Chadwick Boseman was a black actor who lived in America, after graduating from university, he began his acting career in theatre before transitioning to the big screen where he portrayed many memorable roles throughout the years as well as winning multiple awards for his various movies and characters he played.
Sadly, in August 2020, the world was shocked with the news that Chadwick Boseman sadly passed away in his sleep at home after a long and private 4-year battle with colon cancer. Even after his passing, Chadwick is still being remembered for the impact that he made on people and the films that he was in.
What did he do?
Chadwick in his many inspirational roles as Jackie Robinson (left) T’Challa/Black Panther (Middle) James Brown (RIght) and Thurgood Marshell (Right)
His first major role was as a series regular on Persons Unknown before landing his breakthrough performance as baseball player Jackie Robinson in 42. He continued to portray historical figures in other biographical movies such as singer James Brown in Get on Up and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall.
When Chadwick was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, he continued acting while keeping his illness a secret, the movies and TV show that he had a leading role in that was released after his passing paid tribute to him at the end of the credits. He also received an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the last movie he was in.
His time in Marvel as Black Panther
Chadwick as T’Challa in Black Panther (2018)
One of his most notable and rememberable roles in his career was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he played T’Challa AKA Black Panther from 2016 – 2021. He has appeared in four Marvel movies including his own standalone movie and appearing in the Disney Plus series “What if” where he voiced an alternate version of T’Challa one year after his passing.
His standalone MCU movie Black Panther was worldly praised for being the first Marvel movie to have an entire black cast and director as well as Chadwick’s impactful portrayal as T’Challa which ended up with Black Panther becoming one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
How he was remembered after his passing
A portrait of Chadwick that was released after his passing
His fans, family, friends and all his cast mates paid tribute to him. A show was made about his life and work called Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King, he was honored with a moment of silence in the fifth game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers and Lewis Hamilton dedicated his win in the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix to Chadwick
His death also caused a massive shift in Marvel as he was going to star in the next Black Panther movie, however, Marvel decided to not recast the role as he had a major impact on the world as the character. Next month, Marvel is releasing Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which will serve as a tribute to Chadwick as well as developing the world of Wakanda.
How he had impacted the world and the Black Community
Chadwick with one of his many awards
Chadwick supported various charities such as cancer charities and advocated for children’s charities with the Jackie Robinson Foundation. In April 2020, he donated $4.2 million in personal protective equipment to hospitals fighting COVID-19 in black communities. His old university renamed its College of Fine Arts in honour of his inspirational legacy.
After his performance in Black Panther, Chadwick earned a spot on the 2018 Time 100 as one of the world’s most influential people. Many people praised him for how he became a culture hero for people in the African American and black communities and for how Black Panther raised the bar for racial equality and representation on screen.
Overall, Chadwick Boseman’s career will always be seen as an amazing legacy that changed the film industry for the better and will be remembered for generations to come for his flawless and inspirational acting in all the films and shows he was in as well how he brought back the attention of black history to the world.
I often feel that once you have the diagnosis you aren’t helped to discover what things are related to autism or not, which makes it hard to accept or understand yourself.
Watching Paige’s videos has allowed me to go “oh, maybe that’s why I do this” and “its not just me” which goes a long way in actually understanding your feelings and feeling more at peace.
Paige has autism and anxiety and spreads awareness on social media. She does a lot of stuff about autism in girls. Which I found is something that I’ve struggled a bit with because sometimes I don’t feel like I fit in. I haven’t really told anyone, but I worry that people won’t believe me saying that I have autism because I don’t feel that I fit in some of the stereotypes of autism and everything that I’ve read and seen online.
I haven’t seen anything that really reflects what it’s like for me. I don’t know just feel a bit less alone with Paige’s content, just from seeing that other people may be struggling with the same kind of things.
I think that having some influencers with different diagnosis’ that young people can relate to is so important and would really help a lot of people.
Below I have listed some of Paige’s content that helped me.
Autism traits in girls
Paige Layle YouTube video on 10 Autism Traits in Girls (:
F1 is the biggest racing series in the world and is slowly becoming one of the world’s biggest global sports. They race globally every year and are known as the “pinnacle of motorsport”.
Ten teams race two cars and two drivers across 23 races (as of the 2022 season) around the world every year to determine the World Driver’s Championship.
In recent times, F1 has shown support to people of colour, from different ethnic backgrounds, and people from the LGBTQ+ community.
