Hi readers, it’s Emily and William here this week on the subject of Special Days. That’s because, as we write this, we’ve just been reminded it’s International Women’s Day today.

Is it us, or are there a lot more of these ‘special days’? We know that yesterday was World Book Day and Tuesday was Pancake Day. Then we have Red Nose Day coming up along with Mothers Day, and next week it’s World Downs Syndrome Day and Poetry Day, which we are celebrating with People First Dorset.

That doesn’t include other days in March like Commonwealth Day or No Smoking Day and then other March week celebrations like National Science and Engineering Week or Brain Awareness Week

We think it’s good to have special days or weeks to raise awareness, but are there too many now? We think special days which support charities or issues affecting people’s lives are good, because they can help to raise awareness and funds.

We think that some of the days though may be more about the shops being able to sell more, like Mothers or Fathers Day, or Valentines Day. Surely we should be nice to our parents or our loved ones every day, and don’t need a special day for that?

We also think that people can get left out. What about those of us who are not mothers or fathers. For example, is there an ‘Auntie or Uncle’s Day’? We have since looked it up and there is. It’s July 26th, so there you go.

We expect we will see more and more ‘celebration’ weeks or days. We just hope that the impact of the really important ones doesn’t get less because people start to get fed up of all these special days. Let’s hope so!

The writers of the Our View column are supported in their editing by The Friendship Club– a project for adults with learning disabilities, run by People First Dorset