When Hurt People Gain Unchecked Power
Amplify series
This signed video includes elements of British Sign Language and Sign Supported English (SSE), alongside English subtitles to support accessibility across Deaf and hearing audiences.
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Past pain does not automatically create empathy.
Sometimes, when harm is left unexamined and power is handed over without accountability, the damage gets redirected onto others.
There’s a dangerous assumption that people who have experienced hardship will naturally lead with compassion.
Sometimes they do.
But sometimes unresolved trauma becomes entangled with authority.
A person who once felt powerless may begin controlling others once they gain power.
Not always through obvious aggression.
Sometimes it looks like:
controlling information
punishing honesty
creating fear
withholding support
rewriting events
making people feel replaceable
using authority to avoid accountability
And because they may carry their own story of pain, people around them often excuse harmful behaviour.
"They’ve been through a lot."
"That’s just how they are."
"They mean well."
Meanwhile, employees, families, vulnerable people, and those with less power often absorb the consequences.
This becomes especially harmful when systems reward authority but ignore emotional safety.
Titles are handed out.
Power increases.
Oversight disappears.
And when organisations focus only on qualifications, seniority, reputation, or productivity, without examining how someone uses power—harm can quietly repeat itself.
Unhealed pain is not the issue on its own.
Unchecked power is.
Especially when systems protect those in authority more quickly than the people affected by them.
Being hurt does not give someone permission to hurt others.
And surviving harm does not automatically mean someone has healed from it.
Without awareness, accountability, and safeguards – pain can become something that gets passed downward.
Are we paying enough attention to how people gain power, or only noticing harm after others are already carrying it?
