While most of the people most of the time do not achieve excellence … most of us recognize and admire excellence in others when we see it performed. Capacities for communicating in situations of social difference and conflict can be developed and deepened and a public is always better if more of its members have more developed capacities than fewer. (Iris Marion Young, 2000, p 80)

‘So then I’m in a meeting, there's twenty folk there, maybe a wee bit less, maybe fifteen folk, I’m the only normal person, I’m the only resident. Everybody else sitting at that table has qualifications like you wouldn't believe, has senior jobs within Glasgow City Council, … hundreds and hundreds of other agencies. And then there's me, … mum of two, um, wife of one. … That's incredibly intimidating. And lots of people, and I don't know that they necessarily do it deliberately, but they make it much harder for you, because they talk to each other in the language that they understand, … the language of, you know, community development. And they talk to each other using terminology that is exclusive to their jobs. When you’re a community resident, you don't know what they’re talking about. It's very, very difficult. I kinda work in the sense that I’ll just stop the meeting and I’ll say “Excuse me, what do you actually mean?” Because if they actually want me to participate, they need to explain to me what they’re talking about. It's not because I’m stupid, it's simply because I don't work in their environment and I’m not used to the terminology that they use. I shouldn't be put in that position, where I’m having to say “Go ahead and change your language so that I can understand you.” And then, nine times out of ten, for the rest of that meeting it will be toned down. But the next time you come in…’ (Mary – resident, Glasgow)