What this page is about
Every adult in this country gets a water bill, an energy bill, a phone bill, and a letter from the NHS or DWP from time to time.
These ought to be simple to read. They aren't. The language is dense, the layout buries what matters, and the assumption underneath is that you'll either accept what you're told or give up trying to challenge it.
For disabled and older people, the same problem is harder again. Add a Disabled Students' Allowance form, an Access to Work assessment, a sheltered-housing bundle of contracts — same pattern, higher impact on your budget .
This page makes the case that the technology already in people's pockets — voice transcription, text-to-speech, search, basic AI, the phone camera — can put back decison making into the hands of the person being billed.
Not to replace Citizens Advice, or advice from consumer watchdogs which give informationonthe best deals This is to give a tool kit to personal interactions
and decisionmaking we makein our day to day.
It those questiosn you have to deal wwith those quick interaction,
- a long statement from a water company or phonecall from you telphone company.
To meet the institution at the level it sets.
The Policy · runs alongside the practice
Demystifying documents with a lot of words that give you headache
Helping people use the technology in their pocket to read, question, and answer the companies that bill them
Universal
Energy bills
Tariffs designed to confuse.
Smart-meter readings that don't match what arrives in the post.
The emails responded to with a generic answer.
The posting of raise concernd buried in company file and avoid.
A website with language used to describe clients as mental, and when challenged deflect any response
Universal
Phone bills and Watch dog which does not protect the public
We also worked with a vulnerable client in the nineties she lives in a sheltered accommodation. He had been rung up by his telephone company and mis-sold package of channels in February 2025. When it came to challenging this company over the costs when he receives his bill was threatened with the penalty if he broke the contract.
This use of a threat, after using language in a cold call on a client to 2 years earlier had been maliciously struck by a scam involving an individual driving into the sheltered accommodation and impersonating a police officer so that they could remove money from their accounts was challenged. During the investigation we discovered that this company had lost a lot of data which may explain why a person who doesn’t use a mobile phone or social media got selected.
Communications & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme unlike the mobile scheme was turned into not only a challenge to the way this phone company works on complaints as we didn’t resolve it and the ombudsman that seemed to work in collusion to to a mis-copied email with the phone company. We are now working with the client MP to challenge the system as it is clearly an issue on which individual is being farmed for data as well as sales without any governance.
Universal
Water bills
Errors, estimated reads, charges nobody understands.
The bill you can't refuse.
The website you find to navigate.
The acroynms that are meaningless compliance.
The muitlayed use of governace bodies ot avoid issue within the supply of helathy water and the ability ot cahllenge a concern
Universal
Health letters
NHS appointments, referrals, results — written in language that often loses the patient on the first line..
The use of offical language to remove rasing of concerns.
The process required to challenge a concern.
The use of charities and support thta able to navigat e the language within in document gvien by hospitals.
I worked as an associate assistive technology trainer for seven years, helped a docker use software so he respond to email for his son's school . Hi
I watched a man required to use AI tools just to read the letters the DWP had sent him.
In 2025 the company I worked tfor collapsed, it was a non profit it was know for is support on right on causes and run by neuro diverse folk.
It didn't stop them leaving more than a hundred mostly disabled associates unpaid. A new company with overlapping directors appeared the day before the liquidation was announced.
So I submitted twelve Freedom of Information requests — as a zero-hours worker with no obligation to do so — to every institution whose logo appeared on the new company's website. The FOI process was the only accountability that existed.The other element that was open was just reviewing the many tiered systems that disability student allowance and access to work ran.
Both regarded as works in progress but nothing had changed in the past 15 years, I noticed the system that was more processed base than responding to the needs of the users. As a worker who worked with technology with the students or access to work I also noticed how subcontracting along with the multitiered system created an expensive unwieldy way of dealing with issues.
I thought why not just work bottom-up with people who know the technology conversing with everyone. This of universal learning system as the past 7 years has shown me that technology is not the future but just another tool sold to make a profit and it's useful to have a discussion about how it can work with the strengths and weaknesses of each individual.
That investigation became the policy paper — The Case for an Assistive Technology Library Model. The argument: disability technology support should work the way public libraries do. Borrowable. Returnable. Advised on by people who know how to listen , how technolygy works and how you can create a work flow . Available without a diagnosis, without a five-tier contracting chain, without having to prove you're broken enough to deserve it.
Specialist equipment or a system for everyone to learn
DSA & AtW
The disability technology system, which has not widen it scope on supporting everyone .It is now reform under a cost cutting process
The lack of acknowledgemnet in how technology require an independent converastion in person that is in person.
The creation of process that are more focus on improving the process .Rather than the outcomes.
