DRM - Disability Review Magazine - Winter 2023/24

Bright Ideas for Tennis Taking the pressure out of PE for kids Keeping Finance Personal

DISABILIT Y REVIEW MAGA ZINE

DRM meets:

HANNAH WITTON ‘This Is Going To Be Big’ at the BFI London Film Festival

FOOD & DRINK: Cosy Coffee and Cinnamon Cake With Nuts

WINTER 2023/24

with Ellyce Fulmore

Cool Crutches “They’re unavailable in hospital grey!”

TRAVEL & LEISURE:

Is cruising the perfect holiday for wheelchair users?

ARTS & CULTURE: “Needlepoint gets me out of my head”

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Accessibility tools that give you options and control to make the site work for you.

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CONTE CONTENTS

Winter 2023/24

EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION 14 Where are all the disabled-led organisations?

Carole Edrich voices her opinions on the lack of disabled-led organisations in the arts space

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18 The importance of charities recruiting people with lived experience Charly Flyte on their social media internship with Rethinking Mental Illness

INDEPENDENT LIVING 20 DRM meets: Hannah Witton

36 Keeping Finance Personal with Ellyce Fulmore

Including an exclusive excerpt from upcoming book Keeping Finance Personal

We chat to sex educator and content creator Hannah Witton on social media censorship, complicated feelings on the word disabled and the next season of her hit podcast Doing It!

42 When anxiety takes the lead…

28 Get to know Cool Crutches

46 What is a Thumb Soldier?

“They’re unavailable in hospital grey!”

With DRM’s columnist Dr Amo Raju

A small business making gaming accessible

50 Pivoting to Publishing

An interview with editor and author Jen Parker

TRAVEL, ARTS & LEISURE

28 04

54 Can you be converted to Glamping?

Carole Edrich explores accessible glamping in HayOn-Wye

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46 58 Is cruising the perfect holiday for wheelchair users?

Travel writer Daniel Edward investigates

61 ‘Any Work That Wanted Doing’

An exciting new exhibition in Leeds by disabled artists, curated

by Gill Crawshaw

64 ‘This Is Going To Be Big’ at the BFI London Film Festival

DRM talks to director Thomas Charles Hyland and cast of ‘This Is Going To Be Big’ disabilit yreviewmagazine.co.uk

NTS

CONTENTS

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Executive Editor: Lee Gatland

Art Director: Richard Hejsak

Managing Editor:

Chloe Johnson chloe@sevenstarmedia.co.uk

Sales Team:

01959 543 650 sales@sevenstarmedia.co.uk

Published by

SEVEN STAR MEDIA LTD 184 Main Road, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent Tel: 01959 543659 disabilityreviewmagazine.co.uk

68 “Needlepoint gets me out of my head” Hannah Bass & Mary Broddle on crafts and mental health

74 A Smartphone Safari With Jet Black Squares

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What is an accessible smartphone safari?

COVER CREDITS:

SPORTS

Rebecca Need-Menear

78 Bright Ideas for Tennis Taking the pressure out of PE for kids

81 Why Accessible Sport Matters The Evenbreak team explore why they’re so passionate about accessible sport

FOOD AND DRINK 83 Beki’s Fibro Soup

‘Tis the season for a winter warmer disabilit yreviewmagazine.co.uk

84 Cosy Coffee and Cinnamon Cake With Nuts Jane Hutton, known as blogger The Functional Foodie, shares her recipe

85 HelloFresh welcomes the festive season!

Why food subscription services may be useful during the holiday period

Disclaimer: Disability Review Magazine (DRM) is published three times per annum by Seven Star Media Ltd. No part of DRM may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted to any form without permission. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of Seven Star Media Ltd, and are included to provide advice only. No content is a substitute for professional medical advice. During printing, images may be subject to a 15% variation. © Copyright of content belongs to individual contributors with the magazine copyright belonging to Seven Star Media. All rights reserved. Please either keep this magazine for future reference, pass it on for somebody else to read, or recycle it.

Winter 2023/24 | DR M MAGA Z I N E

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WELCOME

WELCOME

From the

EDITOR

W

ith winter seemingly arriving all at once – did anybody else miss the transition through autumn? – I’ve been thinking a lot about change, specifically noticing how and why things are changing. When invited to the BFI Film Festival to watch This Is Going To Be Big, and interview the cast, I was struck by how one of the stars of the film, a young girl with anxiety called Elyse, was enjoying picking up tiny bugs from crevices in her school playground. I remember when I used to do this as a kid, and how it felt just to really notice something and appreciate it. I think the thing I missed the most about the lack of an autumn we’ve had this year has been the swiftness with which we’ve had to process the new season, the lack of small markers that really help you notice that change is on its way.

Whether it’s about a personal journey learning to identify as disabled, as we see in cover star Hannah Witton’s interview, or a more outward facing query as to the lack of disabled-led arts organisations, this issue is focused on noticing change, or a lack there-of.

One of the articles I’m really excited to share is from a trip organised by Jet Black Squares, who took me on a photography safari using

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just my phone and a joyous passion for noticing beauty in the mundane – and I realised for all I could blame growing up as the reason I don’t have the time to notice things like the beauty of a little bug anymore, there is a part of me that needs to carve out the time. The colder months are when, for me, a lot of chronic pain symptoms that have laid dormant, or in different sizes, show up again, swapping their summer versions out into their winter clothes. It’s frustrating for me to notice this change, but it’s also important that I do – ignoring it results in a worse time.

It’s frustrating for me to notice this change, but it’s also important that I do – ignoring it results in a worse time.

There is so much going on that is not hopeful to be aware of, especially in advocacy circles, and it’s easy to see why it can feel like change is not possible at times. Protecting your mental health is important, and it can feel frustrating to feel helpless, especially if your ability to affect change doesn’t feel the same as somebody else’s, due to disability or otherwise. The possibility for change, both big and small, is central to this issue – from prioritising lived experience when developing new accessibility aids, or curating art exhibitions based on activism - and I hope you all take the time to give yourself some care and grace this winter season if change doesn’t feel possible, or it feels too much. Noticing change can be both a positive and a negative, but it’s vital that we do what we can to keep ourselves aware of the small markers that change is happening. Even if it’s slow.

Chloe Johnson Winter 2023/24 | DR M MAGA Z I N E

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NEWS

1 News Years Eve at Park Igls

2 Derbyshire boy Max, 11, starts his own clothing line to help others who are autistic

NEWS BEAT

Derbyshire youngster Max Palfrey, together with his dad, Matt, has set up his own business – Comfa – which launched in October with the release of three affordable t-shirts. Aimed at those who often experience an extreme sensitivity to certain materials, seams and labels in clothing, 11-year-old Max, who is neurodivergent, wants to help others who have experienced similar challenges.

The t-shirts are made from a super-soft material and have PopIts - popular fidget toys often used by neurodivergent people to help them sooth and self-regulate - in the seams. Called the Fidget-T, the t-shirts feature unique Pop-Its sewn into the seams, where the arms naturally fall, so it can be used as a calming technique without it being obvious.

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Remember Carole Edrich’s glowing review of her stay at the Park Igls, Innsbruck in our summer issue? They have a New Year’s Eve Program and special price for people wanting to start 2024 in a healing and healthy way.

It is a six-night post-Christmas detox that starts on Boxing Day, includes a personalised itinerary of extensive health checks, massages, therapeutic and diagnostic treatments, delicious organic food and festive entertainment.

Carole says the magical winter views, fresh air, calming environment and the beautiful location on the slopes above Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol are her idea of a Christmas fantasy. For more information visit park-igls.com or call +43 512 377305.

Dr. Amo Raju O.B.E. Wins at the ITV News National Diversity Awards

DRM’s columnist Dr. Amo Raju OBE DL has won the Lifetime Achiever Award at The National Diversity Awards 2023 in association with ITV News. Broadcasting legend Clare Balding CBE hosted the 12th annual National Diversity Awards on Friday 15th September, saying ‘Amo has spent nearly three decades campaigning for a society where all people can achieve their potential.’

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Winter 2023/24 | DR M MAGA Z I N E

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NEWS

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TfL backs active bystander training to help empower Londoners to take a stand against hate crime

Transport for London (TfL) is funding hundreds of places on free training sessions to empower people to take action to prevent or reduce harm when they encounter hate crime, to mark the UK’s marks National Hate Crime Awareness Week. It builds on TfL’s campaigns highlighting the important role

4 Reforestation charity Word Forest update e-accessibility options for World Sight Day

Word Forest, an international reforestation charity based in East Devon, are always looking for ways to improve how they convey stories about the climate emergency. Visitors to their website who have visual impairments may recognise the blue accessibility symbol on the top right of each page.

It offers a range of viewing options including a monochrome screen, various font and background colours, high contrast and different typefaces.

By World Sight Day on the 12th of October, the team recorded and uploaded all 457 articles in their news feed. There are also now audio players on each of the different pages of their website. The news feed contains a diverse range of articles about their projects empowering women by reforesting Kenya. It also contains broader sustainable living pieces that encourage people to be better all-round environmentalists.

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DR M MAGA Z I N E | Winter 2023/24

fellow passengers can play in preventing and deescalating incidents and supporting those being targeted.

Throughout National Hate Crime Awareness Week, TfL supported the police to run a series of events across the transport network, to raise awareness of hate crime and reassure those who may lack confidence to travel on public transport. TfL is also sponsoring popular podcasts My Time Capsule and Upfront to look at why tackling hate crime and staff abuse is so important, reiterating TfL’s zero-tolerance stance.

Hundreds of places are also being offered to people living in London to take part in Active Bystander Awareness training, developed and delivered by charity Protection Approaches and their partners Britain’s East and South East Asian Network (besea.n). With the course partly funded by the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC), TfL has contributed to this funding to expand the reach of the training to more Londoners, as part of its work to tackle hate crime.

Designability win The Baby Products Association’s 2023 Concept & Innovation Award on Monday 16 October.

Known for designing innovative products that help disabled people live with greater independence, Bath-based charity, Designability, launched their revolutionary accessible pushchair for wheelchair users at Harrogate’s International Nursery Fair in October 2023, and have gone on to win The Baby Products Association’s 2023 Concept & Innovation Award. disabilit yreviewmagazine.co.uk

NEWS

8 Dash rehab introduces new smart powered wheelchair for ‘techsavvy’ users

Mobility equipment supplier Dash Rehab is pleased to introduce the second smart powered wheelchair in its range, the Robooter E40.

The E40 is a 4mph manual-fold powered aluminium wheelchair which can be controlled with a smart phone and comes with added features built into the chair. These include the ability to change the voice on the chair and cruise control.

A ‘fault find’ feature highlights if there is an issue with the chair and the end-user can receive handy updates via an app.

Built-in Bluetooth technology also turns a smart phone into an attendant control. The E40 can be ‘sent away’ or up a ramp into a car, for example.

Navigation is made easier with lighting to the front and rear of the chair.

7 7. HRH The Princess Royal launches unique educational programme at River & Rowing Museum

HRH The Princess Royal has visited the River & Rowing Museum (RRM) and Rivertime Boat Trust (RBT) in Henley-on-Thames on the 18th of September to launch a brandnew educational programme for young people and adults with special educational needs and disabilities. The pioneering initiative has been rolled out with support from the charity Give Them a Sporting Change (GTaSC), of which HRH The Princess Royal is the Guardian. The new educational programme has been jointly developed by RRM and RBT to promote education about the River Thames and the natural environment. During her visit, HRH The Princess Royal unveiled a plaque to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the opening of the museum in 1998. The occasion marked the 15th anniversary of Rivertime’s boat that has been taking disabled and disadvantaged children and adults onto the River Thames since 2008.

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Chris Packham opens up about autism diagnosis with Feelgood Wildlife Show

Chris Packham has responded to the BBC’s decision to axe the popular wildlife programme Autumnwatch by airing his own free-to-view online wildlife extravaganza ‘8 Out Of 10 Bats’.

“By making 8 Out Of 10 Bats I can convey that thrill, that joy and the sheer beauty when you immerse yourself in nature,” said

Chris. “Nature has an astonishing way of supporting our mental health and wellbeing, no matter how we experience it.”

“For me connecting with nature helps me to manage some of the challenges I face with my autism,” added Chris. “Whether walking through the woods, looking out to sea or simply watching birds on a garden feeder, nature makes a world of difference to my body and mind.”

Chris continues: “Life can sometimes feel a little forced, making you do things that you may not be very comfortable about doing. Spending time in nature is an antidote, it can make me feel much more relaxed and more comfortable. Maybe it’s because I’m free to roam and explore, to be involved in the pure sensory aspects of nature.”

Winter 2023/24 | DR M MAGA Z I N E

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“Self-Catheterising can feel like a life-changing event at first. But find the right product and the right routine, and it’ll be normal soon.”

Steve Kearley | Patient Advocate We know that Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are the biggest issue for catheter users. In the United Kingdom, 14 million people suffer from continence problems1. Although hydrophilic coated catheters (2nd generation) brought benefits compared to uncoated catheters (1st generation), users still experience problems such as discomfort, bleeding and the continued risk of UTIs.2

Traditional Hydrophilic Coating

Since the 1980s, traditional hydrophilic catheters have PVP coatings to make them lubricated when wet.

But these catheters can become sticky as they dry, causing potential discomfort on withdrawal2,3,5

Stickiness a known concern

FeelClean™ Technology is an innovative, 3rd generation technology which has been designed to reduce friction and sticking which helps protect the delicate urethra.3 GentleCath™ is the only range of intermittent catheters that offer patients integrated hydrophilic FeelClean™ Technology that protects users’ urethral health against damage and trauma, whilst reducing infection risk and mess.2,4

with FeelCleanTM Technology

An innovation to solve the problem

By building hydrophilic technology into the core catheter material, Convatec’s FeelClean™ Technology removes the need for PVP coatings.

With no coating; it also removes the expected risk of stickiness or coating residue being left behind on removal6,7

This catheter is significantly better on removal.

Pain is significantly reduced for patients who catheterise regularly.

Rachel Skews Urology Nurse Practitioner | North Bristol NHS Trust

90%

of users rated GentleCath™ with FeelClean™ Technology better than their usual catheter for comfort during use.8 Allowing you to provide your patients with a comfortable cathing experience without the fear of causing more problems. Which gives you peace of mind, setting patients free to focus on living their lives.

SCAN HERE to learn more about GentleCath™ intermittent catheters and order your free samples. Alternatively, visit: https://www.gentlecath.com/uk/ products/feelclean/ or call: 0800 587 7560

References: PVP=Polyvinylpyrrolidone.

1. Lewis A, Powell T. Bladder and Bowel Continence Care. House of Commons Library (Parliament.uk), link: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2023-0145/ Published online June 26, 2023.

2. Pollard D, Allen D, Irwin NJ, Moore JV, McClelland N, McCoy CP. Evaluation of an integrated amphiphilic surfactant as an alternative to traditional polyvinylpyrrolidone coatings for hydrophilic intermittent urinary catheters. Biotribology. Published online August 31, 2022:100223.

3. Waller L, Telander M, Sullivan L. The importance of osmolality in hydrophilic urethral catheters: a crossover study. Spinal Cord. 1997 Apr;35(4):229-33.

4. In vitro data on file.

5. Wyndaele JJ, De Ridder D, Everaert K, Heilporn A, Congard-Chassol B. Evaluation of the use of Urocath-Gel® catheters for intermittent self-catheterization by male patients using conventional catheters for a long time. Spinal Cord. 2000 Feb;38(2):97-9.

6. Alexandridis P. Amphiphilic copolymers and their applications. Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science. 1996 Aug 1;1(4):490-501.

7. Perin F, Motta A, Maniglio D. Amphiphilic copolymers in biomedical applications: Synthesis routes and property control. Materials Science and Engineering: C. 2021 Apr 1;123:111952.

8.A Multi-Centre Clinical Investigation to Assess the Performance of GentleCathTM Glide intermittent Catheters. Study U378 GentleCathTM Glide Final Report. July 2018. Data on File.

ConvaTec Inc. © 2023 Convatec. ™/® are trademarks of the Convatec group of companies. AP-64386-GBR

EDUC ATION & EMPLOYMENT

WHERE ARE ALL THE DISABLED-LED

organisations?

In a follow up to her series for DRM on Unlimited, an arts initiative to commission work from disabled artists, Carole Edrich, voices her opinions on the lack of disabled-led organisations in this space.

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EDUC ATION & EMPLOYMENT

I

I expected to find a few articles on the benefits of being in [a disabled-led organisation] online.