What F1 and its teams and drivers doing to support the LGBTQ+ community?
“We Race as One” campaign
In July 2020, F1 introduced the “We Race as One” campaign, which was used to spread awareness to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also it brings attention to the fight against inequality to ethnic groups and the LGBTQ+ community.
The logo consisted of a rainbow which was the colours of all the 10 teams on the F1 grid, which matched with the name “We Race as One”. These logos are placed predominantly on the F1 tracks, and it is also placed on some of the cars and driver race suits.
Sir Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton will go down as a racing legend, with 7 world champion titles, and more than 100 race wins.
But he will also go down as a legend for the work he has done for minority groups. He is very vocal about supporting minority groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2021, Lewis wore a helmet with the colours of the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag in 3 countries with very strong prejudice and laws against LGBTQ+ rights.
“[For the LGBTQ+ community] there’s prison time, death penalty and restrictions from people for being themselves, and I don’t believe in that.”
Lewis said, before the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Lewis wearing his world famous pride helmet, after winning the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The helmet read “We Stand Together” on the back of the helmet. He faced major backlash for this from locals and some officials, but still went ahead with it anyway in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi.
“I will wear that helmet again here and in the next race [in Abu Dhabi] because it is an issue. If anyone wants to take time to read what the law is for the LGBT+ community, it is pretty terrifying. There are changes that need to be made.”
Sebastian Vettel
Another driver who is very vocal about LGBTQ+ rights is German 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
“I often get the question ‘Why is this important to you?’ This is not important to me, this is important to all of us.”
Sebastian said, after being asked why he chooses to speak up on social and environmental issues.
Before the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, he was wearing a shirt and mask in the colours of the LGBTQ+ flag with the words “Same Love” written on the shirt.
Sebastian wearing the “Same Love” shirt before the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix
He received criticism for this as Hungary is a country with very strong anti LGBTQ+ laws in place, and just 24 days before the race, the Hungarian government released more anti-LGBTQ+ laws, which targeted content which features homosexuality.
He also was the first F1 driver to feature on the cover of Attitude Magazine, as an ally to the LGBT community.
Attitude Magazine, with Sebastian Vettel on the front cover.
Abbie Eaton
Abbie Eaton is a racer who currently races in W Series, which is a formula series exclusively for women. She is known as the test driver on Amazon’s The Grand Tour, which starred Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.
She would drive the latest cars around the Grand Tour test track, and she also featured in other episodes. She is also an ambassador for Racing Pride, she hopes by doing this she can break stereotypes in motorsport.
Racing Pride is a positive movement about breaking down stereotypes and it creates an opportunity to show that the sport we love can be a welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ people like myself. I am very happy to be playing my part in that.
Abbie speaking about joining Racing Pride
The Power of Celebrity Voices
Both these drivers also use their strong media presence to get these messages across. Lewis expresses his messages to his 28 million Instagram followers, and he sometimes may include messages in post-race interviews.
Lewis Hamilton’s Instagram account
Sebastian does not use social media, but he uses other methods, such as custom helmet designs, and other forms of publicity stunts to show his support, such as wearing shirts and speaking on this to tv channels.
For example, he featured on BBC Question Time, where he spoke on climate change and other world matters.
Sebastian Vettel on BBC’S Question Time
In the past, racing drivers were not as free to share their opinions, on track or off track, but in more recent times, thanks to the dawn of social media, drivers can now feel freer to post their opinions on Instagram, and they feel free to speak about them on track, which is seen by millions of people.
Sebastian and Lewis are also not the only drivers to share their voice, other drivers also wear shirts with special messages on them during pre-race celebrations.
7 drivers, including Lewis and Sebastian wearing “End Racism” shirts before the 2020 Austrian GP.
Racing Pride
Racing Pride is a movement which was made to promote LGBTQ+ inclusivity in motorsport.
They were formed in 2019, and they intend to make “significant and lasting change” to motorsport.”
The community comprises of drivers, team members and track marshals from the LGBTQ+ community.
They work with Formula drivers from the LGBTQ+ community, including Abbie Eaton.
They have also worked with Aston Martin F1, Alpine F1 Team and Sebastian Vettel.
Pride 2022, find out what F1 are doing this Pride Month
One way F1 teams and drivers have been showing support is by adding special touches to the liveries of the race cars, and race suits and helmets.