12
FOI responses behind the report
29.7%
of delivered sessions lost in the contracting chain..
289%
rise in Access to Work processing time (NAO HC 1644)
Funding shouldn't be a tier-based subcontracting exercise with cost as the end objective. It should be a conversation about whether the work being funded actually reaches the people it's for. We document our own bids and refusals openly for the same reason we document residents' stories — so the record is honest, and so the system that handles the money is answerable to the same standards as the people using it.
For The Record's stance
The Directors
David Manuell
Founder & Director · day-to-day delivery
The narrative above. Neurodivergent practitioner — dyslexia, with lived experience of ADHD and autism. The day-to-day work at Ditchburn, the Library Model, the bids, the writing, the site all sit with me.
"David's got this rare mix of patience, tons of knowledge, and knowing exactly which programme suits each person. He showed me how to use each tool step-by-step and really cared about making things easier for me." — Chaviva Pink, Head of HR, Amsy
Michael Charkow
Director · psychology, community and ecology
Psychology at Edinburgh University and four years at Garvald West Linton, where Michael and I first worked together. He later taught English in Japan. For fifteen years he has run Arbor Vitae Arboriculture Ltd, a tree consultancy near Edinburgh — tree surveys, bat habitat assessments, Miyawaki forests designed for biodiversity. Writes for the Arboricultural Association on forest regeneration; has climbed rainforest trees in Borneo and India.
"Michael was professional, knowledgeable and very helpful. He explained everything clearly and gave me confidence in the decisions I needed to make." — Trusted Trader review, 2025
Coming into operational delivery from 2028, when the first three-year funding cycle opens.
Chris McGeown
Director · outdoor education and youth work
Twenty-five years in outdoor education and youth work, designing programmes for young people aged 12 to 25 — leadership training, community engagement, social and environmental connection.
"Chris doesn't just lead — he listens. He helps people find their own strength, even when they don't see it yet." — Participant feedback
Coming into operational delivery from 2028, when the first three-year funding cycle opens.
How For The Record is run
A Community Interest Company limited by guarantee, registered in England (No. 16630605), incorporated 4th August 2025.
Three directors, each a person of significant control with an equal stake. No shareholders, no profit distribution.
A statutory asset lock: the organisation's assets are committed permanently to its community purpose and can't be paid out to directors.
Accountable to Companies House and the CIC Regulator through the annual CIC34 community-benefit report and confirmation statement.
Currently in evidence-building phase. Operational expansion is timed to a three-year funding cycle opening in 2028, when Michael and Chris move into delivery roles alongside David.
Registered office: 19 Holland Street, Cambridge, CB4 3DL.
Education
BA in Architecture & Design
2006-2010
University of Woodbury
MA in Architecture
2010-2012
University of Chicago
Employment
Over the last few years, I’ve built my own architecture studio up. From just one person to a team of 12 now, Arnold Davidson Architecture stands for balance, integrity, and quality. We never compromise on two things: durability and comfort. Working with high-quality materials helps us achieve both. Spaces are meant for people, and not vice-versa – that’s our guiding principle whatever project we work on.
LCArchitects is one of the most innovative officers in New York and I was ecstatic to be part of it. It has shaped my spatial planning career as I got to work with not only industrial spaces, but also public ones. Figuring out the flows of people, while challenging at first, is now one of my absolute strongpoints. At LCArchitects, I worked on the TXK’s new neighborhood planning and Ohio Wood Company’s headquarters.
In my role at the highly progressive UNTStudio in Shanghai, I had the best chance to learn about the architectural principles that my colleagues in China used. This has influenced my work greatly. I now strive to strike the right balance between form and function even harder. Projects I worked on included the Shanghai Great Theater and the D.O. Architects new office building in the city center.
Design architect
2012-2014
UNTStudio, Shanghai, China
2014-2018
LCArchitects, New York, USA
Senior Industrial Architect
Head of Architecture
2018-2020
Arnold Davidson Architecture, New York, USA
“
What clients say about me
Arnold is relentless in his approach. Once he has a plan, he will work at it until exact precision is achieved. Form his blueprints, to the renders and then the actual results – the consistency he and his team is able to achieve is just remarkable.
- Adjaye Associates
It has been a delight working with Arnold and his studio team on our latest residential complex build. From start to finish, he was professional and made sure that the final result is of the highest quality. Our unreserved recommendation goes out to Arnold.
- ECA
“
For The Record CIC · Company No. 16630605 · 19 Holland Street, Cambridge, CB4 3DL
When something doesn't work we take time to talk out loud and work through it together.
07754016940
info@davidmanuell.com