I was amazed to find nothing.

n my heart of hearts, I believe that most - if not all - of the best, most creative, most innovative leaders are neurodivergent or have other disabilities that they’ve hidden from others or even themselves. That’s why, when researching for a chat with Unlimited (a properly majority disabled-led organisation), I expected to find a few articles on the benefits of being in one online.

I was amazed to find nothing.

So, instead of interviewing Unlimited like I had planned, I turned to academic research. I wanted to find out: where are all the disabled-led organisations, and why aren’t there more? I found a Harvard Business Review article on ‘Disability as a source of Competitive Advantage’ (well, duh!) along with

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loads of condescending waffle on ‘understanding peoples needs’ and moving ‘towards a new partnership’.

I found well-intentioned - but still condescending - guidance papers on ‘consulting’ and ‘inclusion’. A piece from New Zealand on ‘the benefits of being a disability confident organisation’ was on the right track, but ‘disability confident’ is nowhere near ‘disabled-led’. I’m not the first person to have seen the benefits of a disabled-led organisation, so I guess they’ve not achieved the critical mass (in terms of numbers and influence) to inspire more of this type of article. In other words, why hasn’t explicit knowledge that there are benefits resulted more disabled-led organisations?

Decades ago, I remember reading about how startups and small businesses were more likely to fail if their founder only hired people who thought like them.

These days, that’s considered self-evident. Thought-leaders focus is now more on how organisations might attract a good cross section of attitudes, perspectives and abilities because the more diverse an organisation’s people, the more likely it is to be resilient and do well. Again, duh!

A report from McKinsey (‘Diversity wins: Inclusion matters’, May 2020) says: “while most have made little progress, are stalled or even slipping backward, some are making impressive gains in diversity, particularly in executive teams”. The positive outcomes are apparently due to “systemic businessled approaches” (or, as I’d say, ‘structured thinking and processes’).

The report lets itself down though, saying the research “reaffirms the strong business case for both gender diversity and ethnic and cultural diversity in corporate leadership”. So, Wiki’s number one consultancy in the world forgot to consider people who are neurodiverse and disabled!

With 15% of the UK thought to be neurodiverse, 23% with official disabilities, that’s more than a third of the population! It’s an amazing cognitive bias - a whopping big gap in their thinking.

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EDUC ATION & EMPLOYMENT

A Harvard Business Review article (Getting serious about diversity: Enough Already about the Business Case, December 2020) points out that increasing the number of ‘traditionally underrepresented people’ doesn’t automatically produce benefits. They say that what matters is whether the organisation is willing to reshape its power structure (translation: ‘listen properly, then act on it’). Better still, it calls for systemic change and continues: “to dismantle systems of discrimination and subordination, leaders must undergo the same shifts of heart, mind, and behaviour that they want for the organization as a whole and then translate those personal shifts into real, lasting change in their companies” which is great! Less great is the next bit, where the report says the first step for leaders is to “learn about how systems of privilege and oppression – racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, heterosexism – operate in the wider culture”. They might call the lack of consideration of neurodiversity and disability a cognitive bias, too…if they ever notice it.

I was getting wound up at this point of my research, so I thought I’d change tack. I searched for ‘majority disabledled organisations’. The first two links were for Disabled-Led Organisations which have, or are working towards, a majority of disabled people on their board, in a model created by Disability Cornwall. Things aren’t that good overall, though. The UK government does recognise DPULOs (disabled people’s user led organisations), which are for helping other disabled people, changing perceptions and giving disabled people a voice - the government even assisted them until 2015. But what about regular businesses, commercial organisations?

Other types of bodies? To which I’d say, as sarcastically as possible: ‘Not condescending, pigeonholing or

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limiting at all.’

When I started DanceGRiST, a social enterprise serving people in the dance and movement sectors, I invited artists, collaborators and communicators that I respected and didn’t think about things like diversity. It wasn’t until our first grant application that I realised that the breadth of our intersectionality played against us. Most funding targets specific ‘minority’ groups or communities who live in the same area. At our small level, the very funding that tries to work to the Social Model of Disability, penalised us, and many others, for our diversity – when travel or moving is a challenge, it doesn’t matter if we’ve formed a wonderful community of interest because it’s hard to get non-geographic based communities acknowledged. All of these things have contributed to the scarcity of disability-led organisations, but I think there’s another factor in play.

Back to my belief that most successful leaders are neurodivergent or have disabilities. Loss aversion in behavioural economics is when someone sees a real or potential loss as more severe than the equivalent gain. A search on ‘successful business people’ brought no relevant results. A search on ‘how many successful business people are neurodiverse’ did likewise.

A search on “successful business people who think differently” came up trumps, with a list including Elon

DR M MAGA Z I N E | Winter 2023/24

Musk, Richard Branson, a Shark Tank investor, and the founders of IKEA, JetBlue and Charles Schwab investment services. These people can afford to be open about their differences, but they’re still not written about accurately. And what’s more, their companies don’t declare levels of Board diversity in easily recognisable ways. And that’s the nub. Because if today’s top founders – the people who are open about the way they think differently - don’t allow the correct language, it’s risk aversion. They see the potential loss as having a far bigger impact than the huge potential gains.

As I understand it, behavioural economics is good at defining problems but not at potential solutions. It’s up to us, with our differences, our imaginations, our experience to work out the next steps. For sure, we’re changing the minds of our future leaders. It’s happening already. But I don’t think that’s enough – we need tangible change, and disabled-led organisations can do that, if given the chance.

AUTHOR: Carole Edrich, photographer, journalist and board member for Unlimited FACEBOOK: CaroleEdrichPhotography

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Life is equality We’re home to more than 1,800 lawyers from all backgrounds, working across 27 international offices.

So you’ll find diversity, individuality and inclusivity are in our nature. Share these values with us and explore a bigger world.

Get the full story at www.mayerbrownfutures.com Americas | Asia | Europe | Middle East

EDUC ATION & EMPLOYMENT

RECRUITMENT THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARITIES RECRUITING PEOPLE WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE Charly Flyte, has been taking part in an internship at Rethink Mental Illness, helping to launch the charity’s new TikTok channel, sponsored by Inside Job Productions. Here Charly speaks about their experience of creating content dedicated to mental illness.

L

iving with bipolar I’d never really found that the kind of mental health content [out there] was stuff I could connect with. There’s a lot of wellness stuff out there – mindfulness, yoga, etc – which has its place, but wasn’t something that felt identifiable for me. At the same time there is a whole world of stories about mental illness, but with so many voices, it’s hard to cut through the noise.

So, when I saw that Rethink Mental Illness and Inside Job Productions were starting a new TikTok channel focused on lived experience of mental illness I knew I wanted to be involved.

After some challenging years and a period in hospital it is still early days into getting back into work, and it can be hard as someone with a severe mental illness to feel comfortable disclosing my condition, and the reasonable adjustments I need in order to thrive. As a production trainee it is exciting to know that my bipolar and lived experience is in fact an asset that can be used for good, rather than me being hired in spite of it, or worse, as a tick box

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exercise for diversity.

My vision for the TikTok channel is for it to be a place where people who are struggling with their mental health can go for information, comfort and community. And I believe it can be that place because we are centring the content around lived experience. I firmly believe that more charities and organisations should follow suit when it comes to creating and shaping their communications.

For a start it’s good for the organisation. Their communications will be more authentic and able to connect with an audience in a way that truly resonates and enables them to feel heard and understood.

It shows a commitment to values that goes beyond just lip service and can truly connect with their supporters and beneficiaries. From the work I’ve done at Rethink Mental Illness to research what makes compelling communications, it’s clear that authenticity is one of the most important things. People with lived experiences are often better placed to suggest what type of communication strategies and messages

My vision for the TikTok channel is for it to be a place where people who are struggling with their mental health can go for information, comfort and community. .

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EDUC ATION & EMPLOYMENT

hole of either unhelpful content, or toxic positivity that feels unrelatable and frustrating. The TikTok channel we’re creating offers something different.

And so do your supporters and audience. They see a charity who represents them. They know that if they go to the charity seeking support, they will be understood and respected. That their own needs and concerns will be acknowledged, in a way that is compassionate and supportive. Communications shaped by people with direct experience in a particular area tend to have increased credibility and will help build trust.

If charities recruit people with lived experience to create and shape their communications they really are walking their talk, and showing they care about the people they are talking to, the people they work with, and the people they serve. Everyone benefits. And I certainly feel that I have from this experience.

i

Charly Flyte, a new production trainee at Rethink Mental Illness, Rethink’s Tik Tok. Check out Charly’s work at:

TIKTOK: @rethinkmentalillness

might be most effective. Rethink Mental Illness have asked me what I see as useful content, and we’ve done some research and spoken to young people to see what they think, and have their voices heard because messages formulated by those with lived experiences are likely to be more relevant and hit the mark with targeted demographics.

The individual sharing their stories also reaps benefits.

I’ve found that the openness and fierce vulnerability of the individuals and the points they raised during the interviews was inspiring, and even furthered my understanding of my own mental health. When I’ve spoken to individuals about their experiences they’ve said that they felt valued and heard, which is so important in a society that sometimes shies away from topics that feel uncomfortable, and where stigma still exists. Or that it’s easy for them to fall down a

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INDEPENDENT LIVING

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INDEPENDENT LIVING

DRM MEETS: Hannah

Witton W

DRM chats to Hannah Witton about censorship on social media, complicated feelings on the word disabled, the next season of her hit podcast Doing It and why she’s currently listening to fifty hours of Brandon Sanderson’s The Cosmere.

ith over 730,000 subscribers, it’s not only Hannah Witton’s friendly and easy-going approach to talking about sex, relationships, disability and lifestyle that has made her one of the UK’s most prominent online sex educators, but her ability to pivot and explore.

Like many sex educators, Witton’s career path stemmed organically from a gap in inclusive sex education, and having started her platform twelve years ago, it’s grown alongside her: “In terms of topics, I feel like at the beginning it was all over the place - kind of just whatever I wanted to make!

Then, a few years ago I made the really conscious decision to niche down on my main channel and make that about sex and relationships. It could

touch on various other topics but that was the main niche: what’s the connection to sex and relationships?”

Since then, Hannah has made an extra channel focused more on her life, which has a dedicated following tuning in for vlogs on fashion, parenting, work and everything in between: “I can be a bit more free to do whatever I want with [the lifestyle channel] and that’s been interesting to see change.

Since becoming a parent, there’s a lot more parenting content, whereas the sex and relationships channel has stayed on that topic, but it still feels reflective of where I am and my own interests.

Now, there’s far more content around longterm relationships, desire and intimacy instead of — well, seven years ago, I was making more content around being single!

Like many sex educators, Witton’s career path stemmed organically from a gap in inclusive sex education.

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I just didn’t really understand disability as an issue or a topic, especially as somebody who is a sex educator online, it wasn’t something I ever talked about in terms of that intersection either.

There’s definitely been a shift from me [on my channels] but also a shift along with my audience, as they’ve grown up with me as well.”

Part of that growth has been embracing a quieter, slower life recently, she says: “I think generally being a public person on the internet, I don’t mislead people at all, but I do rarely post on my Instagram anymore because I just don’t have anything to share!

I really do feel like the behind the scenes of my life are so mundane and I just want people to know that most of my time [right now] is spent at my kitchen table with my laptop working or looking after a toddler. I don’t really go much more than a two-mile radius from home! It’s interesting because at the beginning of my YouTube career there was this peak of loads of parties and amazing travel experiences and it was a lot more of a glam life and now I just have the life of a thirty something year old mum! I feel like that’s something I’d want people to know because I feel like when we’re bombarded with a lot of the highlights and glam online…the quiet, slow life is good, too, [I’ve found].”

As one of Hannah’s viewers who has grown up alongside her content, it’s almost surreal to see her on my screen reacting in real time, rather than next to a YouTube icon — a diet coke balanced upon a fridge is a

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perfect background for the late summer heat. As one of the first content creators I ever watched openly discussing disability and sex, it feels only fitting that we quickly get onto the topic of making “disability” content, and what that means to her: “I’ll start with my personal journey because that’s kind of important for how I feel [about disability]. I’ve had a chronic illness since I was seven — that was just my life, it never become something that linked to my identity or politics. Then, I was in remission for about ten years from the age of fifteen, so it was during this time when I was becoming more politicised, especially

It’s a weird one, in my head I really like to think of disability as more of a spectrum rather than you’re either disabled or you’re not.

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in the realm of sex and relationships. I never really thought about my chronic illness because I mean, yes I was taking medication, and I would have checkups at the hospital, but I wasn’t [feeling] ill [at the time] or in a flareup. So, I did the classic thing most people do who either aren’t disabled themselves or know somebody close to them and that’s just to…ignore it.

I just didn’t really understand disability as an issue or a topic, especially as somebody who is a sex educator online, it wasn’t something I ever talked about in terms of that intersection either. Which is obviously a shame.

What happened was I had a really bad flare-up. After this tenyear remission, it led to me having emergency surgery where my bowel was removed and now I have a stoma bag. That was obviously a huge life thing in my mid-twenties and that was my introduction to the world of disability activism and disability justice. I was kind of, you know, invited into the folds of the community [from then]. I started learning the language and different terminology, learning different models of thought around disability….and that was when I realised: oh, my goodness, I need to include this in discussions around sex and relationships!”

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It was during this organic process of beginning to explore and identify as disabled that Hannah realised societal attitudes to the word can be quite monolithic: “I think in our general and collective imagination we think of the word disabled in one way, and actually the more people who may have stomas or have chronic pain or illness or varying degrees of health stuff, whatever that may be…[if they’re] claiming the word disabled, I think that would help us understand it as a normal part of life.”

Disability seems to just be the last thing that people think of.

She goes on to explain about her relationship to the word disability in more detail: “At the time [of my flare-up], I did document the process of my health stuff [on my channel] and I made a lot of videos about it. But now — it’s an interesting one — because I still have this chronic illness, and I live with a stoma bag, but my dayto-day life doesn’t feel much changed. So, I do identify as disabled because I feel like I identify with the community and some common shared experiences, but my current condition isn’t in a daily sense disabling, but also… [it’s tricky because] you know the questions you get on some government forms about having a disability? The language is always around having a condition that impacts your ability to do normal daily activities and it’s such a confusing question! Because what counts as your daily activity, right?

Going to the toilet is a normal daily activity and technically I can go to the toilet, I just do it very differently. And there are just other things that I have to consider when packing for holidays or…When I was pregnant, for example, with my stoma, I had all sorts of issues with my stomach, my growing belly and my stoma changing; that was a whole thing.

It’s a weird one, in my head I really like to think of disability as more of a spectrum rather than you’re either disabled or you’re not. It’s more of an experience of: in this current situation, whether that’s to do with your body or something to do with the world about you, is that currently disabling you?

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I found my first trimester and towards the end of pregnancy incredibly disabling, but people don’t call pregnant people disabled. We don’t really call people who break a leg and use a cast for six weeks disabled. But [overall] in terms of the spirit of the word disabled, and the community itself, I identify as disabled definitely.”

Hannah goes on to explain that she sees a lack of attention being paid to disabled individuals – “disabled people are the world’s largest minority so it’s baffling in that sense!” – both in the sex and relationships space and in the wider realm of social justice: “A common theme that hasn’t changed [since I started talking about disability in the sex and relationships space] is that disability seems to just be the last thing that people think of. It is bottom of the list when we think of social justice. I think we’ve got better at naming things like, for example, the patriarchy, white supremacy, heteronormativity and cisnormativity

and we’ve gotten better at using that language and identifying all these different intersections of identity and oppression and then…we just forget disability.”

However, though there is still change needed especially when talking about and remembering the intersection between disability and sex, Hannah notes there has been definite progress in the wider sex and relationships education field since she started on YouTube over a decade ago: “Things have changed massively since I started making sex and relationships content. For one, I was the first people in the UK to be doing [topics like] that on YouTube and now, especially on Instagram and in the last five years or so, there are so many people talking about sex and relationships and it’s amazing but that was just not there when I started, especially as YouTube was a lot earlier than Instagram. So, there’s definitely a lot more conversations around it [now]! There’s a lot more in the mainstream as well as this

language we now have around sexual wellness. I’m on two sides [with that sort of language] because I want these messages to get out to as many people as possible so that’s great if we can mainstream it…but the mainstream version of things always tends to be slightly watered down.

That’s why it’s ‘sexual wellness’ and not ‘sexuality justice’; it’s just very different vibes.”

With a recent study showing just over half of Gen-Z use Tik Tok over Google, it can be really frustrating for creators for their work to be flagged up on social media platforms, where so many of their viewers search for answers.