In June 2022, in time for Pride Month, F1 teams have made changes to their liveries in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Mercedes AMG F1 Team are racing with the “Pride Edition” version of their three-pointed star for the month of June, which is placed on the front of the Mercedes W13 car, and on the helmets of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
The Mercedes W13, adorning the special Mercedes “Pride Star”Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, sporting their 2022 helmets, which will also wear the Mercedes Pride Star for the month of June.
“Let’s use it for the rest of the year.!”
Lewis said on Instagram, after revealing the Mercedes Pride Star on his helmet.
Alpine F1 Team are also working with Racing Pride, and they have also placed the Pride Flag on their cars, above the engine cover.
The Alpine A522 car, wearing a Pride Flag above the engine cover
McLaren F1 Team have also put a rainbow on their famous speed mark logo, which is placed on their MCL36 car, alongside working with Mind, supporting LGBTQ+ people’s mental health.
The special McLaren Pride Speedmark, sitting on the bodywork of the MCL36.
Scuderia Ferrari, one of the oldest F1 teams, also have the “essereFerrari” (meaning Spirit of Ferrari) in Pride Colours, which features on the front wing of the F1-75 car, and the helmets of both drivers, Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz.
The front wing of the F1-75, with the #essereFerarri in Pride colours.
Looking into the future
F1 themselves do not have any openly gay drivers, but this is not something they are against.
“Perhaps it wouldn’t have been the case in the past, but now I think a gay Formula One driver would be welcomed, and rightly so,”
Sebastian Vettel, speaking in Attitude Magazine
There is plenty of young talent in the younger Formulas who are looking to join F1 in the future, and with all the work that Racing Pride have done for the motorsport world, and these powerful voices in the F1 community, we can surely be ready to see members join soon.
F1 does have many openly gay team members in the garage working for the teams, who work on the cars making sure they can be as fast as possible for the drivers who drive them.
Billie Eilish is a well-known international pop icon and lives in America, she has released two albums and an EP, she is also a seven-time Grammy Award winner, and she lives every day with Tourette Syndrome.
What is Tourette’s Syndrome?
Tourette’s is a nervous system disorder that presents with repetitive and uncontrolled movements (liking blinking or shoulder shrugging) or sounds. These are called “tics”. The condition is often present from childhood, but can be diagnosed later in life.
Billie shared that she’s had Tourette’s her “whole life”.
Billie Eilish and Tourette’s
While Billie has spoken openly about her experience with Tourette Syndrome, she hasn’t gone into too much detail.
Billie also hasn’t spoken about what her tics are, only that “certain things” can increase the intensity or trigger episodes.
Unfortunately, fans made YouTube videos of her tics which include her shrugging her shoulders, blinking rapidly, and looking upward. As a result, Billie shared her diagnosis through Instagram:
“I would love to get this straight so everyone can stop acting goofy… I have diagnosed Tourette’s … My Tourette’s makes easy things a lot harder. Certain things increase and/or trigger the intensity of the tics. But it’s something I grew up with and am used to … suppressing them only makes things worse after the moment is over“
Extract from Billie’s post on Instagram revealing her Tourette’s diagnosis
Billie has talked more about living with Tourette Syndrome in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in 2019. She said on Ellen that she hadn’t spoken publicly about her condition before because she didn’t want her condition to define her. However, she now feels more positively about sharing her diagnosis:
“I think I also really learned that a lot of my fans have it, which made me feel kind of more at home with saying it, and also I felt like there was a connection there”.
That’s not the only interview Billie has done about Tourette’s. She gave fans insight into what her episodes are like while speaking in another interview one month prior:
“The internet hasn’t really seen the bad ones [tics], because I’m really good at suppressing them. The thing is, the longer you suppress them, the worse they get afterwards.”
Billie also talked a bit about her Tourette’s in a much recent interview this year with David Letterman on his Netflix show: My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. She shared how people react to her tics and how certain things sets the tics off, such as the lights.
“The most common way people react is they laugh. Because they think I’m trying to be funny. They think I’m doing a funny move. And so they go, like, “Ha!” And I’m always left incredibly offended by that, or they go “What?” and then I go, “I have Tourettes”“
She also talks about how other artists have shared with her that they also have Tourette’s:
“So many people have it that you would never know, a couple artists came forward and said, “I’ve always had Tourettes.” I’m not gonna out them, they don’t wanna talk about it. But that was actually really interesting to me, because I was like “You do?” Like, “What?”
