my work (non-academic, just to be clear) it is used predominantly in an oxymoronic way.

I think it's incredibly useful term for anyone involved in support services.
I'm Bipolar. I've been sectioned several times.
I've also worked in the domestic violence unit for 10 years but never directly experience significant domestic violence to myself.

If we are trying to plan a new service for the local authority I work for I can have good experience as a worker for the domestic violence uni. I understand how the systems work but I haven't had lived experience of it or understood what it is like to go through the system and therefore it's important to speak people with lived experience.

Equally I would be able to talk about lived experience of bipolar and the service provision there.

For generations services have been made without the inputs of people with lived experience if the issues services are trying to tackle. Creating ineffective services.

This is slowly changing then when it's been done properly I've seen really impressive.

I think this is one of those terms where clarification word has been needed. It may seem nuanced but the impact isn't.

It doesn’t make sense. The reporter has “lived experience” of the war zone.

Why not just say the reporter has experienced being in a war zone and the civilian has experienced loss and trauma?

In my experience the people who object to the concept of things like "lived experience " are those who get outraged at the suggestion that their opinion isn't as valueable as that of others on certain topics - white women talking about racism in the UK springs to mind, or the able bodied talking about accessibility issues.

You can watch a ferry leaving Portsmouth and that apparently is 'experience of shipping'.

Oh and yes it did exist 10 years ago, at least in the mental health field.

You are still misunderstanding how it is used op.

I hate the phrase "lean in" for the same reasons.

You mean "do something" fgs - can't stand these Americanisms.

I thought the OP was having a light hearted rant but after that last post it’s starting to get quite unpleasant. I work in the health and social care sector where the term ‘lived experience’ is used frequently and I’ve never heard a single complaint about it. I don’t use it to make myself sound clever. I use the term to give more meaning and impact about some of the most vulnerable people in our society to try and effect positive outcomes to the quality of their lives,

Maybe life is too short sometimes.

But that person you were talking to would surely be a doctor as you've said, and their own personal experience isn't something they'd mention (usually.)

So they'd not need to clarify 'lived' or not.

It’s a shame then that you are so unable to grasp the meaning of this phrase, if it’s part of your job. It’s not like using ‘myself’.

Another example within health, given that many are banging on about that.

My mother had terminal cancer (she just had it. She didn’t have lived experience of it. Using more words doesn’t change the facts.)

Her oncologist was experienced in treating cancer. Whether her oncologist had ever had cancer herself was bloody irrelevant. Her “lived experience” was not the experience at hand.

This is a very good description.

We use it in my line of work, theres a big difference. I experience the impact of poverty and neglect when i go into my work families homes, whereas it is the families lived experience.

But historically people didn’t make this distinction. They just thought they knew better than people with actual experience. In mental health, this was and is a massive issue. I’m going to hide this thread now as I’m getting really annoyed with you but please at least try to understand - right now you’re not even trying.

You mean the University of Life?

That's what people used to say for 'experience' rather than having a degree.

I have to say I didn’t realise that this is even a phrase. I have used these two words put together - on the MN education boards - when pointing out to two other posters that yes I do know what my disabled child has experienced in education, and no I am not lying. I was pointing out my fact vs their baseless opinion.

This.

It’s a very useful term, and used in multiple ways.

I would reflect on the reasons behind why it enrages you.

This is about your reaction - so when someone uses that term what comes up for you? Is their experience more worthy than yours? They are seen as more important somehow? You don’t feel very experienced yourself? Look at your own reactions. It’s just a word, so your reaction is what is important here.

Of course it is relevant. It’s part of my job to ensure the text makes sense and isn’t gibberish. I’m not working on academic texts either.

To me, it’s on a par with using myself instead of me. A longer word/more words to make you look more intelligent, only it has the opposite effect. It’s also very tied in with identity politics.

That is my experience (no need for lived, the experience is mine) working in publishing. And it simply didn’t exist 10 years ago.

I'd love to know how.

You can't experience something if you're dead.

You can observe something as a bystander, but 'lived experience' is a great example of tautology.

A related phrase is expert by experience which is used to differentiate from professional expertise.

Yes. And people need to keep their whole selves at home, and only bring their work selves to work.

I disagree.

If someone in medicine told me they had experience in my clinical issue, I would assume they meant experience in treating it. There own lived experience isn't necessarily helpful in that situation.