Education and awareness are definitely happening, says Hannah, but it can be a while before the impact of these changes is seen: “A big change that we’ve seen in England and Wales is that sex and relationships education has become compulsory in schools.

[However] then we had the pandemic and the guidance wasn’t exactly the dream guidance that lot of people who have been advocating for decades desired… and now we’ve got this other backlash of this investigation [launched in March 2023 by the UK government into ‘inappropriate’ sex education within schools] and people are getting confused about what is in the curriculum and about what is being taught to kids.

We don’t know the impact of these changes yet as it’s only been two years…less than that, actually.

That’s not enough time to really see what’s going on. But I think it’s a huge shame that fearmongering continues with misinformation in terms of

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sensationalising a lot of stuff to evoke these really fear-based emotional responses from parents in terms of being scared of what their kids are being exposed to in school when actually, from my perspective, it’s maybe not as radical as it should be!”

Hannah is openly passionate about destigmatising the myths, misinformation and fear that can come from openly talking about sex and relationships: “There’s just been a lot more talking [about sex and relationships since I started], and [advocates] getting on board lots of people from various parts of the sexuality field from doctors to therapists and educators [to speak and educate]. There’s lots of people sharing their personal experience as well using social media and the internet to spread these messages, which is wonderful!”

However, those who are sharing their stories online are not always equally rewarded and seen for their content. When discussing the issues with watered down language and censorship in this space, Hannah shares a story about a recent shadow ban of her own: “So far I’ve been partly really lucky but partly also really privileged in that, you know, talking and sex and relationships, I’m very explicit. I try not to censor myself and I also swear a lot in my content. And I think because I’m a white, cis, thin woman I’m basically not what gets flagged by the algorithms; they tend to be pretty racist, fatphobic, queerphobic, transphobic, [ableist] and all of these things. So those are the people that tend to be picked up by a shadow ban

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With a recent study showing just over half of Gen-Z use Tik Tok over Google, it can be really frustrating for creators for their work to be flagged up on social media platforms, where so many of their viewers search for answers, Hannah says: “This is information that is hidden from people all through their lives and so people are going to the internet to find out this information and then it’s being censored…When I think about somebody who might be feeling a lot of shame around sex or their body or their sexuality and then they find this content and they’re like oh my god, amazing, this is making me feel better…but then they see that certain words are censored, it’s almost It’s very frustrating saying that maybe and tiring for a lot they should still of creators to have feel shame and is counterintuitive these platforms when to the message basically the apps are that you’re saying that we don’t trying to put out there that sex want you here, we don’t isn’t shameful. or a believe you should exist To even get video and what you’re saying that content out being there you’re having has no value to us. taken down. to self-censor the I did get sexual words. There’s shadow banned this quote that’s a bit literary actually for the and scholarly but it’s by [Marshall first time on Instagram McLuhan] and it’s: the medium is the [recently] and I was like: if they’re message. So, if the medium is censored catching me now there’s no hope words…that’s the message.” for anyone! It’s very frustrating and tiring for a lot of creators to have these platforms when basically the apps are saying that we don’t want you here, we don’t believe you should exist and what you’re saying has no value to us. And a lot of the time there’s no reason to it as well and then your whole platform can go down for a long while…and that’s income! I was only [shadow banned] for a few days and it told me what the content was that was getting flagged, and I didn’t even change the content, I didn’t delete it, I just appealed the decision and then they revoked it.

So, I didn’t actually do anything wrong, which is really frustrating that we’re at whims of these private tech companies in order to be able to have these conversations and a lot of these decisions that they make in terms of their policies around things like sex and nudity….it’s all just entangled in the fact we live in a society with erotophobia.”

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I was [cringing] but there were moments where it was super funny.”

Currently reading:

If Books Could Kill by Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri: “It’s taking a look at some of the big best sellers and what actually is going on with them. I just listened to the episode on Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus because that’s a book that I read for my book club many years ago and it’s a horrific book and I just wanted to know what his take on it was!

His main take was that it’s the author actually working through his own shit but not addressing any of it and rather than taking any responsibility for his own patterns of behaviour he’s just gone: This is all men!”

As Witton is a content creator, it felt only fitting to end our chat by asking for a recommendation on what content she’s currently consuming and creating herself.

Currently listening: Maintenance Phase by Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon: “It’s a debunking of a lot of the wellness industry.

[Michael] is an amazing journalist and loves his research as does his cohost Aubrey Gordon.”

Currently watching: Sex Lives Of College Girls: “It’s a good sitcom, and there’s a disabled character in that as well who’s very sexually confident! There are moments of it where

To even get that content out there you’re having to self-censor the sexual words. There’s this quote that’s a bit literary and scholarly but it’s by [Marshall McLuhan] and it’s: the medium is the message. So, if the medium is censored words…that’s the message.

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The Cosmere, the universe designed by fantasy author Brandon Sanderson which includes many of his adult fiction books: “I’ve been taking a break from audiobooks because of these podcasts but generally over the last year I’ve been diving into the Cosmere, I started with The Stormlight Archives, and [the Cosmere is] a journey. It’s a fifty-hour long audiobook and there’s four books! I do a lot of walking around, a lot of buggy naps to and fro, so there’s plenty of time to get in the audiobook listens because I don’t have time to do any physical book readings!

And I’m also partway through the Mistborn series [by Brandon Sanderson] as well.”

Currently creating:

“So currently, we are working on the next season of the Doing It podcast, we are trying something a bit different with one interview per episode where I chat to somebody about their expertise in whatever area. There’s a special five episode run with each episode based on a theme. One of the themes is disability…its looking like it’s going to be a really good episode.”

The next season of the Doing It podcast is currently being released, wherever you like to get your podcasts, with Witton’s deep dive episode on disability featuring influencer Lolo Spencer, founder and CEO of Enhance the UK Jennie Williams, and sex educator and author Cory Silverberg out now.

i

Hannah Witton is a sex educator, YouTuber, podcaster and author who has been making online content for over 10 years.

WEB: hannahwitton.com PODCAST: hannahwitton.com/ podcast YOUTUBE: @hannahwitton & @morehannah INSTAGRAM: @hannahwitton

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COOL CRUTCHES: “THEY’RE UNAVAILABLE IN HOSPITAL GREY!”

DRM caught up with Amelia Peckham, the CEO and cofounder of Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks, from making it work as a family business to why none of their crutches are available in “hospital” grey…

Tell us about Cool Crutches, what’s the story and where did the name come from?

In 2005, I was involved in a serious quad bike accident. I suffered a spinal injury and became partially paralysed from my waist down. It took six months, multiple operations and weeks in physio, but I did eventually get to a point where I could learn to walk again, this time with crutches. The doctors had always been clear I wouldn’t walk unaided again but with crutches walking was very much an option.

Sadly, after a few days I had blisters on my hands, realised the clicking, slipping and even snapping meant I was unlikely to be able to use my hospital crutches long term. It was then my mum started to look for something better, but we soon realised there wasn’t anything, so we decided to design, source and launch Cool Crutches. All our crutches and now sticks are moulded to a left and right hand with a squidgy removable neoprene grip (to prevent blisters and pain), they’re totally

silent (no more clicking), they’re certified for long term medical use (no chance of snapping), they’re practical (have rotating and removable cuffs and straps to prevent crashing to the floor when you open a door) and they are unavailable in hospital grey!

We have a wide range of fun colours and prints as well as sleek black so you really can choose to reflect your style and personality before injury or disability.

When we got our first prototype we gave it to the other patients in hospital with me, as well as friends and family, and nearly all of them said: these are so cool. It was then the name quickly became apparent and once we started saying ‘Cool Crutches’ it stuck!

One thing we have really tried to push is that the disabled community aren’t unlike the rest of the world – we, too, prioritise style and fashion in exactly the same way.

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Why do you feel it’s important that mobility aids are fashionable as well as functional, too?

So much of what happens following a serious physical injury is a mental health hurdle. I really struggled with feeling like my hospital crutches were almost a siren for sympathy.

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Design wise – a big designer such as Chanel, Gucci or Dior would be incredible. We know mobility aids will be the norm on catwalks in a matter of years so why not aim high!

They nearly always acted as an invitation to ask about my accident, legs, whether I’d walk again, and they became a constant reminder of what I’d lost. The reality for so long was you could either have functionality or style, but both wasn’t doable. By creating something that looks great, we have given the power back to those using the crutches or sticks.

If you don’t want to stand out you can opt for plain black, if you want to go to a wedding or stand out you can choose bright colours, prints or even glitter! We also have personalised designs so people can print anything they like onto them making them about personality, style and the person using them. I think combining the look and feel has meant not only that people are comfortable and feel safe but they’re confident and proud. The two go hand in hand but the combination is key to live comfortably and confidently with a disability or injury. The comments went from oh no what happened to you to wow where did you get your stick I love it.

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Who do you look to for inspiration in terms of fun fashion/fashion in the disability space?

I think overall trends are what drive our design inspiration, actually. One thing we have really tried to push is that the disabled community aren’t unlike the rest of the world – we, too, prioritise style and fashion in exactly the same way. Trying to make [our products] adaptive and functional is key but the trends and inspiration really are the same as mainstream fashion. There are some incredible influencers, disability advocates and brands working to smash stigmas we love to follow – everyone from Sophie Morgan, Nina Tame, Ellie Henry, Rose Ayling Ellis, Ade Adepitan and Ellie Simmonds to brands such as Unhidden, Ffora and ByAcre…there are so many!

constantly looking at; our design studio is busy every day creating bespoke designs for customers, so we use any popular themes from these to drive our main range. Things like marble have been incredibly popular and this drove us to launch Emerald Sky and [there is] soon to be Amethyst Sky. In terms of the gap in the market, we knew how much my life would change with the right walking aids. Not only physically but mentally, the reality was I couldn’t have continued to walk long term on my hospital crutches and would have needed the support of a wheelchair to keep moving. Our crutches genuinely changed my life, the business was born out of this personal experience and whilst we loved our products we genuinely didn’t expect the response to be anywhere near what it has been. We just wanted to try and help other people like me, it’s been so, so much more than we ever hoped.

How important is it that as a small business you’re reflecting and understanding the problems faced by your audience?

This is the most important part of what we do. Living with mobility aids and a disability means I do have a degree of personal experience to drive product development and growth but

How do you go about creating designs, what inspired you to decide to do something about the gap in the market?

Our designs are something we are

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listening to our customers is the single most integral step to achieving it. We are very keen on speaking to our customers, understanding anything they need or would ideally like and using this information to ensure we are launching products that solve our customers’ problems but also always enhance their daily life.

You’re a female founded business, what advice would you give to women, and disabled women in particular, who might want to strike out on their own?

GO FOR IT! Seriously, my only regret is not taking the business on full time sooner. I think as a disabled, female founder I have realised I actually needed to create a job that was flexible, as well as one I loved and was passionate about to enjoy it. The reality of living and working with a disability is that flexibility is the key to longevity. I never really found this with previous employment and so ironically having a disability as well as being a mother and all the other things that come with being a female founded, family business have driven us to work in a way that is focused, efficient, drives growth, results and sustains that passion.

You’re also a family business, how does that dynamic look like?

Are there times when you feel

you have to push back against something because your lived experience gives you different insight?

We love what we do and having two perspectives has been key. I come from a lived experience and personal understanding, but mum has perspective, she can see the wood through the trees and her previous career in advertising means she really can see opportunity and more importantly, how to get to where we want to be. There are definitely harder parts of working as a family, but we have now been doing it for 17 years and think we have a great balance!

What’s one of the best things you’ve learned whilst creating Cool Crutches?

That you really can do anything! I honestly thought my life was over after my accident, I never thought I’d find a job, somewhere to live, people to live with, someone to love…my disability felt like the biggest barrier to everything.

The reality is it can be a hugely positive thing, finding a way forward isn’t straightforward but running a business is so rewarding, it’s so fun and I love the hard work it comes with.

It’s given

me purpose and I really believe more people need to know the benefits of running your own business! I couldn’t recommend it more!

With celebrities such as Amanda Holden and Prue Leith jumping on board to use Cool Crutches, the brand has only been growing in popularity, but what’s been a highlight for you as a business?

Launching walking sticks in 2019 was incredible. We always thought it was a saturated market and unlike crutches we would have some serious competition but similar to our crutches, our sticks were born out of a personal need. My dad sadly broke his pelvis in eight places and was told he would need a stick for life in 2016 and we knew the majority on the market weren’t certified or safe for long term use…plus he was six foot four and needed something to carry him confidently given he would be putting a fairly substantial amount of weight through it. It was at around the same time I was thinking about using a stick on [my] good days but again didn’t feel confident in any I’d tried; they were either beautiful but not designed for long term medical use or they were functional but looked absolutely hideous. When we launched we sold out in two weeks, it was an unbelievable response and not only put us into a totally different gear sales wise but meant our market grew overnight and most importantly we could make a serious difference to so many people’s lives!

By creating something that looks great, we have given the power back to those using the crutches or sticks.

How do you come up with new designs and what access features do you take into account?

Everything we stock and sell are either created by us as a result of a need - we are currently developing comfy removable grips for our walking sticks that have taken years to get exactly right! - or have been sourced, tested and genuinely used by me on a daily basis.

Photographer: Amelia de Jong from Ace Snaps Photography: acesnaps.co.uk

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DISABILITY SPORT

well and that is why health and wellbeing have to take priority at all times.

What’s next for Cool Crutches and how can we stay up to date?

We are launching children’s crutches in the next few months and are so excited.

It has been a really long time coming but something mum and I have wanted to do since the very beginning.

Finally, how would you like to expand Cool Crutches, what would you love to be able to do if the sky was the limit?

We actively look for people who understand our market and the people within it and really prioritise wellbeing in the workplace.

If I wouldn’t use something in my daily life to support my mobility, it isn’t something we will stock so really I use my personal life to see how products, designs and accessories fit – if they improve the quality of my life, they’re good to go!

How do you see the future of mobility aids evolving in terms of design, functionality and affordability? For example, you’ve recently launched your own recycling scheme to combat healthcare and mobility aid inaccessibility, is prioritising sustainability and reducing costs an important next step in Cool Crutches growth and how did this come about?

One thing I’ve always really battled with is that there are so few options for people like me when it comes to mobility aids. Likewise, disability has long been considered such a negative, the products built to support it have been an afterthought and all too often driven by commercial medical companies, not people living with disabilities. This is changing and as it does the products coming to market are leagues ahead in terms of genuinely addressing the problems they should be solving.

Likewise, the stigmas around disability are starting to change – for example, we do mind what we look like, in fact

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it makes a huge difference, so style has to be taken into consideration when producing something functional. I genuinely believe the disability market is set to expand enormously over the next few years, this should in turn reduce the cost to make things and increase the accessibility as volume increases. It’s an incredibly exciting time for innovation within the market and we can’t wait to see how it evolves!

Having had such a formative experience with employment and disability, how do you prioritise inclusivity in your workplace now that you’re a boss?

Product wise – Cool Wheels with both chairs and rollators would be the dream! Design wise – a big designer such as Chanel, Gucci or Dior would be incredible. We know mobility aids will be the norm on catwalks in a matter of years so why not aim high!

i

Amelia Peckham is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks, a company that has revolutionised mobility aids.

WEB: coolcrutches.com/pages/ our-story INSTAGRAM: @coolcrutches TIKTOK: @coolcrutches FACEBOOK: cool.crutches TWITTER: @coolcrutches

So, I am very passionate about ensuring our working environment is flexible, as it stands we have an office, but no one is expected to work in it (me included).

It’s there to be used as and when people want to, but our expectations and reality is always flexible. We actively look for people who understand our market and the people within it and really prioritise wellbeing in the workplace. I always struggled in previous roles, physically and then, as a result, mentally. We ensure we have open communication; people can take time off as and when and generally look to ensure wellbeing is the priority. I know if you aren’t well, you don’t work

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is why at BT we focus on personalised one-to-one service. Viewing accessibility as a fluid, ongoing process is not just a facet of our business, it is our business, from the ground up. With our “Here For You” campaign we’re putting technology and compassion hand in hand to foster a more supportive environment for those with hearing loss, communication needs, different financial circumstances and more.

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INDEPENDENT LIVING

KEEPING FINANCE

PERSONAL WITH ELLYCE FULMORE

DRM chats to Ellyce Fulmore, a queer, neurodivergent financial educator and content creator, on helping to make the financial world more accessible, as well as an exclusive excerpt from her upcoming book Keeping Finance Personal.