Picture taken of Billie on stage in the 02 by Joshua Buxton
On Saturday 11th June, one of our apprentices, Joshua Buxton, went to see Billie Eilish at the O2 in London, here is what he had to say about his experience:
“Billie’s concert on Saturday was the best concert I have ever been to, it was amazing seeing Billie in real life for the first time and singing along to all of my favourite songs as well. She also interacted with everyone in the audience as well as making sure that everyone was safe and enjoying themselves during the show, I had a great time and I cannot wait for the next concert!”
Tom Stoltman after winning WSM 2022Tom Stoltman after winning WSM (world’s strongest man) 2021
Who is Tom Stoltman?:
Tom Stoltman is the current worlds strongest man after winning the competition in May 2022. He is also the:
2021 Worlds Strongest man
World record holder for the heaviest Atlas stone ever lifted (286kg!),
A two-time back-to-back winner of Britain’s strongest man,
A two-time winner of Scotland’s strongest man along with many other incredible podiums such as 3rd in worlds ultimate strongman and 2nd in the 2021 giants live finals.
Tom was diagnosed with autism when he was 8 years old and has spoken about his own struggles inside and outside of school. He has mentioned being bullied and worrying about what people would think if they found out he was autistic.
Tom and, his brother, Luke Stoltman competing and cheering each other on
Tom’s Autism – in his own words.
“I kept autism hidden”
“I didn’t want my mates to laugh at me”
However, he mentions that after telling his friends and others about his autism he felt a tremendous amount of relief after being accepted and supported by them. His friends made sure that he knew they accepted him for who he was and that it didn’t change a thing about their friendship which is truly phenomenal.
Luke Stoltman (Tom’s brother) has also talked about Tom’s experiences and growing up with him when he was younger. Referencing times that Tom would really struggle, he says,
“if mum went out shopping, he (Tom) wouldn’t stop crying till she came back” and that “he wouldn’t go anywhere by himself”
Tom has said that he found it difficult when something didn’t go as planned, as he would become fearful and potentially breakdown. This also wasn’t helped when others would say that it didn’t matter, as this just made him feel very different to his friends and others.
Tom saw a great change in his life when he was first invited to go the gym by his older brother Luke as this was the start of an incredible ongoing career in the internationally competitive arena of ‘strongman’ for both. Tom found comfort in pushing himself in the gym as he mentioned he didn’t get along with the more traditional side of school such as maths and English, but he truly thrived when it came to Physical education and many other sports.
Tom, and his brother, Luke Stoltman after Toms win at World’s strongest man 2021
What he has done for the awareness of autism–
Tom Stoltman has gone on many podcasts, interviews and has personally made videos on him and his brothers YouTube channel. Some of these are linked below. He has been quoted saying phenomenal things such as:
“Autism is my secret weapon” and that it should be
“Used as a superpower”, he has also talked about how that just because he is labelled that it doesn’t make him different. He strives to be an example to other autistic children and show them that they too will achieve incredible things.
Mythbusters are a group of eighteen ambassadors who are using their platforms to tackle the stigma and lack of awareness around learning disabilities.
One of the ambassadors Jessica Jane who is a Paralympic champion and campaigner wants more people to know that just because a person does not look like they have a disability, does not mean that they don’t.
Who is ATLAS and what do they do?
ATLAS (Accept, Teach, Listen, Access, Support) is a participation group run by the User Voice and Participation team also does similar work as Mencap, by empowering children and young people (Their parents and carers involved too) with additional needs and disabilities to share their opinions about the services they use.
This is what some of their objectives are:
To raise our voices on important topics from the perspective of young people with additional needs and disabilities, living in Surrey (UK)
To provide feedback on and co-produce Surrey services for young people with additional needs and disabilities
To create a safe space for young people with additional needs and disabilities to share their experiences confidentially
If you want to read their other objectives, as well as other information about ATLAS, go on to this link:
ATLAS sessions take place (Virtual and in person) on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, the location of the sessions is in Epsom and Woking.
Atlas Ambassadors
ATLAS also has ambassadors, these ambassadors help by raising the voices of all the ATLAS members and supporting with how the groups are run.
