Pam Duncan-Glancy: Hero of the Year 2022

Bad things happen on good days. I was humbled to collect an award last year for my work as an MSP and for my work on my Young Disabled People’s Transition to Adulthood Bill. A good day for me. In celebrating, I danced a bit too vigorously and lost my engagement ring. A bad thing. 

In politics, the good and the bad are far more significant than that example. But when the bad grinds us down, we need to try – and some days we need to dig deeper than others to do this – to remember that good things still happen, even when the bad stuff feels overwhelming.

On those days, I look to the outstanding work of grassroots campaigns. They – joined up with good politicians, using the powers of parliament for purpose – change lives.

That’s been key to the support for my bill, and probably what made it award-winning.

Back Off Scotland is another example, which is why I was delighted to see Green MSP Gillian Mackay’s work on this up for the same award. When I met Back Off Scotland last year, their passion and graft in the name of women’s safety and human rights was palpable. In the face of bile and harassment, bad and indeed wrong on any day, they’ve worked tirelessly to end the harassment of women outside abortion clinics. Gillian Mackay has taken their fight to the parliament with her law to create buffer zones to protect women – which has my full support.

Now, there may be a few days (likely months) between now and when that law comes in and there will be many bad days to come on this. Nonetheless, that campaign and the people who support it will be doing good things, for women in Scotland, every day until then. 

My colleagues Jackie Baillie MSP, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP and Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP are other examples of people in politics doing good things in the midst of bad days. Their work on long Covid has been tireless and there is barely a week goes by without them using their platform in parliament to push the Scottish Government to do more.

And there are many other examples: Edward Mountain MSP’s campaign to raise awareness of bowel cancer, in the midst of some of the worst days of his life, turned bad news into good awareness; Paul Sweeney MSP’s drug death bill will save lives – the day it passes, will be a good day, and one which may end countless bad days for people who’s lives are lost to drugs.

And, despite the constant struggle for disability equality and the many bad days that brings, the day my bill on young disabled people’s transitions to adulthood entered parliament was a good day for disabled people in Scotland, and probably one of the best of my life.

The truth is, politics can (and should) change lives. Sometimes, it’s easy to lose sight of that. I’ve been an activist, campaigning for change for decades, and a politician only recently. In that time, I’ve learned that in and out of parliament, politics changes lives. On bad days – no matter how numerous – good things happen. And the opposite is also true. So, as we face tomorrow, let us remember, regardless how hard it gets, politics can change lives. Keep going.