1

Tell us about you and your career, what’s the story there? What’s your lived experience been with personal finance?

I didn’t originally set out to be in the financial space. I have a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, and my major was in adapted physical activity, meaning that I specifically worked with folks with both cognitive and physical disabilities. I had always planned on becoming a physiotherapist, until one day I didn’t. After some experience working as a physio aid while I was still in school, I realized that the job didn’t provide the impact I thought it would. I also graduated with $35K (approx. £29K) of debt, an impulse spending problem, and no clear plan for the future, which prompted me to begin learning about finances. After graduation I began working in a financial aid office at

a recreation centre helping folks in need get access to programs. At the same time, I started a life coaching business, with the goal of helping new graduates who felt lost find their purpose. Part of this coaching involved helping my clients create a plan for paying off their student loans and organizing their money moving forward.

Then when the pandemic hit, I was laid off from my job, and began to take my coaching business more seriously. I started posting a lot of content about finance and careers because I knew that’s what people needed to hear. I shared how having an emergency fund protected me when I was laid off and walked people through how to apply for unemployment.

That content took off, and I realized how many people were searching for financial education that was delivered by someone their age in a way that was approachable. From

Writing a book was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever worked on. It was very lonely and isolating, but simultaneously so rewarding.

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there I founded my financial literacy business, Queerd Co., which is now a community of over half a million.

When it comes to my own personal finances, I grew up in a two-parent, middle-class household, so I had a lot of privilege. Like many people, I wasn’t taught financial literacy from my parents or in school and ended up teaching myself as an adult. The only money advice I remember my parents giving me was 1. save every penny you can and 2. don’t go into debt. So,

I am most excited for people to learn about money beyond the numbers, with a shame-free, trauma-aware approach. disabilit yreviewmagazine.co.uk

when I needed student loans to put myself through college, I felt a lot of shame around that. I also racked up $15K of high interest debt due to impulse spending, which I didn’t know at the time was largely due to my undiagnosed ADHD. I felt so ashamed of my situation that I avoided it completely. I threw out letters and deleted emails about my student loans, I never looked at my bank account, and I lied about my situation to my friends because I was embarrassed.

When I began learning more about personal finance, I was able to make many positive changes, but I was still struggling. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with ADHD, and began to research more, that I realized how much my ADHD affected my finances. This epiphany is really what changed my business into what it is today.

In order to truly achieve financial stability, we need to go beyond the numbers. Who you are as a person, the identities you hold, your lived experience, the way you move through the world, all have a profound impact on your finances. Understanding that allowed me to find the tools and systems that worked for my brain and my life. Now I bring that identitybased, shame-free approach to all the work I do.

2

How have you found the reception on TikTok to giving financial advice?

Is there a specific group of people you’re finding that you help?

The reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with of course, some negativity that comes along with growing a large platform. For the most part, it seemed that people were waiting for this content.

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I was delivering finance education, a topic that can be uncomfortable and dry, in a fun and digestible format. Watching short TikTok videos is less overwhelming than attempting to read a whole book on finance. I am also a young, queer, and neurodivergent woman, and many folks that typically have felt excluded from money conversations finally felt seen, heard, and understood. TikTok was a place where they could speak more openly and candidly about their experiences without any fear of judgment.

My audience is largely millennials and Gen Zs, most of whom are women or nonbinary, and many are queer and/or neurodivergent. Because I talk a lot about my personal experience with those identities, that’s largely who I attract through my content.

Folks who haven’t resonated with a lot of the traditional finance education out there also enjoy my content.

3

Tell us how you went about writing your book? What was it like and were there any accommodations you had to put in place to get it done?

Writing a book was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever worked on. It was very lonely and isolating, but simultaneously so rewarding. I’m very proud of myself for finishing this book, especially as someone with ADHD who typically struggles to stay engaged in a project longer than a few months.

In terms of how I approached writing the book, one thing that really helped me was that I already had a detailed table of contents in my book proposal, which made sitting down to write less daunting. I would typically look at the outline from my table of contents and begin to map out how I wanted to organize that chapter, and what examples and anecdotes I wanted to include. Next, I would consume all the research on that chapter that my research assistant had compiled for me. This would often change the chapter outline somewhat as I would learn new information I wanted to include, or decide a section needed more space. I also interviewed 50+ people for this book, and their stories also helped shape the chapters.

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I threw out letters and deleted emails about my student loans, I never looked at my bank account, and I lied about my situation to my friends because I was embarrassed.

Once I had a good understanding and grasp of the outline, I would sit down and write. I had quite a long timeline to write the book, so at the beginning I would only write on Fridays and run my business the rest of the week. This was nice because it gave me a day to just solely focus on writing. But I did struggle to meet my deadlines because there wasn’t enough urgency. I wrote the majority of my book in the last 3 months before my manuscript was due, but that was what worked best for me.

This is my first time writing a book, and I would approach it a lot differently based on what I know now, but I was able to figure out quite a few systems along the way that worked for me. I utilized a sticker chart to help me track my progress visually and provide little hits of dopamine along the way. Every time I completed

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a section of a chapter, I got to put a colourful sticker up on the chart. I implemented a routine— lighting a specific candle, putting in my air pods, and taking some deep breaths —to help train my brain to get into the writing mode.

The habit of doing this before I began writing everyday really helped to get me in the zone. Having external accountability was also very important for me. One of my friends would check in on my word count every day, and this motivated me more than anything else I’d tried.

Additionally, I spoke with my editor and adjusted our schedule and deadline to accommodate my needs.

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me as I wrote. I don’t think I would have finished this book without the support and accountability from the people around me.

4

Talking about money can be super overwhelming, where do you recommend a complete beginner start if they want to learn about their next steps? What would be your three top tips to get a start on managing finances?

If you’re a complete beginner, you don’t know what you don’t know, so a good first step is taking the time to understand what there is to learn. My upcoming book, Keeping Finance Personal, is a great place to start because it dives into many of the intersectional aspects of money such as mental health, trauma, family, culture and more, that many of the resources out there tend to ignore.

Secondly, I would recommend finding financial educators or communities that you relate to, and that feel like a safe space for you to ask questions.

This could be folks that you follow on social media, a Facebook

group, Reddit community, YouTube channel, or blog. Start consuming their content and taking note of topics you’d like to learn more about.

Here are my top three tips on where to start when it comes to managing your finances.

2. Track your spending for a month (or two).

You will already have an idea of your expenses, but tracking your spending will help you get a clear picture of exactly where your money is going. I know this process can be tedious, but it’s a necessary step if you’re wanting to make a change in your finances.

1. Complete a Financial Audit. This is an exercise where you take inventory of your current bank accounts and cards, income, fixed expenses, debt, and savings. You want to record how much money you have coming in every month (if you have an inconsistent income, take an average of the last 6 months), the total amount of your essential monthly bills (and details such as the due date, and whether or not that bill is automated), how much debt you have, what kind of debt it is, and what the interest rate is, as well as how much you have in savings. I have a free Financial Audit download available at https://queerdco. myflodesk.com/audit

3. Use the information from your Financial Audit and spending tracker to begin to make changes.

For example, if you realize your monthly expenses are taking up the majority of your monthly income, see if you can cancel any subscriptions or negotiate any of your rates. If you’re spending more money in a category than you’d like to, decide on a spending plan that feels more aligned. If you’re feeling stressed about your debt, work on creating a debt repayment plan.

You may not know exactly how to do these things, but now that you’re aware of what you want to work on, that makes it easier and less overwhelming to seek out the information you need.

5

What are you most excited for people to read in your upcoming book?

I am most excited for people to learn about money beyond the numbers, with a shame-free, traumaaware approach. I can’t wait for them to read the stories from me and the folks with diverse lived experiences I interviewed and feel less alone.

This book will encourage people to examine their own stories of shame, trauma, and healing and understand how to use that information when moving forward. Keeping Finance Personal reminds folks that you don’t have to live in this place where you feel stuck and shameful around money— you just need a different approach.

I wrote this book with accessibility and inclusivity in mind. I wanted to provide intersectional financial education for folks that didn’t have the resources to invest in my coaching.

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The pages are filled with illustrations, and different information boxes to break up the text and provide humour or more context. I also worked with a sensitivity reader to ensure my words would not cause any unintentional harm.

6

What are you working on at the minute? How can we keep up with your work?

I am mostly just working on promoting the book and spreading the message of it to a wider audience. One of my biggest goals with this book is to start more of a conversation around the importance of intersectional, identity-based, financial education, and so many of my upcoming projects reflect that.

I am currently running a cohort of my signature course, The Neuro$picy Money Method, which is a money management program designed for neurodivergent folks. I’m also planning on launching a YouTube channel and re-launching my podcast when I have more capacity to do so.

On a personal note, I’m redecorating my office, going to therapy, and learning how to make the perfect cold brew.

Read on for an excerpt from Keeping Finance Personal

by Ellyce Fulmore, ahead of its January 2024 release: Chapter 2 - Little Miss Identity Crisis How Your Sense of Self Shapes Your Spending Habits For as long as I can remember, I wanted to go by my middle name, Ellyce. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with my first name, it just didn’t feel like me. I can’t really explain it other than it never resonated or connected with me in any way. When I moved after college, I thought that would be the perfect time to make the switch because nobody would know me in my new city. But change is hard, and scary, and I didn’t know how to alter this major piece of me that I’d had since I was born.

Then COVID-19 hit, threw the world into quarantine, and forced me to face everything I was hiding about myself.

After breaking up with my boyfriend, coming out as queer, and starting to date a woman for the first time, suddenly, changing my name didn’t feel as hard. In September 2020, I decided to start going by my middle name, and a

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couple of months later I made it official with a legal name change. Looking back now, I feel like I had more courage because I was sheltered from outside perceptions during that time. In fact, the only people observing were those on social media, who only saw the parts of me that I chose to show. I did a lot of reflecting during those first few months of lockdown, and I was ready to step into my true identity, rather than the one I let others create for me.

Despite this readiness, I still remember how simultaneously terrifying and freeing it felt when I texted my close friends to let them know I was going to make the switch.

Fortunately, I have great friends, who accepted me with open arms and immediately did their best to call me Ellyce.

Unfortunately, my parents did not take it as well.

Understandably so, as I was changing the first name they had picked for me (to a different name they also picked for me, but that’s beside the point). I remember going home for Christmas that year, 4 months into being referred to as Ellyce by everyone around me, and my dad refused to call me by that name.

I knew the transition for my parents would be more challenging, as they would have to change something that had been the same for 25 years, but I still hoped for the best. I broke down crying to my mom on my last day visiting and explained to her what it meant to me. My previous name always represented a version of myself that wasn’t authentic. I was hiding from my queerness, masking in order to conceal my ADHD behaviours, and running from the person I was meant to be. I truly felt like I had shed this version of my identity and with it my old name.

That raw conversation was the turning point for my mom, and soon after, my dad. As I write this, I am happy to report that they now wholeheartedly embrace calling me Ellyce.

Your first name is a part of your identity that you don’t have any say in.

In fact, many of us are told who we are before we can decide who we want to be. This often starts even before you’re

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I am also a young, queer, and neurodivergent woman, and many folks that typically have felt excluded from money conversations, finally felt seen, heard, and understood.

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born, with gender reveal parties and comments like “They’re going to be a heartbreaker.” Our parents choose everything from the clothes we wear, food we eat, books we read, and movies we watch. Societal norms begin influencing us before we are old enough to walk or talk. We are told that girls should wear pink and boys should wear blue. We are told that women should be kind, caring, and gentle and that men should be strong, powerful, and fearless.

This narrative continues throughout your life and can change based on what you look like and where you live.

If you’re really tall, you’ve probably been asked if you play basketball.

If you are a person of color, you may have experienced stereotyping regarding what you’re “good” or “bad” at based on the color of your skin. The identity being assigned to you is so intertwined in your life, you probably don’t recognize many of the ways it has affected you. As a result, many of us grow up with a skewed sense of identity, because it becomes nearly impossible to separate out who we really are from how others perceive us. That’s one reason changing my name proved so difficult—I was identifying a disconnect between the real me and the version of me that other people thought I was. Once I had identified this, I made the first step to connecting again through my name change.

Excerpt from KEEPING FINANCE PERSONAL: Ditch the “Shoulds” and the Shame and Rewrite Your Money Story by Ellyce Fulmore.

Copyright © 2024. Available from Hachette Go, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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Ellyce Fulmore is a queer and neurodivergent financial educator, content creator and the founder of Queerd Co., a financial literacy company. Ellyce is passionate about helping her online community of over half a million find the right tools, strategies and perspective to create a life where financial stability and joy coexist.

WEB: ellycefulmore.com or queerdco.myflodesk.com/newsletter TIKTOK: @queerd.co INSTAGRAM: @ellyce.fulmore

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WHEN ANXIETY

TAKES THE LEAD...

DRM’s resident columnist Dr Amo Raju shares his thoughts on not letting yourself get lost in other people’s opinions – or your own head.

H

ave you ever thought about addressing whatever it is bothering you only to be side-tracked, overwhelmed, or just completely distracted by the next urgent thing?

Yes, me too! Too often we find ourselves busy doing nothing about everything and it’s just so exhausting and mentally draining.

No matter how much effort we put into staying focused on work, at the gym, relationships or even our social lives, depression can find its own little sneaky way of sitting heavily on your shoulders.

I’m now so in sync with my mental health it is a part of me – a well programmed line of coding within my DNA. I have no choice but to own it with a predetermined set of two possible outcomes. Sometimes, I must accept that my feelings will be on top of me and the remaining time, I know how to be the boss.

I’m now so in sync with my mental health it is a part of me – a well programmed line of coding within my DNA.

Get to the point Amo, what are you trying to say?

Yes, okay here we go. We wake up each morning and begin to plan and strategize our day (I have always said disabled

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people are the best strategists but that’s another article itself). Our belief in our ability to complete the tasks of the day can be hampered by the voices of self-doubt. These often originate from people who have or had no inclination to do anything good for themselves or the wider community except providing a running negative commentary.

It is actually my firm belief, and history does seem to back my theory, that the greatest changemakers over millennia have been those wrestling personal demons; Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein and Charles Dickens to name but a few. Whilst they were exercising their brilliance, their contemporaries were busy doing whatever they could to belittle their contribution to society.

Let’s go off tangent for a minute – whenever I fall victim of imposter syndrome, I remind myself of a conversation I overheard decades ago in a doctor’s waiting room between two older men. The crux of it was that a football stadium can be split into three categories of people who can be considered a reflection of how society operates:

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No matter how much effort we put into staying focused on employment, at the gym, relationships or even our social lives, depression finds its own little sneaky way of sitting heavily on your shoulders.

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through life and take on challenge after challenge is to do whatever is needed, whether for personal or the greater good, without focusing too much on what others are saying.

Those voices, the fans, well they can often knock our levels of confidence before the game has even started. And so, we must always remember, the fact of the matter is, being the fan, the spectator, is the only role they can ever play. They most probably will never take on the role of the player. We are the players. And regardless of however we play our game they will have something to say about it.

Remain focused…and the commentators? I nearly forget about them! Make sure you put on one hell of a game for them to watch!

Instead of praying to St. Dymphna (go on, Google her), in a world where society often fumbles in the quest for inclusivity, disabled individuals are leading the charge by showing us that being different is not just okay – it’s something to watch. Whether it’s soaring through the air in a wheelchair, signing Shakespearean soliloquies, or defying gravity in a dance-off, these remarkable individuals are rewriting the rules, raising the (low) bar for awesomeness, and reminding us all that we can all roll together towards a more inclusive and humorously inspiring future.

football 1 The players:

people who are fulfilling a mission and are the news

2 The fans:

people who watch the match with their own unqualified gameplay and can only spectate on the news

3

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The commentators:

those who narrate, scrutinise and report the news

They continued that reflecting on their past, they wished they had spent more effort on being like the players and less as fans. Their analysis has stuck with me for many years. The only way I’m going to get

Dr Amo Raju is the CEO of Disability Direct, MD of Amo Raju & Associates and author of ‘Walk Like A Man’ – available on Amazon. Dr Amo has recently won the Lifetime Achiever Award at the National Diversity Awards 2023 in association with ITV News.

AUTHOR: Dr. Amo Raju TWITTER: @AmoSinghRaju INSTAGRAM: @amorajuofficial TIKTOK: @amorajuofficial

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NEW KENT ROAD Southwark

INDEPENDENT LIVING

T E C H N O L O GY

THUMB SOLDIERS MAKING GAMING ACCESSIBLE

DRM speaks to David Chapman on inventing an accessible gaming attachment and the need to open up the gaming industry for all gamers.