If you want to know more information about the groups, then go on to this link:
In order to achieve their objects, ATLAS have made selected a couple of areas that need to be prioritised, these are some of the areas that they have made a priority:
Ableism, Stigma and Discrimination
‘Able-Bodied’ should not be the goal
Power of language and attitudes
Media Representation
Need for co-production and professionals with lived experience
Self-description
Autism
Acceptance
Awareness
Emergency services
Helping professionals to understand how to work with autistic people -Co-morbidity with mental health
If you want to read about other areas that ATLAS have made a priority, then go on to this link:
Action cards are themes and topics that young people raise as important issues that need immediate action.
An action card is raised when four or more young people share similar feedback or think that it should be raised on a specific topic.
The UVP team then step in and share what the young people have said to the relevant services, and in return receive a response from them within two months.
Action cards can only be closed with the consent of children and young people.
If you would like further information about Mencap and ATLAS, then you can follow them on social media, their social media will be listed down below.
Stephen Hawking was an English theoretical physicist (a scientist who uses maths, calculations, chemistry, and biology), cosmologist (a scientist who studies the universe) and author. He was also the director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology and the Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
His life work includes the origins and structure of the universe, the discovery that black holes emits radiation as well as being an energetic supporter of quantum mechanics. Also, Stephen achieved profitable success with discussing his theories and cosmology in general.
Over the years, he wrote/co-wrote a total of 15 books. A few of the most noteworthy books that he wrote are A Brief History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell, A Briefer History of Time, and The Grand Design.
What was his disability?
Stephen in front of a blackboard.
Even though he was born with no disabilities, in 1963, Stephen was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease which is known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) however, in the USA it is referred as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He had a life expectancy of 2 years, but he lived with the disease until he passed away in 2018.
The disease gradually paralysed him over the decades due to the nerves that controlled his muscles shutting down that led him to lose his mobility and had to use a wheelchair. After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device originally through use of a handheld switch and eventually by using a single cheek muscle.
How did the media accurately portray his life and disability?
Stephen Hawking in The Big Bang Theory (Left), The Simpsons (Middle) and Little Britain (Right)
Stephen had guest appearances on TV shows such as The Simpsons, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Futurama, and The Big Bang Theory. In 1992, a documentary about his life was released which was called A Brief History of Time.
He also hosted and narrated Genius, a six-part television series which tackled scientific questions that have been asked throughout history. Stephen was also featured in another biographical documentary film called Hawking in 2013.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Hawking in Hawking (2004)
He had two autobiographical movies about his life, the first one was called Hawking which premiered in the UK in April 2004 on BBC1, it had Benedict Cumberbatch playing him and focused on his early life as a PhD student at Cambridge University and the onset of motor neuron disease.
It was nominated for Best Single Drama in the BAFTA TV Awards in 2005. Benedict’s portrayal of Stephen Hawking was the first portrayal of the physicist on screen, and he won the Golden Nymph for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Film / miniseries and received his first nomination for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor.
Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2015)
The second autobiographical movie about Stephen Hawking’s life was called The Theory of Everything which was released on January 1st, 2015 in the UK. This time Eddie Redmayne was cast to play Stephen Hawking. The film focused on his early life and school days, his marriage to Jane Wilde, the progression of his ALS and his scientific triumphs.
The film received a lot of praise and positive reviews as well as receiving multiple awards and nominations. Most of the praise went to Eddie’s portrayal of Stephen as he spent months researching all of Stephen’s interviews as well as his accent and speech patterns to accurately portray him.
Was he an inspiration to the disabled community?
Stephan’s quote about disability.
Even though it took him a while to accept his disability, he started to accept the mantle of role model for people with additional needs and disabilities in the 1990s by lecturing and participating in various fundraising activities. He also signed the Charter for the Third Millennium on Disability with eleven other humanitarians.
In August 2012, Stephen narrated the “Enlightenment” segment of the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony in London. In 2014 he accepted the Ice Bucket Challenge to promote ALS/MND awareness and raise contributions for research. His children volunteered to accept the challenge on his behalf as he was advised not to have ice poured over him.
Rose Alying Ellis is a British actress who was born deaf and mostly relies on sign language, however she often performs using Sign-supported English to reflect her own communication style and make it clear for audiences to understand her. She first gained an interest in acting after taking part in a filming weekend that was run by the National Deaf Children’s Society. It was on that weekend that she met a deaf film director that would kickstart her entire acting career.
