Writer, counsellor and Methodist preacher Dr Lin Berwick MBE contributed to the Speaking for Ourselves oral history of people with cerebral palsy at the British Library Sound Archive. Here are some of the extracts from her life story interview.
Diagnosis of cerebral palsy (CP)
“I went to see a neurologist, and I was 18 months old by then. They stripped my clothing off, and he held me upside down, by my feet, watched the pattern of my body as I screamed, and everything went into spasm, and he said, ‘This child is spastic. Take her home. Forget about her. She’ll never be any good. You’re wasting my time, your time, and everybody else’s.’”
Having CP and being blind
“Well, the early years at the school for physically handicapped were very tough. When I went blind, the kids at the school were really nasty and I went through some horrible jeering and bullying, and people laughing at me because I walked into things. You know, I went to walk through a door that had glass panels and, because I could see the light through I thought the door was open, and of course it wasn’t, and I sort of smashed my face, and then I walked into a brick wall and things like that, and hit my face again and I had tripod sticks poked into, and walking sticks poked into my face and handfuls of mud rubbed into my face, and kids saying “Can you see that, then, Berwick?”, and it was horrendous at a time when you’re really frightened, because you’ve now suddenly got a new disability which you don’t know how to handle.
Telephonist required
“When I got to the bank, it was one of these banks with these horrible revolving doors, which wasn’t easy, going through on a pair of tripods: [laughs], but, anyway, eventually, found my way into the bank, and made my way to the accountant’s office, and when he opened the door he, said, ‘Oh, I know they told me you were disabled’, he said,’ ‘but I didn’t realise you were that disabled, but you might as well come in and sit down anyway’, and I thought, ‘God, this is a really good start to your first job interview!’ But I thought, ‘Well, I’m here. I’ve got one chance, so I might as well really go for it’, and he took my mother around the bank, showed her some of the obstacles, and we came back into the office and we started to talk about the work, and he proceeded to ask my mother every single question about my training.”
Becoming a Methodist preacher
“It’s going to make the Church’s life quite difficult, in terms of access, but I feel this compulsion, to communicate God’s Word’ and he said, ‘Well, if you still feel like that after a month, I think I’d better give you a note to preach, which is the first step, within Methodism, to taking study courses, and being accepted by the local Preachers’ Meeting, and I went to one of these meetings, and the guy said, the Secretary of the meeting said, ‘I think we’re going to have a problem with you.’ I said, ‘Oh yes! Why’s that?’ ‘Well, due to your disability, I don’t know how you’ll cope with the public speaking,’ so I said, ‘Well, as someone who’s done over 300 radio broadcasts, I don’t think you’re going to have a problem.’ ‘Oh,’ and he said, ‘And I don’t know how you’ll cope with the academic study.’ I said, ‘Well, I have ‘O’ levels, and I have the equivalent of a degree in Psychology.’ He said, ‘Oh, you can learn then!’ and I thought, ‘God, if this is the kind of prejudice I’m going to get, this is just amazing stuff,’ and I said, ‘Yes, I can learn’ and he said, ‘And then we don’t know how you’ll cope with the access to the church buildings,’ and I said, ‘There, I’m prepared to admit you have a problem, but maybe together, we can work at it.’
Read more about Lin Berwick’s books
Alex White writes 
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