Tell us about Thumb Soldiers, what’s the story and where did the name come from?

The idea for Thumb Soldiers evolved from my personal desire for greater control, improved performance and a better connection to the video games we all love to play. I sometimes found my thumbs slipped off the controls at a vital moment in the game and I realised how difficult it must be for disabled gamers who had no choice but to use a standard game controller.

The name came from the competitive nature of gaming, of wanting to win, of battling against an opponent in different

scenarios to win. Similarly, soldiers are trained in many disciplines and to use different weapons and accessories as part of a fighting team.

Knowing I wanted to create a range of accessories that would, in the main instance, be operated by thumb movements, but that could be tailored to individual playing styles, Thumb Soldiers seemed appropriate.

Gaming provides an outlet for people with disabilities to destress and allows them to be whoever they want to be.

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Why do you feel it’s important that gaming can be accessible?

Gaming provides an outlet for people with disabilities to de-stress and allows them to be whoever they want to be,

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The unique Thumb Soldiers system and brand allows for the constant development of new attachments.

work toward a specific goal, feel a sense of accomplishment, and even help improve their self-esteem.

It’s a lifestyle and therapy for so many people. Many disabled people may have difficulty meeting and connecting with other people but playing video games provides them the opportunity to meet new people and interact from the comfort of their own home.

How do you go about creating designs for Thumb Soldiers, what inspired you to decide to do something about the gap in the market?

There is different footwear designed to suit different sports, to level the playing field if you like. Why shouldn’t that be the case in gaming, where different controller attachments adapted to

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different games and playing styles allow everyone from competitive players to occasional players to improve their performance and enjoyment?

That very much includes people with health conditions and physical impairments who struggle with coordination, grip or deftness of touch and we’ve designed specific attachments with them in mind.

As soon as I designed the concept that started this journey and discovered the potential of what we created I sought the advice from industry experts to ensure our Soldiers were appropriate.

How do you come up with new designs and what access features do you take into account?

First step was to design a game changing knuckle or docking clip, to which all Thumb Soldiers would attach, that would wrap and lock securely to a controller with no tools and no disassembly and that would maintain full motion range.

After numerous prototypes we had our ‘star’ accessory that would provide the means to fit a whole range of attachments for different games, abilities, moods, situations and consoles.

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knowing what they were to receive, hearing the feedback from those that have purchased the product with their own money was another level.

How do you see the future of gaming evolving in terms of access design, functionality and affordability?

The sector is on an upward trajectory, which is fantastic, and about time.

From what we’re doing here at Thumb Soldiers to game creation for blind and partially sighted gamers, the gaming industry is addressing these oversights.

Although Thumb Soldier attachments are all priced at under £20, the gaming industry has some way to go before it stops requiring a premium purple pound for developing accessible, inclusive products.

Knowing I wanted to create a range of accessories that would, in the main instance, be operated by thumb movements, but that could be tailored to individual playing styles.

One of Thumb Soldiers’ most popular accessories is Shrooms, an attachment that simply provides a larger surface area to assist gamers with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, dyspraxia or arthritis.

Or the Rest Kit that adapts a standard controller to a more accessible and inclusive device, alleviating uncomfortable positions.

The Sticks allow the controller to be manipulated in an entirely new way, giving accessibility to anyone with limited dexterity, arthritis, congenital hand deformities or even in hospital with an intravenous drip.

The unique Thumb Soldiers system and brand allows for the constant development of new attachments.

How important is it that as a small business you’re reflecting and understanding the problems faced by your audience? Is inclusivity within the company an important aspect for you?

Accessibility and inclusivity are imperative to us. It’s what we stand for and quite simply why we’ve brought Thumb Soldiers to the

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market. And to do that we’ve had to talk to and understand the needs of our customers.

We’re not there yet, but the community that we want to grow to help build the brand, the products and direct us as a business, will hopefully guide us to make a difference.

What’s next for Thumb Soldiers and how can we stay up to date?

The future of Thumb Soldiers is a future of community. Our objective is for this to be for everyone and for everyone to be integral to the development of Thumb Soldiers, integral to the development of game interaction.

In return we intend to offer a community where the community participates and is rewarded for their involvement.

What’s one of the best things you’ve learnt when creating Thumb Soldiers?

That by surrounding yourself and being open to suggestions from a range of different people brings incredibly useful perspective and challenge to your design process.

Many people whose opinion I have sought have now become trusted friends and colleagues.

Always encourage an environment where you receive constructive feedback and challenge – and be prepared to listen.

What’s been a highlight for the brand?

Hearing the good things people have to say about the products we produce.

Though we actioned an extensive trial program with completely independent testers, many not even

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David Chapman is the inventor of Thumb Soldiers, a range of

attachments of game controllers, including PS4/5, Xbox and Switch controllers.

WEB: thumbsoldiers.com TWITTER: @ThumbSoldiers TIKTOK: @thumbsoldiers INSTAGRAM: @thumbsoldiers

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Mike is a poet with a learning disability.

After his sister passed away, Mike was in a dark place, but thanks to a local Mencap group in Manchester Mike discovered the power of poetry. Writing about his feelings and emotions has helped Mike to positively transform his mental health over time. Mike says: “I feel like my life’s got meaning.”

Right now, we're seeing so many people with a learning disability at crisis point. Your support is giving people like Mike a lifeline of vital support when it's needed the most - and that means having someone to talk to and somewhere to go.

Your gift will help turn crisis into hope this Christmas.

Donate here.

Registered charity number 222377 (England and Wales) SC041079 (Scotland)

INDEPENDENT LIVING

P I VO T I N G T O PUBLISHING

AN INTERVIEW WITH EDITOR AND AUTHOR JEN PARKER DRM speaks to award-winning editor and designer Jen on her memoir Unflip, writing a children’s book, and pivoting to a career in publishing.

Tell us about Unflip, what’s the story and where did the name for the book come from?

When I got diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis during my gap year travelling the world, it felt like my world had been flipped upside down. I wasn’t allowed to even apply to join the police, a career path I’d envisaged ever since I could remember, and I had no Plan B. So, I set about trying to “unflip” my world over the following years, as I thought to myself I’m not going to let this hold me back, I’m going to be successful despite my diagnosis. But there’s a reason the word “unflip” isn’t in the dictionary. It just wasn’t possible!

And when I came to accept that this diagnosis wasn’t going away (I had been told in my first rheumatology appointment that there was no cure, but

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I didn’t want to accept that), there was an incredibly positive shift. I’d been hiding my diagnosis, not wanting people to feel sorry for me, afraid that it might stand in the way of my ambitions if people knew how much it was affecting my daily life.

However, when I started being honest with myself and with other people, accepting that I do have a disability, even if it is invisible most of the time, I didn’t get that tilted-head sympathetic look I’d been so afraid of. I got looks of admiration, and comments like: “You’ve achieved all this when you are in pain every day of your life and have huge physical challenges?! Good on you!” I started to understand that it’s not selfish to prioritise my health over other aspects of my life.

Now I’m self-employed, if my health isn’t in a good way, my business isn’t in a good way, so prioritising my health helps my clients and my family. My

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book documents my off-piste route to diagnosis in Australia during my travels, how that flipped my world upside down, and the tools I’ve used to make peace with my disability and live well with it since.

Nothing lasts forever, and even if you’re having a relapse or “crash” today, that doesn’t mean tomorrow is going to be the same.

How did you go about writing a memoir, was the experience challenging, freeing or a bit of both?

Writing a memoir was extremely challenging. It wasn’t even a memoir for a long time! I’d kept a blog during my travels, which had proved pretty popular, so I initially wrote my book shortly after getting home as a gap year travel guide. But something didn’t feel quite right with it. It stayed in draft form on my computer for years, with me

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revisiting it every now and then, still not able to put my finger on it.

When I started my business and was a lot more open about my health and my disability, I was getting really good feedback from people who had chronic illnesses, praising my honesty because they felt heard and understood. This made me realise what was missing from the book. I’d kept pretty much everything about my diagnosis to myself, referring to it only briefly when my travel plans had to change, but not elaborating on what really happened. So, I went back to my handwritten journal, from which I’d written my travel blog but had edited all the really personal bits out, and I added them back in!

I opened up about this huge part of my life that I’d kept to myself for so long. And I realised that the book that I wanted to publish was the book I’d wanted to read when I was first diagnosed at the tender age of 23. I’d scoured the shops and libraries for something that could help me process what was happening, but all I’d found were terrifying medical books with images of deformed spines! I wanted someone to tell me that I could live better with the disease and that I wasn’t guaranteed to end up like those images.

And with the reforms in modern medicine and the lifestyle changes I’ve been able to make myself, although I have a lot of joint damage, I’m happy and living life well, so I wanted to share that.

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I’ve got a successful award-winning business, two beautiful children, and joy-filled days, so I’m very grateful for that.

The other side to the challenge was that it got me to address my issues with toxic positivity. I’d operated on a “stiff upper lip” mentality for a long time, trying to only see the positives, which actually wasn’t the healthiest of approaches. The grief counselling I had after my mum died in 2019 showed me that it actually did me more good to address the negative feelings instead of pushing them down or avoiding them as I had been doing. Not only did this help me to process my mum’s death, but it also allowed me to process my diagnosis in a way that I hadn’t before. So, when I came to rewrite my book at the end of 2021, I went past the initial diagnosis and talked about life in the world of employment with an invisible disability, as well as dealing with the ups and downs of chronic illness alongside the ups and downs of life. This allowed me to talk about my mum’s cancer and her death, and how this affected my arthritis (I ended up in A&E the day after her funeral with suspected DVT, which turned out to be a burst Baker’s cyst at the back of my knee caused by my arthritis). Although challenging, this was cathartic and helped me process a lot of unresolved emotions, and it was worth it because I’ve had really positive feedback from others going through similar situations.

How did you end up publishing Unflip, was working in publishing something you always wanted to do?

When my diagnosis put an end to my childhood dreams of becoming a detective, I had to go back to the drawing board. I had to think about the skills I’d learnt from my university degrees, and my work experience, and which careers that might apply to. But it was actually my mum who sparked

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my passion for publishing. She found an advert in the local paper for a job working in the warehouse and admin department of a local publishing house and said she thought it would be perfect for me. I’d always loved reading, but it had never occurred to me that I could turn my love of books into a career.

Having landed the job, I worked my way up through the publishing house to become Group Head of Production, heading up the design teams for all of the imprints, before founding Fuzzy Flamingo in 2017.

How do you find the publishing industry in terms of access and inclusivity?

Working in an open-plan office with air conditioning recycling and circulating the air was not ideal for someone on immunosuppressants.

Every time a colleague came in with the sniffles my heart would sink, as it would inevitably hit me harder and wipe me out for longer than the average person.

This, combined with the myriad of appointments I need, plus the ups and downs of an autoimmune condition, meant that I was out of the office a lot more than my colleagues.

Publishing is a fast-paced, highpressured industry, which is also not great for conditions like mine that react poorly to stress.

There were adjustments that could have been made when I was employed to reduce the number of sick days, but it didn’t become clear to me until I’d embarked on self-employment what could have helped me.

When I started my business, I found that the flexible hours meant that I could work when I was most productive, meaning I got more work done in a week than I otherwise might have done. Eating well moved up my priority list as I had more time to prepare and cook food, so I improved my weight and health, which had been affected by various medications, especially steroids. I set up my office space with a stand-up/sit-

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down desk and a completely adaptable chair so that I can make adjustments depending on how my joints are doing, and not sit or stand for too long.

I now have a greater understanding of the need for “equity” in the phrase “diversity, equity and inclusion”.

My focus in employment had been on “equality”, as in “I want what everyone else has”, which is why I’d glossed over the periods of bad health I’d experienced. Instead, I should have focused on “equity”, as in “I need this in order to bring me up to being equal to everyone else.” I felt like I’d be a burden if I asked for adjustments, and I didn’t want to be getting things over and above other people. However, not everyone needs adjustments in order to be their most productive, but I did, which is why equity is so important. If I ever re-enter the world of employment, I now have a much better understanding of my needs and my rights.

What are you working on at the minute? How can we keep up with your work?

I am currently working on a lot of different projects in the background of my day-to-day job of helping authors to self-publish beautiful books. My mission with Fuzzy Flamingo is to make publishing more transparent, less intimidating and more accessible, as I’ve had the joy of working with authors who overcame perceived barriers, such as dyslexia, autism and poor mental health, to become successfully published authors.

I’ve also written a children’s book that I will be publishing to raise money for charity thanks to an illustrator who has donated her incredible talent too.

And I’m just about to launch my third collaboration book project, bringing people together to write short stories to improve their mental health, as writing can be so cathartic. The first two books in the series, Escape Reality and Connections, were hugely fulfilling, so I’m looking forward to getting stuck back into Fuzzy Fiction. If anyone would like to take part they should get in touch!

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Jen Parker, multi-awardwinning business owner, editor and designer.

WEB: fuzzyflamingo.co.uk

INSTAGRAM: @fuzzyflamingodesign

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ADVERTORIAL

NEW REPORT COMMISSIONED

BY THE WHEELCHAIR ALLIANCE HIGHLIGHTS THE TRUE VALUE OF INCREASED INVESTMENT IN WHEELCHAIR PROVISION INCREASING spending on wheelchair services by £22 million each year could unlock benefits to society worth more than £60 million according to a new report commissioned by The Wheelchair Alliance.

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ompiled by independent research organisations Frontier Economics and Revealing Reality and grant-funded by the Mobility Foundation, the report, The Value of a Wheelchair, has found that investment in wheelchair services could result in a positive economic impact at a ratio of approximately £3 for every £1 invested as well as significant cost savings to the NHS. Using quantitative data and information gathered through in-depth interviews with wheelchair users across England, the report concludes that the provision of high-quality wheelchairs can have a significant impact on people’s lives as well as on society.

But despite the obvious benefits, the report has highlighted major inequalities in the provision of wheelchairs across the UK, with many wheelchair users being left to navigate

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the system alone, using their own experience and knowledge to access support.

Karen Pearce, Director of the Wheelchair Alliance, said it would now be lobbying the Government to demand a thorough review of investment in wheelchair provision which the Alliance says has remained stagnant for many years.

She said: “The message from this report is coming through loud and clear – ensuring people have access to the right wheelchair at the right time is not only the right thing to do, it also has huge benefits to wheelchair users and the whole of society.

“Wheelchair users deserve and demand so much better, and we will be working alongside the Government, the Department for Health and Social Care, NHS England and other charities and organisations to use this report as a catalyst for real change.”

The Wheelchair Alliance was formed in 2015 to fully understand and champion the needs of the estimated 1.2 million wheelchair users across England giving them a voice – and a platform – on which to campaign for improvements to services.

The Alliance is a collaboration between wheelchair users, including

its founder member Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, and representatives from some of the biggest charities and organisations in the UK, who work together to help bring about change.

It works in partnership with organisations and campaigns at the very highest level, empowering wheelchair users to lead qualitative, independent lives. It provides guidance and collaborates with service providers to ensure the support wheelchair users receive is the very best it can be.

As well as creating The Wheelchair Charter which sets out six principles to ensure anyone who needs a wheelchair gets one whenever they need it, The Alliance offers impartial information about how to access wheelchair services and how to fund the cost of new equipment.

The Alliance hopes to launch an All-Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Wheelchair Provision set up to work alongside the APPG on Disability – helping to strengthen its voice and its influence among MPs and Peers.

To read the full report and learn more about The Wheelchair Alliance visit alliance.co.uk

wheelchair-

Together we are strengthening the voice of wheelchair users.

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CONVERTING TO CLAMPING Carole Edrich talks about two very different UK

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based glamping experiences.

his,” I tell myself as I sit on the huge wooden decking with its view of the woods, and a few select wooden cabins, “is where I could write my book”. Put aside, for a moment, the fact that I’ve no idea what that book might be, and it definitely is a place to write a book. “More than that,” says the risk manager within me, “I could live in a place like this when global warming hits.” While not quite as big

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as the flat I have in London, it has a spare room with bunks for friends to visit, I think, provided that the global warming doesn’t flood them out.

The cabin is as wheelchair accessible as possible, and therefore close to the entrance with a parking space directly in front of the lovely, raised decking.

My car broke down on the way here, so instead of an elderly rusting Volkswagen I have a pleasantly and unobstructed view. You can’t have it all, though.

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It has all mod cons. And I mean all of them. Proper oven and hob, huge fridge, washing machine, dish washer, internet and even proper heating.