Rose first acting role in a 25-minute movie called “The End” that was an award-winning short movie. She took part in several stage productions and in a music video by the Vamps as well as being a part of other short films. Rose also had minor roles in certain TV shows such as Casualty before finally landing her big role in EastEnders as Frankie Bridge in 2020 and becoming the first deaf celebrity to be on Strictly Come Dancing and becoming the winner in 2021.
Her time on EastEnders
Rose as Frankie Bridge
EastEnders announced that Rose would be joining the cast as Frankie Bridge back in February 2020 and she wouldn’t make her on screen debut until a few months later. On the 18th of May, she was introduced as Ben Mitchell’s friend after he was diagnosed with deafness after the “Boat Crash” Storyline. She became a series regular while taking part in a few storylines in EastEnders over the past 2 years as well as getting a job at the Prince Albert Bar. She recently took a break from the show to focus on Strictly, however it was announced that she will return in the beginning of 2022.
The producers and writers of EastEnders were proud to create the soap’s first deaf character. They wanted to see more representation of deafness in the media and the use of sign language in scenes marks the first time it was used in any Soap Operas by an actual deaf actress. EastEnders also received a lot of praise with featuring a story on hearing loss and introducing a new deaf character. Rose also talked about her excitement with joining the cast and having her character being portrayed as a positive, upbeat person who embraces the deaf community and raises awareness for the deaf people in the UK and British Sign Language as well as being the first deaf character on the soap.
Her time on Strictly Come Dancing
Rose and Giovanni after winning Strictly Come Dancing 2021
On the 19th series of Strictly Come Dancing, Rose was one of the 15 celebrities that was confirmed to be taking part this year. This marked the first time that a Deaf Celebrity was on Strictly or on any other major shows such as I’m a Celebrity or Britain’s Got Talent. Rose won the hearts of the entire world and eventually went on to become the champions alongside her partner Giovanni Pernice. In an interview that she did before the show began, she said “I have a hearing aid, so I pick up some of the music and I can hear the beat. I can hear someone singing, but I can’t identify exact words. I also feel the vibrations” which made people believe that she will do well on the show.
During Rose’s time on Strictly Come Dancing, she rose more awareness to the deaf community as well as having some memorable moments such as scoring 40 points for their tango in week 6 which was the earliest “perfect score” in the show’s history. But in week 8, their Couple’s Choice dance featured a period of silence, this was included as a tribute to the deaf community, that same dance also won the TV Moment of the Year at the Heats Unmissable Awards.
How did she bring more awareness to the deaf community?
Since Rose won Strictly, she has raised more awareness of the deaf community helped to increase the number of people wanting to learn sign language: google searches for BSL have gone up by 448%. This would be beneficial as even learning a little bit of sign language can allow a hearing person to make a difference to the deaf community and help them understand one another. As well as that, she also shown how deaf people can do anything that they wanted to do.
Michael Fred Phelps is famous throughout the world for his legendary abilities whilst swimming. Phelps is, by far, the most successful Olympian of all time with 28 Olympic medals of which 23 are Gold. Phelps also has several world records relating to swimming and is the fastest human being alive in the water. Phelps has achieved this success for many reasons, not least being his own hard work and dedication, as well as having a body especially suited for high water mobility. But another factor that may have allowed Phelps to reach such success, much to the surprise of many, may be his ADHD. Phelps was diagnosed with the condition when he was a child, and some believe that this diagnosis played a role in making him such a world class athlete. In examining how ADHD has affected Phelps, we may learn to see Disability in a rather different light.
“I simply couldn’t sit still, because it was difficult for me to focus on one thing at a time”
– Michael Phelps, from his book Beneath the Surface
ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a condition that causes many behaviours that are unusual in the rest of the population. Commonly observed behaviours include restlessness, short attention span, and difficulty focusing. Many people consider ADHD to be purely negative, but many people with the condition themselves see it quite differently. For instance, ADDA, an self-advocacy group run by people with the condition, argue that ADHD is worthy of being celebrated. Whilst living with ADHD may present challenges, ADDA argues that the condition can in fact have its advantages and should be better thought of as simply a different way of having a mind. This might sound strange at first, but in Michael Phelps there may be an incredible example of this idea in action.
