Covid&disability acses

 Covid has affected us all,I was curious to what the differences were within the chronic illness community. Many of whom  already isolated. 

When lockdown started

 I saw many posts claiming it's impossible work/stay at home and were remarkably angry, living a life many of us routinely lead.

Thousands experience 'lock down' life everyday, we have no choice and ironically are the ones who hope that people will try to minimise the risk of spreading covid by being sensible and taking government advice.

99% of chronically ill people have lost friends,jobs,education or family through lack of understanding. I'm used to the way I live,what plays on my mind is other people's perceptions. Glimpsing our lives for a few months has hopefully given others an idea of life for a disabled or chronically ill person.

Who now feel left by society as everything begins to ease. confessing it seems unfair that pubs,restaurants,cinemas and theme parks can reopen whilst they still can't get access to treatments. 

Many carers/parents have Struggled to balance everything whilst looking after their child or multiple children, without access to help. 

As everything begins to gain normality again,businesses and high streets are cutting off vital disabled access, to allow for social distancing. Instead of ensuring safety

and providing vital disabled access to those who need it. 

A prime example in Stroud is the council who have recently cut off on-street parking,leaving many blue badge holders  frustrated and upset. 

Noticing the impact on mental and physical health. Activist @wheelsnoheels set up a petition to get our rights back. Disability charity Scope are responding by sending an open letter to the government to these issues seen to. 

If you would like to sign the link is below: 

https://www.change.org/p/justin-tomlinson-mp-bring-back-disabled-parking-access-is-a-right-not-a-privilege?recruiter=1142806896&recruited_by_id=920440b0-e27bd-11ea-9771-079c563a79db&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard

Toy like me

 As a child Rebecca Atkinson struggled to find toys that represented her way of life.

Noting how this can make a person feel she decided to do something about it.

With over twenty years of experience working in T.V production and Journalism and a passion for change,

In 2015 alongside writer Melissa Mostyn,former Ragdoll play consultant and Karen Newell whose son has a visual impairment. 

She established ToyLikeMe in hope to strengthen the global toy industry and encourage them to start positively mirroring the 150 million children worldwide who have a disability. 

The team began by looking over pre existing toys, recreating them to represent disability fighting back against normal prejudices and interpretations that surround it. 

Designing playmobil guide dogs,wizards with wheelchairs and many more,kicking off a petition for change. Backed by fifty thousand people. 

Toy like me's inclusive designs hit the press,their story shared all over the world, playmobil quickly acknowledged the success, and aided by Rebbecca began creating products inspired by toylikeme's designs 

After this success another petition was set up calling upon Lego, this petition reached over 20 thousand people. Athough never responded to Toy like me didn't give up, instead uploading a wheelchair father Christmas design to legos ideas platform. Where fans can vote for their favourite design. 

 In January 2016 Lego's first ever wheelchair-using mini-figure was displayed at Nuremberg Toy Fair. This story built up Worldwide coverage praising ToyLikeMe’s influence, to legos new product. 

February 2016 sow Tinkerbell in a whole new light, as images of Toy like me's design  donned hot pink cochlear implants. These images were shared thousands of times,making global press. 

Over the years Toy like me has grown to become an arts and play based non profit organisation. 

 Whose aim is to  create more art and design projects,continuing to educate by holding workshops and public exhibitions. Their hope being  to influence the global toy industry into becoming more inclusive. 

If you would like to read more you can find Toy like me here: 

https://www.toylikeme.org/ 

https://m.facebook.com/toylikeme/

https://twitter.com/toylikeme?s=09 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/341147740501642563/

 

CBBC'S Malory Towers

 

Following the adventures of Darrell Rivers’ CBBC’s Malory Towers, adaptation brings a modern day twist to the much loved 1940’s boarding school drama series. 

The series begins with twelve year old Darrell running through a train station ready to start her new life 

staying true to the original story,plot and characters

CBBC’s alteration introduces us to a modern retelling. 

 we see into Sally, Darrell and Gwendoline’s lives before attending the school. 

Throughout the show we discover what bravery and courage truly mean while we allow ourselves to accept our faults and see beyond them.  

Gain teachings on growing up in the forever changing post war Britain.

Learning  knowledge on various medical conditions. As we learn of Emily's mother Margret's arthritis,which she tries to hide in fear of losing her job.  glimpsing into Darell's struggles with reading and  a mini storyline on Sally's appendicitis. 

Countless children will be able to relate to Darrell's word bllindness (dyslexia) , showing them that life gives you many ups and downs and it's okay to not have all the answers. Lessons they can take on and use everyday. 

I was lucky enough to speak sixteen year old Beth Bradfield an actress from Wales who made her T.V debut playing Jean in Malory Towers 

After completing sixth form Beth hopes to continue acting, sending out the message that " having a visible difference is normal - whatever you look like you are beautiful and you definitely shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Be confident, be bold, put yourself out there because you can and if anyone says you can’t act, model, run, swim, sing, achieve - prove them wrong! I hope that with my television appearance I can inspire people with visible differences to pursue their passions and do what they love without the fear." 

She feels it is "extremely important especially for people with visible differences and/or disabilities" to be able to see themselves represented on screen "because in day-to-day life we often don’t see people who look like us or even other people who don’t necessarily look like everyone else which can make school, work and other public situations feel like a lonely experience,to see someone, you can relate to on screen reinforces the fact that we are not alone and that out there somewhere there is somebody else who doesn’t quite look like the people we see around us. " 

And agrees that CBBC's subtle inclusion, "helps normalise difference" going on to say "If a child notices that their peer has a disability or visible difference in school, the child might not say anything about it as they would relate it to someone on screen who is similar to their peer therefore illustrating to them that it is ‘normal’ to look/ act/ do things differently and it doesn’t need an explanation, they just are who they are and that’s okay."

No one guessed Malory Towers would gain such a positive response although being a part of production left Beth loving what the team had created.

The Malory Towers's fanbase continues to grow larger everyday. 

Thanking the fans Beth said she feels "so incredibly grateful for people all over the world who have watched and loved the show."

A massive thank you to Beth for taking the time  to answer my questions, another to her mum Catherine for passing them on and to the people at the BBC for reading over everything and checking everything was okay. 

You can catch up with Malory Towers on BBCIplayer or the FamilyChannel