The same accessibility that allows for parking means I’m close to the road, and the traffic noise is occasionally quite disturbing. However, when there’s no passing traffic, the white noise of wind through the trees punctuated only by the impact of hazelnuts falling on the roof is a wonderful thing.

This really is more cabin than glamping pod. It is larger and nicer than most fivestar hotel suites I’ve seen. I’m a journalist so I’ve seen quite a few. It has all mod cons. And I mean all of them. Proper oven and hob, huge fridge, washing machine, dish washer, internet and even proper heating. It’s a totally wooden building with that gorgeous smell you get when

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you’re by lots of quality wood.

The cabin has all the things you’d expect in wheelchair accessible accommodation.

If your stuff at home is quite standard, the chance is that these are the same. It would suit the right family of four with the option for an extra bed in the main room.

By that, I mean a single wheelchair might just about fit in the room with bunk beds but two wouldn’t, and while you could probably manage two wheelchair users into the double bed in the main room, getting a second wheelchair user into the higher bunk bed is too much of an ask.

The toilet might be a challenge if you have a flare-up of ME as it’s not possible to lean back without carrying in cushions (with a bad flare-up, just getting there is hard, so carrying cushions would be out of the question).

Vibrating and colour-based fire alarms are a nice touch, and the huge indoor table too.

Coniston locals are lovely, but I needed to go in very regularly to eat. I ordered three days of prepared curries which never arrived, tried, and gave up with a Tesco delivery and saw that someone else had got Hello Fresh to deliver. Experience Freedom, which is part of the Caravan and Motorhome Club, really needs you to have a motor vehicle to properly enjoy your stay. I find just one local wheelchair accessible route. That is the one on the Experience Freedom site itself.

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With it, you could get down to the lake, but would need a motorised wheelchair, a good push or two or maybe both to get all the way to Coniston. All the other routes, even ones that start off looking nice, end up in a scarily narrow bit of the road or in a kissing gate.

The reception has a huge and well-stocked information room for other trips, and if you have a car the accessibility into Coniston and elsewhere is less of a problem, as the nearby more commercial Lake Windermere has maps of wheelchair accessible walking routes and motorised wheelchair-ish water sports and bikes. If you like pizzas you’ll be happy with the hut that serves limited evening meals and all the people who work in and around the place are lovely. However, staff go home at night, so emergency out-of-hours help might take a while.

Useful information

I stayed at experiencefreedom.co.uk’s Coniston Park Coppice. It’s not ideal for those without their own vehicles, and while getting there in the car was no problem, it cost me huge amounts to get home without it!

“Oh. My. God.” I think to myself as the friendly owners of the treetop glamping site show me around. “How can a place be so peaceful when it’s so close to Hay-on-Wye that I could hit the town with a well-thrown stone?” The workmanship of this safari

The back of the pod (which my niece calls a palace) is directly accessible from the parking. There’s a nice gravel road and a gate into a wheelchair-and-a-bit wide ramp to the decking and entrance. Stilts hold the decking up, stable and level. Part tent, part solid wood construction, and lots of lovely details, it feels solid enough to last ten lifetimes. You look out from the decking through the treetops to the river, are completely hidden from passers-by and the deck is so well covered that we stayed out and read when it rained.

Tent-palaces on the site are far enough apart that you don’t need to see or deal with your neighbours, and the site is dotted through with special things to inspire people to take it easy, use their imagination and let their children play safely. I spotted numerous tree-branch chairs and tables, a secret covered area in a meadow by the river, surprise tableaux in the woods, a climbable Aragog and a custom-created bay to protect children from the worst of the river’s current while giving them a shallow-ish space to play.

Inside is well equipped with all the things you’d expect in wheelchair accessible accommodation. It’s not hospital or household standard but beautifully crafted, excellent functionality and covers everything in a unique and carefully considered way.

This place easily sleeps a family of six and might squeeze in one more. Because there are two double beds, wheelchair access for two children could be managed by putting both in the second double bed or one in the bed

All the locals are warm, helpful and friendly too, so I didn’t want to leave. That’s just as well, because the first two of the once-every-two-to-three-hours buses from Hay-on-Wye to Hereford didn’t turn up. tent-based rooftop glamping palace shows a greater level of care and attention than most would apply to their homes. It is huge, comfortable and super-family friendly with not one but two spare rooms.

I’m the first to stay in this gorgeous place, and the décor’s full of wow. I can feel the love and care invested here. It’s not just a safari tent, it’s an off-grid temporary home. The tent and the site around it are jam-packed with naturally made things, arty humour, warmth, deep thought and inventive imagination. The rush and ripple of the river is a constant relaxing presence that mitigates the occasional noise of cars crossing the nearby bridge to Hay.

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and one on the lower bed in the bunk room. The wet room is huge, the toilet one that you can lean back on, which is great for ME. This is a one-off, authentic, restful, real off-the-grid place. It’s powered by solar panels, well lit, with one single concession of a two-plug USB port. There’s no fridge, but a large and sufficient cold box, homely indoor fireplace and a huge cast iron BBQ which we really loved. The place is ideal for slowing down, doing nothing, thinking, reading, outdoor play and relaxed contemplation.

Beautifully chosen, elegant branches replace the hospital-standard round-loo railing and the mattresses are so wonderfully sleep-inducing that my sister-in-law is getting them for all the beds in her home.

I’m the first to stay in this gorgeous place, and the décor’s full of wow. I can feel the love and care invested here.

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The owners themselves are lovely, visiting and chatting regularly to make sure everything is going well, and sharing their vision and experiences of how families take to the site. They try to source everything locally and have a huge menu of pre-orderable, generously sized, locally sourced food packages that includes breakfasts, BBQ’s and high-quality ingredients for meals.

You don’t need to leave the site which is totally wheelchair friendly (although you might need a bit of a push), but much of Hay-on-Wye and the walking routes are properly wheelchair friendly. All the locals are warm, helpful and friendly too, so I didn’t want to leave. That’s just as well, because the first two of the onceevery-two-to-three-hours buses from Hay-on-Wye to Hereford didn’t turn up. I learned from the people in Café Hay that this wasn’t unusual, so if you don’t drive bear this in mind.

Useful information

I stayed at ByTheWye Camping https:// www.bythewye.uk/ Hay-on-Wye is in Wales, just over the border from Hereford which is about 40 minutes away by bus. If you’re travelling by public transport it might be easier to get there from Cardiff, as buses that don’t cross the border are more regular.

AUTHOR: Carole Edrich, photographer, journalist and board member for Unlimited |

FACEBOOK:

CaroleEdrichPhotography

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CRUISING

THE PERFECT HOLIDAY FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS? I’ve often thought that cruising is an ideal holiday to take when using a wheelchair, so I jumped on Norwegian Prima in Southampton to take a closer look.

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ruise ships sell themselves as the ultimate all-in-one package holiday, with food, drinks, accommodation, entertainment and travel (to multiple destinations) all rolled into one. Only unpack once. Is this too good to be true, and what expert tips are worth knowing before heading out to sea on your first cruise?

Sail from home

Conveniently, several ships sail from Southampton for the summer and autumn seasons, so you can avoid flying and still travel pretty far.

Conveniently, several ships sail from Southampton for the summer and autumn seasons, so you can avoid flying and still travel pretty far.

And even if you do prefer to pick up a ship further afield, many cruise lines include complimentary transfers from the airport to the ship – just let them know in advance if you’ll need an accessible vehicle.

Talk first, then travel

Sharing your needs with the cruise line ahead of time is key to an overall seamless experience. Whether you’re looking for an accessible cabin with an adapted shower room, or you have complex dietary requirements, or medication that requires refrigeration, with advance notice the cruise

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line will work with you to make your dream cruise come true.

In addition to the shipboard crew, a dedicated team of shoreside travel planners work with guests ahead of the cruise, so that everything is ready for your arrival.

Onboard, guests with extra requirements benefit from the services of a dedicated onboard crew member, who is reachable via guest services.

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Getting on and off the ship

Onboard, lifts and ramps make all venues accessible, but exploring the ports can be a little more challenging and it’s worth considering this when selecting your cruise itinerary. Many of Europe’s old towns – such as Tallinn, on a Baltic cruise – are hilly with uneven cobblestone streets.

Other ports – such as Istanbul and Barcelona, on Mediterranean voyages – are more comfortable to navigate.

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Ports with modern cruise ship terminals are usually the simplest to navigate through, especially when embarking the ship using an airbridge as these are flatter than traditional gangways. In Europe, major ports such as Southampton, Lisbon and Barcelona use airbridges.

But not all ports have a dock large enough for cruise ships. In these cases, ships will tender guests back and forth from ship to shore on smaller boats. These boats are not usually wheelchair accessible and boarding them often requires stepping from a loading platform over a ridge and taking a couple of steps into the tender boat. It can be a good idea to avoid itineraries that feature too many tender ports.

Katherine took a panoramic bus tour of Reykjavik, which featured highlights of the city, including the imposing concrete Hallgrímskirkja church at the top of the hill

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Join online forums and ask experienced cruisers

The cruising community is very active online with forums such as Cruise Critic and Facebook Groups, including Emma Cruises – run by popular British cruise YouTuber, Emma LeTeace. These groups offer a chance to meet fellow cruisers ahead of your sailing and also ask any questions you may have. Often you’ll receive an answer quicker here than from the cruise line itself!

Sailing with children?

If you’re sailing with children who use wheelchairs, the major family lines are all very well-prepared, with inclusive programmes and accessible facilities within the kids’ club area.

Kids club leaders often comment that the parents are more worried than the children about joining in with the club, so the best thing to do is discuss your child’s needs with the kids’ club staff and let them have fun with new friends. Some ships offer pagers so parents can be quickly reached if necessary.

‘Lucky’ – kids’ club manager on

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Norwegian Prima – tells me that special accommodations can be made to ensure that all children can join in with the full programme.

He’s sailed with a deaf teenager, who was joined by a translator to help her join in the activities, and explained that, with prior approval, children with additional needs can be integrated into a different age group’s programme.

If your child benefits from a little extra attention, or loud and busy spaces don’t suit them, Lucky recommends sailing outside of the summer and Christmas seasons.

In ‘shoulder seasons’, Norwegian Prima can sail with as few as 40 children.

Personal Advice from a First Time Cruiser

I met Katherine Mitchell onboard Norwegian Prima, as we sailed away from Southampton on a voyage to the northern lands of Vikings – Iceland and Norway. For her first big holiday in eight years, Katherine’s picked a corker of a ship, with 19 decks packed full of 15 restaurants, 20 bars and a whole

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host of entertainment venues.

This time, she’s in a standard stateroom but would definitely make a point of requesting one of Norwegian Prima’s 44 accessible rooms in the future, for the extra space available for her chair.

The crew are fantastic, she tells me, however she’s spotted some design features that could be reconsidered: the height of the buffet counters, for example, are slightly too high.

How about the gangways?

Are they easy to use? I know my chair, she tells me, so getting on and off the ship has been fairly straightforward. There are always crew members standing at the gangway to assist, if needed.

In ports, the ship’s shore excursion team offers a selection of tours including wheelchair friendly and low-mobility options.

Katherine took a panoramic bus tour of Reykjavik, which featured highlights of the city, including the imposing concrete Hallgrímskirkja church at the top of the hill.

Private tours are also available online, for a more personalised day in port.

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Daniel Edward, a freelance travel writer and presenter

WEB: danieledwarduk.com/

work/writing/

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THAT wanted

‘A N Y W O R K

DOING’ Gill Crawshaw, a curator who

draws on her experience of disability activism, talks us through the process of curating Any Work That Wanted Doing, an exciting exhibition in Leeds of new artwork by disabled artists.

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Tell us about you and your career as a curator, what’s the story there and what are your interests?

I knew that by inviting disabled artists to respond to this research, they would be able to bring it to life.

My first curatorial project was actually a protest.

Several years ago, I organised an exhibition by disabled artists as a counterpoint to poor accessibility of a popular artist’s show that came to Leeds. The exhibition by disabled artists was a success in its own right with some fabulous art.

Afterwards many people, including the artists, asked me to organise more. I went on to organise several other exhibitions, featuring disabled artists and raising issues around disability and disabled people’s lives. Any work that wanted doing is the latest of these.

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Curating is a relatively recent change of role for me, as my career hasn’t been in the arts. But I’ve always been interested and engaged with the arts, and studying textile design brought me to Leeds many years ago. This is perhaps one reason why many of my projects are connected to textiles.

More importantly, I aim to take a disability rights approach to curating, drawing on my experience of activism in the disabled people’s movement, including involvement in DAN - the Disabled People’s Direct Action Network, in the 1990s.

I aim to get people thinking and talking about disability issues, and make sure disabled people aren’t ignored and that disabled artists get the recognition they deserve.

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Tell us about the process of curating Any Work?

Where did the idea to explore hidden histories from disabled artists come from?

I’d started thinking about disabled people’s role in textile mills during the Industrial Revolution when I organised an exhibition called Shoddy. This was a play on words, pointing out that disabled lives are not shoddy, second rate or worthless.

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Instead, what is shoddy is the government’s treatment of disabled people, with cuts to benefits and public spending disproportionately affecting disabled people. Shoddy had another meaning, originally being the name for new cloth made from reclaimed fibres. The process for manufacturing shoddy was invented in the early 19th century in West Yorkshire and the area became a major centre of production.

This and other textile industries were incredibly important to Yorkshire, to the north, and indeed to the United Kingdom. While industrialisation was a major cause of disablement amongst mill workers, I felt that the fact that these and other disabled workers played their part in the industry was rarely acknowledged. I started to research and uncover some of those hidden histories.

I knew that by inviting disabled artists to respond to this research, they would be able to bring it to life, telling authentic stories that connect the lives of disabled people today with disabled people of the past. They have made beautiful, meaningful, multi-layered, engaging artworks and I’m very proud to have provided a spark to make that happen.

What was it like to work with Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills?

The team at Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills has been incredibly supportive and enthusiastic about this project from the start, it’s been a great partnership.

Armley Mills was at one time the largest woollen mill in the world, so it’s the perfect venue for the exhibition. The artworks look fantastic amongst the museum’s collection of textile machinery.

The project took place as part of Leeds 2023 Year of Culture, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Any work that wanted doing couldn’t have happened without their support as well.

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What’s been your favourite moment since launching the exhibition? What has the reception been like?

The reception has been great, people have found the artworks fascinating and even moving, noting the attention to detail and the skill of the artists. Hearing some of the comments when I’ve been showing groups around, particularly groups of disabled people, has been really rewarding.

How do you find the arts community in terms of accessibility and inclusivity?

I think it’s a reflection of wider society - things are improving in some areas, but there’s further to go. I think there are a lot of pre-conceived ideas about the sort of work, and the quality of work, that disabled artists make and this can lead to low expectations and a reluctance to work with disabled artists. I’m part of a collective of disabled artists in Leeds called DISrupt, and our aim is to change this!

Do you think there’s been a change in the arts since the pandemic?

There was actually a positive change during the pandemic, as arts organisations realised that they had to go online to reach their audiences.

Disabled people had been asking for arts organisations to put their work online for years: in the face of inaccessible venues and transport, a lack of support and unaffordable prices, online is the only way many disabled people can enjoy the arts. But that online presence does seem to be shrinking now that we’re a few years into the pandemic and in-person events are opening up. But the pandemic isn’t over, and being able to access the arts online is therefore even more important!

What are you working on at the minute? How can we keep up with your work?

I’d love to show Any work in other places in the region, so my main focus at the moment is looking for opportunities. I’m working on a zine to share my research and stories of disabled workers in Leeds. And I have an idea for another exhibition, but not textiles based this time.

You can follow me on Instagram or connect via the Any work website!

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Gill Crawshaw is a curator who draws on her experience

of disability activism to organise art exhibitions and events which highlight issues affecting disabled people.

WEB: anywork.org.uk INSTAGRAM: @gillcrawshaw TWITTER: @ShoddyArts

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A R T S ‘THIS IS GOING

TO BE BIG’ AT THE BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL

DRM visits the BFI London Film Festival to chat to director Thomas Charles Hyland on his new project This Is Going To Be Big, as well as some of the cast.

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t was such a beautiful moment.”

Director Thomas Charles Hyland is sitting in a cosy booth in the Sea Containers hotel in London, talking about his sister, a teacher, holding her own school play. It was to be the catalyst for This Is Going To Be Big, premiering at the London Film Festival later this evening. “I had such a great time but nobody was there. Unless you’re, you know, a parent or one of the kids. But you all remember that [sort of] moment. I guess that’s where the idea started and I’ve always loved those coming-of-age films, the high school hangout stories, like Eighth Grade — that kind of thing.”