Historically, ADHD was understood as an inability to focus but more modern research suggests that it may in fact be a lack of control on what the brain focuses on. This is why ADHD people often exhibit a trait called ‘Hyperfocus’, where they focus intensely and singly on one thing, often for hours at a time. The theory goes that ADHD people often have a far stronger ability to focus than so called ‘Neurotypicals’ (those without ADHD) do. The problems come when an ADHD person has to focus on one thing when around them are ten or twenty distractions to drag their attention from. Most people have the ability to forcefully draw themselves back to the object of their focus and resist distractions, but without this many ADHD people struggle to stick to one thing long enough to make meaningful progress. With that said, picture child Michael Phelps in a swimming pool. Whilst in a classroom he might struggle to sit and do his work because of all the distractions, in the pool, with nothing to focus on but the water, his mind can intensely focus for hours on end. This allows Phelps to practice far longer and maintain focus far longer than his neurotypical coevals. Becoming a world star athlete requires spending many hours of each day practicing, but it also requires being able to remain attentive to technique even after hours of practice. Its possible that it is because and not in spite of, Phelps’ Disability that he has been able to take on the entire world in his chosen sport, and definitively triumph.
Michael Phelps Video: ADHD and What I would tell my Younger Self
Video Description: Michael Phelps talks to the camera about what he would tell his younger self and what it was like growing up with ADHD. Video has closed captions.
About Theo!
“Hi! My name’s Theo Greiner and I work in the Web and Digital Services Team at Surrey County Council. I’m also on the Autism spectrum and use that experience to write articles on accessibility on behalf of the Council to get people thinking about Accessibility and Disability. I write in hopes of shifting people’s ideas about Disability towards ones that treat Disabled people with the respect and agency they deserve. I hope you enjoy them.”
Chris was born in Southampton in 1961. His big interest in wildlife seemed to form before he was even able to speak. His parents say that he liked to crawl across their lawn looking for ladybirds and fish for tadpoles and mosquito larvae in an old baby’s bath set in the corner of the garden.
When he discovered a song thrushes’ nest just before his 12th birthday his interest in birds first began to grow. The Observer’s book of Birds Eggs became his Bible and Chris became a young egg thief. In 1974 he met a teacher at his school, John Buckley, who immediately redirected young Chris’ interest in egg collecting towards scientific examination instead.
Chris found nests, counted eggs and chicks and made maps of all their locations and within a couple of years he started his first proper scientific study – The Population and Breeding Density of Kestrels in the Lower Itchen Valley. This was written up in his last year at secondary school and he won the Prince Philip Zoology Prize a couple of years later. A bright young scientist and nerd in training he studied Kestrels, Shrews and Badgers in his teens and undergraduate days at the Zoology department of Southampton University.
As a young adult and postgraduate, he began taking still photographs and trained as a wildlife film cameraman. The photography continues with exhibitions and invitations to judge prestigious competitions, but the camerawork gave way to presenting. Chris began with the award winning ’Really Wild Show’ in 1986 and has been working ever since.
In his late 30s Chris suffered with Meniere’s disease which is a disorder of the inner ear that is described as having episodes of feeling like the world is spinning, ringing in the ears and hearing loss. In 2003, at the age of 42, he began seeing a therapist after the death of his dog. As his work with the therapist concluded in 2005, Packham was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, aged 44.
“For all autistic people it mustn’t any longer be about what we can’t do, it’s got to be about what we can do”
On 17 October 2017 Chris Packham released a documentary on BBC 2 about his life growing up and his Asperger’s, this program is called Asperger’s and me and can still be watched on BBC iPlayer. After receiving so many responses to the program he replied back to his fans and the messages he received with a letter that can be found and read on his website https://www.chrispackham.co.uk/news/aspergers-and-me-thank-you
“And that’s the message that I wanted to land to parents, friends, colleagues and a large number of isolated, unhappy, confused children, teenagers and adults. We don’t need a cure, there is nothing wrong with us – we are different. And that difference has enormous biological and social importance.”
A wish written by Robin Williams in his Twelve Step book
Actor and comedian Robin McLaurin Williams was born on July 21, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois. When he was 16, his father retired from his job as a car salesman, and the family moved to the San Francisco area. Robin attended Claremont Men’s College and College of Marin before getting a scholarship to study at the Juilliard School in New York City. There he befriended and became roommates with fellow actor Christopher Reeve. Robin later tried stand-up comedy in San Francisco and Los Angeles, developing a successful act. Williams eventually moved back to California, where he began appearing in comedy clubs in the early 1970s.
