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(more…)Category: Books
Book reviews, interviews with authors
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In The Picture: disability representation in children’s books
The retirement of my friend and colleague of over 30 years, Penny Dickinson, has brought back fond memories of one of my favourite projects that we worked on together, In The Picture.
In The Picture was an innovative, 3-year Big Lottery-funded project, created by the wonderful Susan Clow,. Aimed at the children’s book world, In The Picture wanted disabled children to find themselves represented in the books they read.
Since 2006, the impact from this project continues to be profound.
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Speaking for Ourselves: Joan Ross, 1939 to 2017
Joan Ross, contributed to the Speaking for Ourselves oral history of people with cerebral palsy at the British Library Sound Archive. She died in January 2017. Using extracts from her interview, we celebrate her life.
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Speaking for Ourselves: Alan Counsell
Alan Counsell contributed to the Speaking for Ourselves oral history of people with cerebral palsy at the British Library Sound Archive.
Alan has been a writer, teacher and trainer, but he was nearly denied an education because of his difficulties in walking. He went to school thanks to the moral (and physical) support of his family.
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Speaking for Ourselves: Dr Lin Berwick MBE
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.
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Speaking for Ourselves: Antonia Lister-Kaye
Psychotherapist and writer Antonia Lister-Kaye is a contributor to the Speaking for Ourselves oral history of people with cerebral palsy.
Extracts from her life story interview at the British Library Sound Archive are a fascinating insight into how attitudes to disability have changed during her lifetime.
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Speaking for Ourselves: John Hawkridge from callipers to climbing Ben Nevis
Disabled mountaineer and writer John Hawkridge was one of the people with cerebral palsy who contributed to the Speaking for Ourselves collection at the British Library Sound Archive.
In these excerpts, John remembers when he could run as a child and how in later life he tackled Ben Nevis.
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Bill Hargreaves: Can You Manages Stares?
When Bill Hargreaves was born 2 months prematurely in Australia in 1919, he weighed just 2 and a half pounds. His parents were told that, because he had cerebral palsy, he would “never walk or work or wed”.
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Through The Eyes of Me: writing a book for an autistic daughter
Jonathan Roberts has written a storybook about his daughter, Kya, who was diagnosed with autism. After a great reaction to his book from Kya’s family and the professionals who work with her, Jon’s book was published by Graffeg.
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