The film counts down to a big play put on by neurodivergent and disabled teens hosted at the Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School on Australian singer John Farnham at different points in his career, with editing from Matias Bolla and Zac Grant which condenses months of rehearsals into neat sections for the audience to follow. “As soon as I met the school… [the documentary] started to shape itself all the time, and I guess there’s where I started letting go of my feelings about what it would be and just…let it become what it wants. That’s [always going to be] the best version.

And I think, you know, at the end of it all, it’s Halle’s story, and the other kids at the school.”

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the screen; Josh brings an easy-going brightness to every room he’s in, whilst Chelsea always has a sly quip that’s one step ahead of everyone, especially the adults in the room, and Elyse has a quiet, observant way of looking at the world that is given appropriate space to be seen for what it is: a kindness and gentleness that might make you think again about the last time you let yourself really enjoy something, like gently observing a bug, just because.

For the film’s duration, we’re pulled into the kid’s homes, their families, listening to conversations and family dinners. fan aunt, who passed away when she was younger, is more than excited to share her story, and tells me I’ll need tissues when watching the film (which is correct): “I’ve never felt nervous in front of cameras because I always had a thing about movies - you know, because of my disability, which is ASD, it makes me become obsessed with one particular thing and I think for me it’s movies. I’ve always dreamed of being in a movie myself…so when I first heard about the documentary, I was pretty excited, and something was telling me that I was going to be in the documentary.”

Halle is full of enthusiasm, chatting to me about her artwork which features in the film, as well as her passion for the filming process. It becomes clear that she is not just a teen begrudgingly appearing in a documentary about their school; when I watch the film later on, Halle’s passion for filmography is allowed to filter through the documentary with Thomas choosing to let Halle film parts of the documentary herself. It’s a standout disabilit yreviewmagazine.co.uk

choice and a particularly moving moment to watch, especially when Halle shines light on pupils more camera shy. She attributes the positive experience to the production team working alongside her: “The filming was really good. I always knew how to get myself ready, they would always put the mic on me, and always ask me the same questions…it was even better when they got to come to my place!

I’ve really got to connect with [the production crew] more and connect with my friends even more thanks to this and it was one of the best experiences of my life.”

Her friends include fellow pupils Josh, Chelsea and Elyse, who each have their own way of captivating

[Being a teen] is a very transitional stage and I think there’s a very real power and voice and identity that you’re realising you can take control of [there].

For Hyland, it was important to capture the teens in this non-prescriptive way: “[Being a teen] is a very transitional stage and I think there’s a very real power and voice and identity that you’re realising you can take control of. It’s such an interesting and fertile time of life.” However, adolescence isn’t always easy, and teacher Lori goes into depth on how the production worked collaboratively, including with Bus Stop Films, a disability-led organisation, to ensure there was a safe, inclusive environment: “There was the same sound and camera crew throughout and we really tried to make it so that if there was a meltdown or something was caught on camera the parents had to have the final say on whether it was included.

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We would often tell the camera to cut at that moment [depending on what was happening], as it doesn’t need to be filmed, but we also didn’t want to take that away, as we wanted to be able to show that these kids can come around from that, and there’s a recovery process.”

Two moments spring immediately to mind from the film itself: we see Chelsea faint from exhaustion and Elyse is hospitalised, only just making it back in time for the performance, to tears from not just the crowd on the screen, but in the screening itself.

For the film’s duration, we’re pulled into the kid’s homes, their families, listening to conversations and family dinners. There’s an openness to Hyland’s approach that allows him to capture funny family dynamics in a similar fashion to big, expressive

feelings; the kids speak directly to the camera, opening up about everything from job aspirations to past experiences. “It’s about mutual trust,” Hyland explains. “It doesn’t work if you don’t trust each other especially when you’re in such a vulnerable position having your story be really looked at.”

As the play approaches on the big screen, there’s never any doubt that the kids will pull off the show, even if they themselves have a lot of nerves, but it’s in watching these honest, often funny and sometimes sad moments that the kids are allowed to be shown in their complexities. It’s

Two moments spring immediately to mind from the film itself: we see Chelsea faint from exhaustion and Elyse is hospitalised, only just making it back in time for the play’s performance, to tears from not just the crowd on the screen, but in the screening itself.

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inspiring, yes, but it’s also incredibly raw to watch, because it is centred around an environment where neurodivergent and disabled kids are allowed to come as they are, when wider society has not yet embraced that same thought. This Is Going To Be Big shows the hope that it could, whilst making you laugh, which is quite something, actually.

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This Is Going To Be Big - a feature film with production by Truce

Films & Fremantle Media. Produced

by Jim Wright, Josie Mason Campbell & Catherine Bradbury. Written and directed by Thomas Charles Hyland.

Runtime: 98 minutes.

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HANNAH BASS & M ARY BRODDLE

“NEEDLEPOINT GETS ME OUT OF MY HEAD” DRM speaks to needlepoint designer Hannah Bass, and embroiderer Mary Broddle about the restorative effects of arts and crafts on mental health, and navigating the industry with a disability.

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H

annah Bass is a contemporary needlepoint designer from London, creating colourful, and uplifting graphic designs.

Based in London, Bass explains that she always “loved the process of making things, [especially] creating a little imaginary world.”

It was after a business degree that Bass decided to get back to that world of creativity: “I knew I wanted to get back into the world of creating and became a residential interior designer for a decade. I have OCD – I can’t ever remember not having it. Times have changed now, but mental health wasn’t a topic of conversation when I was young. I call myself a positive & bubbly person but the weight of dealing with constant unwanted intrusive thoughts brought me a level of anxiety & exhaustion that my body could no longer deal with alone. And so, I tried many ways to bring relaxation into my life, and that’s how I found needlepoint – restorative, calming & creative.”

Needlepoint gets me out of my head and into the present moment. I am thinking with my hands, instead of my brain.

Tell us about how you got into needlepoint? What draws you to it as an art form?

Needlepoint is half of a cross stitch, therefore just a simple diagonal line. The only rule is all diagonal lines slant in the same direction.

The joy of stitching is in simplicity. You come back to the very basics. Needlepoint gets me out of my head and into the present moment. I am thinking with my hands, instead of my brain. The repetitive motion of one stitch at a time is incredibly therapeutic. My busy brain slows down.

Today, there is a growing awareness to the mindbody connection. In our fast-paced life, we place so much emphasis on the mind, and forget about the body. We don’t fully know how to listen to the signs our body is giving us, until it is too late, and we burn out.

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Does being creative help with your OCD, if so how?

Positively and negatively. Negatively, my creative imagination doesn’t help with my intrusive thoughts!

However, on the plus side my obsessive nature gives me good attention to detail with design. And, without my OCD, I probably would never have found needlepoint and started my lovely company! Plus, I love colour. I love choosing bright and happy colourful combinations for my designs, as stitching with bright chunky wools is incredibly uplifting.

Was mental health a factor in going into the creative business and being self-employed?

Definitely. The busyness of office life was intensifying my intrusive thoughts & anxiety. Working from home is far more calming for me, I am much more productive. Plus, as I have got older, I have realised how much OCD & anxiety affects how my body functions. For example, I definitely need more sleep to replenish myself - being selfemployed gives me this flexibility.

How do you find the craft community in terms of accessibility and inclusivity?

It is an incredibly kind, diverse, supportive, and inclusive

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community, who have come together not just for creative reasons, but also because they understand the healing power of craft.

telling me how stitching has got them through a difficult period, such as a long hospital stay for example. It makes everything worthwhile.

Is arts and crafts part of living “slow” for you?

What are you working on at the minute?

Yes. It’s getting out of my head and into my body. Living in the present moment. Going back to the basics. It’s a tool for me. It also has a fabulous benefit of having a colourful creative outlet with it!

What’s a career highlight for you this year?

I think it has to be the fabulous emails I get from my customers,

A new range of modern, floral, colourful, uplifting designs.

“I did lockdown long before lockdown.” Mary Broddle, who has dealt with chronic pain for the last twenty years due to hypermobile EDS explains, when asked about how her passion for mindfulness stitching came about. “I’ve always found embroidery helps me cope with being housebound…it helps me cope with chronic pain, spending a lot of time on the sofa, when you can see everything that needs doing or you want to go and do stuff, but you can’t.

Like most children, I loved the process of making things, creating a little imaginary world.

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It can really get to you. But with embroidery, you’re still feeling productive, and you’re calm, and those feelings of frustration dissipates, and you still have something to show for it.”

Broddle had always wanted to be an engineer since the age of five – “I just liked knowing how things worked!” – and achieved a successful twenty-year career in the rail industry managing multi-million-pound contracts: “I did all the international travel, I gave the presentations in fancy boardrooms… but I also have EDS, hypermobility type, and I struggled more and more with it.” But it was after leaving her job in 2019 due to increasing problems with her health that she decided to pick up her embroidery habit and make it a career; she jokes that it was during an “epiphany” in the John Lewis haberdashery section where she realised: “I must be able to do something with this.”

Mindful stitching is something you teach, what does it consist of?

It’s a bit like doodling in thread. A lot of people are scared of embroidery,

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A lot of people are scared of embroidery, scared of not producing something that looks like the kit. scared of not producing something that looks like the kit. I found it was an accessible way of getting around that adult perfectionism, so I came up with something easier. It’s based on traditional Japanese stitching called Sashiko, which is a geometric, running stitch – very precise — but my take is without the precision, I’m always trying to get people away from that. It doesn’t matter if it looks a little wonky…these techniques are hundreds of years old, and you can just pick it up and go for it without worrying about what it will look like. It’s about the process not the design. I engineered it to make it as accessible as I can.

You’re a fan of visible mending also, can you explain that?

It’s sort of a natural progression from [mindfulness stitching] with visible mending, as it’s the sashiko stitching with patching that’s quite on trend at the moment…I engineered my approach to it because I’ve thought through which threads to use, how not to use knots, I’ve thought about durability, wash and wear…I’m an engineer by nature and I’ve put a lot of thought into it [to make it worthwhile].

How do you find the craft community in terms of accessibility and inclusivity?

I think online it’s quite good actually - there are a lot of people like me who use craft to help with ill health.

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As a younger person who’s quite socially isolated…you just want to feel part of the world.

I know how hard it is to not be able to go to things. I’d love to have classes on zoom, I want to be with people who understand [EDS and chronic pain] but…do something else.

In terms of meeting up in person, it’s hard…it’s not just how accessible the venue is, it’s how are you going to get there – unless you’ve got hundreds of pounds for taxis!

People also just assume you go to these things, and you have the energy and actually…where are the stuff for people like me, who are quite socially isolated? It’s partly why I started my mindfulness stitching classes, to give people like me something that isn’t just custard creams in the church hall. As a younger person who’s quite socially isolated…you just want to feel part of the world. I know how hard it is to not be able to go to things. I’d love to have classes on zoom, I want to be with people who understand [EDS and chronic pain] but…do something else.

Do you think there’s been an influx of crafting since the pandemic?

Yes, but an awful lot of people only did it during lockdown and they don’t seem to have carried on with it. They’ve returned back to being busy. What I’m trying to show [with my work] is, you can take [embroidery] with you on a

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train journey, or when watching the TV…it’s so portable and I’m trying to get past those barriers [that it’s something you don’t have time for].

Is arts and crafts part of living “slow” for you?

Apart from anything, it stops you slowly scrolling on your phone! I’m just as bad for that as anyone. If your brain is focusing on something more analogue, like craft, that is inherent slow living when we’re so connected to technology consistently. I listen to audiobooks whilst I’m doing my embroidery now and I say it’s positively Victorian — you know, somebody reading to me whilst I sew – sometimes I’m even wearing a shawl if it’s winter. It’s learning from those traditions but with that twist of modern technology, it can sit all together but slow living… people have forgotten how to do that. Embroidery and other crafts are a great way to do it.

What’s a career highlight for you this year?

I’ve had a few. This year I worked with Nottingham City Council and did some mindfulness stitching popups in parks on some of their

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summer community days, and the kids swarmed! They loved it. The three hours…I would hardly look up, I was managing something like fifty kids, it was so rewarding to watch them persevere with it…their pride at the end, they’re so pleased! Getting out to groups of people who wouldn’t normally do craft was great.

What are you working on at the minute?

I’m working on a lot of classes for kids; I’m doing a Quidditch themed one, a Christmas one, Chinese New Year…all sorts of stuff like that. So, I’m actually working out how to do things for children, but also more work for the Council, as well as developing my in-person classes…I really want to get a cohort who want to develop their embroidery journey. I’m also working on trying not to run myself in to the ground, getting back to Pilates [is important for me] or I won’t be delivering anything. So, there’s that constant balance.

H A N N A H B A SS WEB: hannahbass.com INSTAGRAM: @hannahbassneedlepoint

M A RY B RO D D L E WEB: marybroddleembroidery.com INSTAGRAM: @marybroddle_embroidery

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A SMARTPHONE SAFARI WITH JET BLACK SQUARES Jeanette Lendon, the founder of Jet Black Squares, takes

All images: @Chloe Johnson

DRM on an accessible photography safari, and talks about why Jet Black Squares are aiming to make smartphone photography accessible for all.

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was on Zoom and there were 120 people in the UAE watching whilst I was walking through Brick Lane during Eid, showing them how to best capture the sights.” Jeanette, known as Jet, tells me as we sit down for coffee after a safari trail around Birmingham. She has a multitude of these little anecdotes, tales from corporate photography to a creative writing retreat in Skyros that is both literally and metaphorically miles away from the miserable rain we’ve just endured. The stories show her passion for smartphone photography but also in making photography more accessible in general.

She’d like to bring smartphone photography to all corners of the world, she says, with her safari currently available virtually or in person in different locations across the UK including Manchester, Cornwall, London, Oxford, and the Scottish Highlands. But what even is a photography safari?

The ‘safari’ was a gentle walk, based on the access preferences I’d shared with Jeanette beforehand, with shared tips across the way on how to take pictures with my own phone. The routes are pre-planned to be wheelchair accessible, and to take into account a variety of walking paces. At one point, Jet pulls out a Lego brick.

The rain is continuing to pelt,

but we stop by a pretty fountain anyway, just because the water looks gorgeous against the grey clouds. “It’s to stop your phone from getting wet!” Jeanette instructs me, showing me how to hold the phone to get the best picture of the moving water. Sometimes, simplicity is best, she says. Throughout the hour and a half safari, Jet has me crouching down by a telephone box, turning a timer on to take photographs of a spiral staircase, and using the reflections in New Street Station to look at crowds a little differently.

There’s not a dull moment, or a moment to remember that I wasn’t sure there would be anything interesting to photograph, after all - I usually take the most photos when I’m on holiday somewhere, don’t I?

Jet explains that this is the whole point: to look at the places we go everyday differently.

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been using before, and I’m so proud of my photos I send Jet a few of my favourites after our session. For me, the safari felt almost like an active form of mindfulness, good to escape a busy brain. I find myself wanting to try and photograph things just to photograph, to make the more mundane interesting. At the end, Jet shares her tips for great smartphone photography:

The beauty of the phone camera is that, because they are so small and lightweight, it means that people who can’t physically hold a ‘big’ camera can still get enjoyment.

Jet explains that this is the whole point: to look at the places we go everyday differently, and to learn new smartphone skills. The safari concept was built very organically around this idea, she explains, as we edit the photos at the end of the day on her preferred app, Snapseed. They’ve grown as she’s found associates willing to teach in the areas, and they’re regularly running workshops for larger business as well as mental health sessions called Snap & Chat, which Jet says is a great way for people to get out of the house and learn a new skill in a non-pressured environment. But what makes it accessible?

“We’re just very open to specific tailoring,” Jet explains. “We believe that photography should be available to everyone, and the beauty of the phone camera is that, because they are so small and lightweight, it means that people who can’t physically hold a ‘big’ camera can still get enjoyment!”

All their sessions are wheelchair accessible, and they’re also hoping to

fund BSL interpreters for some of their workshops.

“It’s really important to me that everyone who wants to be involved, can be.”

“Ideally, I’d love to expand outwards to Europe, or maybe do some more retreats - even cruises. Our safaris are great for a team building activity, and sometimes we even have in house marketing staff using us to get those basic [smartphone] skills in place. It’s also a therapeutic activity, especially when we’re doing more close-up photography. You have to stay still and really focus.”

Throughout the safari, Jet is passionate, but easy-going too, willing to slow down or stop if I need it and letting me guide the way in terms of what I find interesting to photograph.

