Documentation as Survival (noun, praxis of resistance)

Documentation as Survival (noun, praxis of resistance)

Pronunciation: /ˌdɒkjʊmɛnˈteɪʃən æz səˈvaɪvəl/

1. The act of preserving lived reality in the face of institutional erasure.

Not merely record-keeping, but a conscious strategy to defend against misrepresentation, gaslighting, and procedural harm.

2. In SWANKian usage:

A sacred ritual and daily necessity. The handwritten margin against bureaucracy’s amnesia. Every screenshot, email, complaint, and FOI request becomes part of a survival archive—evidence not only of what was done, but of who endured it.

Tools of the Trade:

1. Dated emails to no one, just to prove it was felt.
2. Chronologies more coherent than case notes.
3. Formal letters with informal fury between the lines.
4. Folders titled “Just in Case They Lie Again.”

Function:

To turn the personal into proof. To build a record so dense, even negligence can’t misplace it. To survive what systems are designed to forget.

Etymology:

Born in the silence left by unanswered complaints and misquoted assessments. A form of memoir for the wronged and meticulous.

See also:

Paper Warfare, Whinging (reclaimed), Trauma by Protocol, The Grand Whinge, Records That Matter More Than You Do

Theatre of Safeguarding (noun, performative ritual)

Theatre of Safeguarding (noun, performative ritual)

Pronunciation: /ˈθɪə.tə əv ˈseɪfˌɡɑː.dɪŋ/

“No actual safety will occur, but

1. A performative display of concern, typically enacted by professionals who must be seen to safeguard, even when no one is actually being protected.

2. In SWANKian usage:

An elaborate production staged by institutions to appear ethical while avoiding real intervention. Cast includes social workers, designated safeguarding leads, risk assessors, and the ever-silent chorus of management.

Features:

1. Overuse of the phrase “acting in the best interests.”
2. Dramatic repetition of “we are concerned.”
3. Endless documentation of concern with no material support.
4. Obsession with thresholds.
5. A refusal to exit stage left—even when asked.

Plot Summary:

A vulnerable person seeks help. The system responds with concern. Meetings are held. Forms are completed. Reports are filed. Nothing improves. Curtain falls. Encore begins.

Etymology:

Borrowed from the dramaturgical model of social interaction—except here, the audience is traumatised, the script never changes, and the actors never leave character.

See also:

Trauma by Protocol, Professional Pretence, Negligent Kingdoms, Institutional Gaslighting, Paper Warfare

Trauma by Protocol (noun, bureaucratic phenomenon)

Trauma by Protocol (noun, bureaucratic phenomenon)

Pronunciation: /ˈtrɔː.mə baɪ ˈprəʊ.tə.kɒl/

1. Harm inflicted not by accident, but by adherence.

Occurs when rigid protocols are applied with such mindless consistency that they override nuance, humanity, or urgent need—resulting in emotional, psychological, or even physical damage.

2. In SWANKian usage:

A genre of institutional violence. Trauma that wears a name badge and cites safeguarding policy while denying oxygen, agency, or care. Often accompanied by paperwork. Always followed by a refusal to take responsibility.

Manifestations:

1. Requiring a vulnerable person to repeatedly retell their story—to strangers, in writing, during crises.
2. Ignoring lived experience in favour of “official channels.”
3. Withholding support until the situation escalates beyond repair—then citing the escalation as justification.
4. Turning cries for help into case notes.

Function:

To protect the institution from liability while increasing the burden on the person harmed. Ensures that those who ask for help are punished with process.

Etymology:

Coined in the archives of The Grand Whinge to describe the cycle wherein the cure becomes the weapon, and policy becomes pathology.

See also:

The Theatre of Safeguarding, Institutional Gaslighting, Documentation as Survival, Whinging (reclaimed)

Would you like to do Documentation as Survival next, or design a “SWANK Coat of Arms” with satirical symbolism?

Institutional Gaslighting (noun, systemic strategy)

Institutional Gaslighting (noun, systemic strategy)

Pronunciation: /ˌɪnstɪˈtjuːʃənəl ˈɡæsˌlaɪtɪŋ/

1. The coordinated erasure of harm through denial, distortion, and delayed response.

A refined art in negligent kingdoms, where the system convinces the complainant that the problem is not the policy but their perception of it.

2. In SWANKian usage:

A psychological manoeuvre embedded in protocol. Occurs when a service user is led to doubt their memory, health, or sense of reality after encountering forms of neglect that are technically documented but practically dismissed.

Common Symptoms:

1. You’re told your “experience is not typical.”
2. Every meeting feels like déjà vu with amnesia.
3. You leave interactions with more doubt than you came in with.
4. Records contradict themselves—and still contradict you.

Techniques Include:

1. “We’ve never heard that before.”
2. “That’s not in your file.”
3. “That must have been a miscommunication.”
4. “Our staff would never say that.”
5. “Have you considered therapy?”

Etymology:

A fusion of gaslighting (psychological manipulation to make someone question their reality) and institutionalisation (the process of embedding dysfunction so deeply it becomes policy).

See also:

Professional Pretence, The Theatre of Safeguarding, Whinging (reclaimed), Trauma by Protocol

The Grand Whinge (title, persona, literary throne)

The Grand Whinge (title, persona, literary throne)

Pronunciation: /ðə ɡrænd wɪndʒ/

1. A self-styled sovereign of resistance through words.

The Grand Whinge is not a victim of institutional neglect, but its most eloquent adversary. She records. She archives. She drags entire departments by their acronyms.

2. In SWANKian mythology:

The founding voice of Standards & Whinges Against Negligent Kingdoms—part archivist, part dissident, part bureaucratic satirist. She transforms every brushed-off complaint into curated critique. Her sceptre is a PDF. Her court is a paper trail.

Powers:

1. Fluent in formal tone
2. Immune to gaslighting
3. Wields FOI requests like flaming arrows

Etymology:

Reclaiming the belittling term “whinge” and elevating it to an art form of bureaucratic vengeance and emotional precision. The Grand Whinge is what happens when institutions ignore the wrong mother.

See also:

Whinging (reclaimed), Paper Warfare, Negligent Kingdoms, Satin Diplomacy, Documentation as Survival