We try out different lenses for the back of my phone – which gets us even closer to the raindrops – and it’s a really creatively fulfilling day. As somebody who loves to take photos with their phone, I found myself learning tricks I can’t believe I hadn’t

I was on Zoom and there were 120 people in the UAE watching whilst I was walking through Brick Lane during Eid, showing them how to best capture the sights.

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1 Turning your phone upside down gives you a totally different perspective.

2 Don’t forget to switch lenses (if you can) as opposed to zooming in.

3 Under-expose (make darker) to keep the textures and tones.

4 To get the top of a building, under a flower or tree for example, put the camera on to selfie mode.

5 For straight lines and your Rule of Thirds, turn on your grid.

6 Look for the light and be careful you aren’t standing in front of it casting shadows.

7 For portraits use portrait mode.

You can change the ‘blur’ strength afterwards (edit, then blur), and don’t forget Portrait only kicks in when you are a certain distance away, otherwise it’s a normal lens.

8 For reflections, turn your phone upside down and use a puddle (use a slim Lego brick to rest your phone on so it doesn’t go in the water!), glass table, someone else’s phone, or anything reflective. You can also get a vertical reflection by using a window too. Gives you a totally different perspective.

9 If you are close up, don’t forget to touch on what you want to be in focus, then do your exposure.

i

Jet is the founder and Creative Director of Jet Black Squares.

Combining her former

teaching career in the East End of London with a more recent corporate photography business of 13 years, she has created a hub for everything creative surrounding the smartphone. Jet Black Squares have smartphone safari tours in various locations throughout the UK, if you’re in need of a festive gift voucher to give this season.

WEB: jetblacksquares.com

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DISABILIT Y REVIEW MAGAZINE

Tramper Hire • Quiet Hours • Free Audio Tours • BSL Tours • Wheelchair Accessible

Discover Accessible

Days Out Powderham with

Powderham Castle

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www.powderham.co.uk/accessibility

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SPORT

TENNIS TAKING THE PRESSURE OUT OF PE FOR KIDS

T

he benefits of participating in regular physical activity are well documented and indicate improved mental and physical wellbeing among adults and children. Studies have also shown that children with educational needs and difficulties take part in fewer sports on a less frequent basis than children of a similar age. Bright Ideas for Tennis is a UK charity working hard to get more people, playing more tennis - particularly those who wouldn’t ordinarily get the chance to take part.

The rewards go far beyond mastering forehands and backhands: the charity’s free inclusive tennis programme, I Play 30, teaches adults and children with SEND the skills they need to lead independent lives by expanding their social networks, improving their verbal and non-verbal communication and providing a sense of community for them to make friends.

One of the accredited tennis coaches, Tonia Gooderham, who has worked on the programme has found the initiative brings an “amazing energy”: “From the moment they get out of the minibus many of the students race towards the courts. They are full

GET A Abbie Probert, from Bright Ideas for Tennis, takes DRM through how the charity are working to make sport a more inclusive space.

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SPORT

Across the country, the charity carefully selects tennis venues to pair with local SEN Schools to host activity sessions with specially trained teams.

of energy and enthusiasm as well as a high level of appreciation for the time they spend at the courts.

I have seen great changes in their physical abilities, social skills and willingness to learn…. Personally, I love leading the sessions and feel very uplifted when teaching these students.”

Across the country, the charity carefully selects tennis venues to pair with local SEN Schools to host activity sessions with specially trained teams. Activities help to increase mobility and fine tune gross motor skills whilst using modified equipment to make it a safe and engaging environment.

Richard Monaghan, a class teacher from Bidwell Brook School, find that it’s not just the students who find these sessions useful: “We have accessed the tennis sessions

for a while now and the students and adults have got so much out of it. They have formed lovely relationships with each other, and the students look forward to attending every week.

The sessions are always planned fantastically, and the volunteers interact with the students wonderfully. It has become one of the highlights of the week.”

On court the coaches set tasks which encourage the participants to work together by communicating with each other and the volunteers.

One of the favourite warm ups is ‘Tidy Your Bedroom’ - this game requires two teams of equal participants to start on either side with the same number of balls at the net. The object of the game is to throw as many balls over the net as possible in a set time frame.

The winning team will have the

least number of balls on their side at the end. The game challenges the players to collaborate under time pressure and improve their spatial awareness by making sure they don’t cover the same space on the court or run in to each other.

The winning team feels a sense of achievement and it is a positive way to start a session, getting everyone involved and ready to play.

A survey conducted for Bright Ideas for Tennis by Dr Reece Patel (CANTAB) and Dr Khalil Saadeh (CANTAB) in 2022 concluded that teachers saw significant improvements in their student’s empathy with others (+18.5%), their ability to concentrate on other tasks (+13%) and found that they were able to share more readily with other children (+11%). Tennis is a wonderfully inclusive sport and SEN students can particularly benefit from activities which help to encourage a healthy lifestyle and positively impact both their mental and physical wellbeing.

i

With over 80 weekly sessions up and running, the charity is currently able

to expand. If you’re connected to an SEN school and believe your students could benefit from this programme, please get in touch with Mark Bullock at mark@brightideasfortennis.org and work together to get more adults and children with SEND on court and playing tennis!

WEB: brightideasfortennis.org INSTAGRAM: @brightideasfortennis FACEBOOK: Bright Ideas for Tennis

CTIVE disabilit yreviewmagazine.co.uk

YOUTUBE:

@brightideasfortennis

On court the coaches set tasks which encourage the participants to work together by communicating with each other and the volunteers.

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DISABILIT Y REVIEW MAGAZINE

Mike is a poet with a learning disability. After his sister passed away, Mike was in a dark place, but thanks to a local Mencap group in Manchester Mike discovered the power of poetry. Writing about his feelings and emotions has helped Mike to positively transform his mental health over time.

Mike says: “I feel like my life’s got meaning.”

like Mike a lifeline of vital support when it's needed the most - and that means having someone to talk to and somewhere to go.

Your gift will help turn crisis into hope this Christmas.

Donate here.

Right now, we're seeing so many people with a learning disability at crisis point. Your support is giving people

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SPORT

SPORT WHY ACCESSIBLE SPORT MATTERS

We spoke to the Evenbreak team, all of whom live with a disability, about why they are so passionate about the accessibility of sport, as well as how and why disabled people can access sport.

H

aving recently sponsored the Paralympic Swimming in Manchester, Evenbreak are huge advocates of the importance of sport for all.“Seeing athletes come together from across the world to compete at the paralympic swimming event we recently sponsored in Manchester was awe inspiring,” says Jane Hatton, CEO of Evenbreak. But these athletes are elite and have often been training for years. “Whilst this is clearly a hugely commendable feat, the event brought about so many internal conversations with our teams about the importance of sport [for all] and why it matters so much.”

Mahomed Khatri is Head of Employer Engagement at Evenbreak. He has been registered blind since 2005 and has since

disabilit yreviewmagazine.co.uk

gone on to play for England Cricket.

As well as this, he is a self proclaimed Parkrun addict and if he’s in a town or city in any part of the world long enough, you’ll bet he has done the local parkrun.

“Losing my sight as a teenager was undeniably difficult, but I didn’t want that to hold me back from what I enjoyed doing and sport was one of those things.

Sport has helped me so much, not only does it keep me physically fit, but it has enabled me to create a space for myself in the disabled community through playing cricket for the England blind cricket team, which has seen me travel around the world to represent the country, from South Africa to Australia and India. But as well as being lucky enough to be a part of this, Parklife has become a massive part of my life.

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SPORT Wherever I am in the world, whether I’m away with my family, with work, cricket, the list goes on, I’ll make sure to look up the local parkrun and be in touch with the local organiser to help me with a guide. This opens up another huge community for me the global parkrunners! I’ve made lifelong friends through this and am constantly telling people about the benefits of the organisation both non-disabled and disabled.

Literally all you need is a pair of running shoes and you’re away, it’s so fantastic.”

Though, as he says, you don’t have to travel globally to enjoy being active, making the most of life, or challenging yourself as a disabled person – Mahomed runs locally in Saturday Park runs, running with trained guide runners. He also enjoys going for walks using his guide dog and believes that there’s something for everyone to enjoy out there, and it’s just a matter of finding it. So running might not be your thing, look into squash, tennis, walking groups, there’s something to suit everyone and these groups open up such wonderful opportunities for anyone involved.

Josh Wright is Candidates and Partnerships Coordinator at Evenbreak. He plays all kinds of sports especially football, American football and is currently trying out handball. For Josh, it’s the positive mental effects that he advocates for.

“Playing sports means a lot to me. From meeting people, learning to be resilient, learning new skills to positively benefiting my mental wellbeing and sport has formed a huge part of my life. I think you cannot replicate the way playing a sport makes you feel, whether that be a team sport or an individual

Use it to make friends - Finding your tribe is important

and finding friends through sport creates a real connection where you have something other than your disability in common. This is massive for self esteem and general well-being as we all need to be surrounded by people who understand us.

Don’t be afraid to ask for support - Research

one. I know that if I’ve ever got too much running around in my head, stepping onto that football pitch makes it all disappear.”

Jemma Redden, Head of Marketing at Evenbreak, uses Strava as an incentive to stay active. She sets herself monthly step goals to achieve and goes on lots of walks in her local area.

After speaking to the team at Evenbreak, the key takeaways as to how and why sport matters and why it needs to be accessible is:

It’s more than physical - Yes sport has great health

benefits physically, but it’s the mental health attributes that you can’t see which are arguably the most advantageous. Clear your head, shake your mood and release those endorphins and breathe in the benefits.

Wherever I am in the world, whether I’m away with my family, with work, cricket, the list goes on, I’ll make sure to look up the local parkrun and be in touch with the local organiser to help me with a guide.

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clubs online and ask local organisations for support. There are a huge amount of resources and communities online who are always willing to help you and support your ambitions. Your local community centre may be able to point you in the right direction locally or the national organisations associated with that sport will be a good place to direct any questions on accessible groups. Parkrun is a great example of this.

Supportive employers help - Your place of work should

encourage its teams to partake in sport so ask them if there are any initiatives they know of. And if there isn’t, it may be that it is something you influence change for so you’re paving the way for the next person to ask.

Think global - When you’re on holiday, working away or travelling places for a longer period of time, use it as an excuse to meet other people in different countries through global organisations. Not only will you give your mental health a boost, it’ll give you a more authentic and real feel for the places you’re visiting.

i

Evenbreak is a UK job board built with accessibility in mind, to help employers find

disabled talent and candidates to find an inclusive workplace.

WEB: evenbreak.co.uk/about-us/ INSTAGRAM: @evenbreak_talentfirst TIKTOK: @evenbreak_talent_first

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FOOD AND DRINK

A WINTER WARMER

Beki’s Fibro Soup Serves 2

INGR EDIENTS 1 tbsp coconut oil 1 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and chopped 1 inch piece of turmeric, peeled and chopped 1 bag of pre-chopped butternut squash 900ml low sodium vegetable broth 1/4 tsp black pepper 2 stalks of scallions DIR ECTIONS 1 Warm the coconut oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and then add the ginger and turmeric.

2 Cook for a couple minutes and then add the vegetable broth and black pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Add the scallions, cover, and simmer for about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3 Pour the soup into a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

i

Beki Coxon is one half of Motorbikers Cosmetics, designing

products such as their Warrior Balm with natural ingredients which they hope will help soothe

Here Beki, a qualified pain management specialist and one half of Motorbikers Cosmetics, shares her “Fibro soup”. It’s a winter warmer with a dash of turmeric that she uses for a bit of comfort when the temperature drops.

chronic pain, inspired by her own journey with fibromyalgia and her work as a pain management specialist.

FACEBOOK: M.C.C Motorbikers Cosmetic Company

T

his soup isn’t a quick fix, of course, but food still plays a massive role in our wellbeing – from comforting us to providing nutritional benefits. As the weather starts to take a turn for the worse, here’s a quick and warming recipe that always soothes my soul. I’ve included turmeric here as research has shown that turmeric may help reduce pain and dis-comfort – for me, that’s from Fibromyalgia, but this is a cosy soup suitable for all.

Just make sure to season the soup with black pepper because that helps the body absorb the turmeric more efficiently (and tastes better)!

Prep Time: 5mins | Cook Time: 15mins | Total Time: 20mins

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FOOD & DRINK

A WINTER WARMER

Cosy Coffee and Cinnamon Cake With Nuts

240g/ml light sour cream 180g light brown sugar, firmly packed 125g of nuts of your choice 1 tsp cinnamon – for the topping

DIR ECTIONS 1 Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until blended.

2 Combine flour and spices, baking powder and bicarb, and add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture, then add the coffee, making sure the batter isn’t too loose. Beat at low speed until blended. Spread batter into a greased and floured/lined 13×9 pan.

3 Stir together the brown sugar, pecans and the second tsp of cinnamon to make the streusel topping. Sprinkle over batter. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight for a firmer crust.

4 Preheat oven to 180 C. Bake 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool 5 to 10 minutes.

Serve warm.

Jane Hutton, Nutritionist and Chef at The Functional Foodie

Jane Hutton, known as The Functional Foodie after her blog of the same name, has a passion for combining good food with nutritional value. She shares with DRM her coffee and cinnamon cake…

WEB: functional-foodie.com

Cooking Time: 35mins | Cooling Time: 5-10mins

INGR EDIENTS 180g unsalted butter, softened 250g sugar 2 eggs 2 tbsp (approx) cooled coffee, to taste 475g whole wheat flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp salt

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FOOD AND DRINK

HELLOFRESH WELCOMES THE FESTIVE SEASON!

Food subscription services can be incredibly helpful during the busy Christmas period in several ways, from reducing your stress to having different dietary options. HelloFresh talk us through what to consider…

Time-Saving Convenience:

As the Christmas season can be hectic with shopping, decorating, and entertaining, food subscription services save you precious time by delivering pre-portioned ingredients and ready-to-cook meals to your doorstep.

This reduces the need for extensive grocery shopping and meal planning which we know is one of the most stressful parts of the season.

Stress Reduction:

Planning and preparing holiday meals can be stressful.

Food subscription services often offer Christmasthemed menus and recipes, such as the HelloFresh Christmas food box, which can help simplify your meal planning and reduce the stress associated with cooking during the big day.

Food subscription services often offer competitive pricing, especially when compared to dining out or ordering takeaways for holiday meals.

Variety and Specialisation:

Many food subscription services offer a wide range of cuisines, dishes and dietary options. This can be especially beneficial if you have guests with varying dietary preferences or restrictions during the festive period. You can easily accommodate everyone with a diverse selection of dishes.

you stay within your budget while still providing delicious food for your family and friends. This year the cost of living has impacted families significantly, and HelloFresh are offering a price freeze on their Christmas boxes, meaning the price hasn’t increased since last year.

Reduced Crowds and Shopping Stress:

Avoiding crowded supermarkets during the festive rush is a major advantage of food subscription services. You can shop online and have your ingredients delivered, reducing exposure to the stress of holiday shopping.

This is also a stressful and overwhelming time for those with disabilities, with more and more people shopping throughout the day, particularly after work, making shopping harder to navigate. Ordering online means people don’t have to worry about stepping out into that business.

Focus on Celebrating:

The most important of all. By outsourcing meal planning and preparation to a food subscription service, you can spend more time enjoying Christmas with your family and friends, rather than being stuck in the kitchen.

i

Hello Fresh is a food subscription service, this year they’re aiming to make the festive season more relaxing

by taking the stress out of cooking!

WEB: hellofresh.co.uk

Reduced Food Waste:

Since food subscription services often provide premeasured ingredients, there’s less chance of overbuying or wasting food. This is especially important when you’re cooking for a large group, in which we usually overbuy because we’re worried about not having enough food.

Cost-Effective Options:

Food subscription services often offer competitive pricing, especially when compared to dining out or ordering takeaways for holiday meals. This can help

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87

Mike is a poet with a learning disability.

After his sister passed away, Mike was in a dark place, but thanks to a local Mencap group in Manchester Mike discovered the power of poetry. Writing about his feelings and emotions has helped Mike to positively transform his mental health over time. Mike says: “I feel like my life’s got meaning.”

Right now, we're seeing so many people with a learning disability at crisis point. Your support is giving people like Mike a lifeline of vital support when it's needed the most - and that means having someone to talk to and somewhere to go.

Your gift will help turn crisis into hope this Christmas.

Donate here.

Registered charity number 222377 (England and Wales) SC041079 (Scotland)

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