By the mid-1970s Williams was guest starring on several television shows. After guest appearances as the alien Mork on Happy Days, he was given his own show, Mork & Mindy (1978–82). The series offered Robin the opportunity to transfer the passion of his stand-up performances to the small screen and provided an outlet for his many comedic talents. Mork & Mindy proved a big success and was key in launching Williams’s film career.
A string of successful film roles for Williams followed over the years, showcasing his stellar comedic talents as well as his ability to take on serious work. His first major role came with Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), in which he portrayed the irreverent military disc jockey Adrian Cronauer. The role earned Williams his first Academy Award nomination.
In the early 1990s he lent his talents to a number of successful family-oriented films, including Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), in which he played a divorced man who impersonates a female nanny in order to be close to his children, and the animated feature Aladdin (1992), in which he voiced the forever famous genie. He later portrayed Teddy Roosevelt in the comedy Night at the Museum (2006) and two sequels (2009, 2014). He provided voices for the animated films Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet Two (2011). Williams was side-lined with heart problems in early 2009, but he returned to work shortly thereafter.
On August 11, 2014, the 63-year-old comedian had passed away in his California home. His publicist released this statement:
“Robin Williams passed away this morning. He has been battling severe depression of late. This is a tragic and sudden loss. The family respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.”
In a statement issued by his wife on August 13, she had said that her Robin had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease which he had not disclosed publicly. Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the nervous system that progresses over time, affecting movement and speech. She also confirmed that the actor was battling depression and anxiety. Robin’s wife statement also expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support following her husband’s suicide and touched on the legacy he left behind:
“Since his passing, all of us who loved Robin have found some solace in the tremendous outpouring of affection and admiration for him from the millions of people whose lives he touched. His greatest legacy, besides his three children, is the joy and happiness he offered to others, particularly to those fighting personal battles.”
In November 2014, reports surfaced that prior to his death Williams was also suffering from Lewy body dementia, a type of progressive dementia often found in people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In December of that year, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, the final film in the series, was released in which Williams reprised his role as Roosevelt.
Years after his death, Williams’s show business career and final days remained a captivating subject for fans. Dave Itzkoff’s Robin became a best-seller following its May 2018 publication, and two months later, HBO offered a character study of the comedian via footage of stand-up clips and interviews with family and friends in Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind.
If you, or someone you know, is struggling with mental health difficulties and/or suicidal intent or ideation, the following organisations may be able to help:
Lady Gaga is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actress, and businesswoman. As well as publishing multiple hit singles and albums, she also owns her own cosmetics brand (Haus Cosmetics) and founded a non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation. It focuses on the empowerment of young people, improving mental health, and preventing bullying.
She also has mental health difficulties, and fibromyalgia.
What is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia syndrome is a chronic pain condition. It usually presents with widespread pain and chronic fatigue, but you can experience a wide variety of symptoms. Something a lot of people with fibromyalgia experience is cognitive and memory problems, which is referred to as ‘fibro fog’. At this time, there is no cure for fibromyalgia, although some medications and other therapies can help improve its symptoms.
Lady Gaga’s experience
She shows how this affects her in her documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two. She has needed to cancel tours and shows because of her health conditions. Shown below is an image of her receiving medical treatment for her chronic pain. It is taken from her documentary.
She speaks about her chronic pain a lot, to raise awareness about it. She manages her condition well, and something that contributes greatly to this is her access to the latest procedures and top-quality doctors. Even with this, she still experiences debilitating pain.
Lady Gaga talks about her chronic pain:
“I get so irritated with people who don’t believe fibromyalgia is real. For me, and I think for many others, it’s really a cyclone of anxiety, depression, PTSD, trauma, and panic disorder, all of which sends the nervous system into overdrive, and then you have nerve pain as a result.”
“People need to be more compassionate. Chronic pain is no joke. And it’s every day waking up not knowing how you’re going to feel.”
“You will hear the pain in my voice and in some of the lyrics, but it always celebrates.”
“I’m a fighter. I use the word ‘suffer’ not only because trauma and chronic pain have changed my life, but because they are keeping me from living a normal life.”
“I hope that people watching it that do struggle with chronic pain know that they are not alone. […] see me dance and sing, to know I struggle with things like them and that I work through it and that it can be done.”
Satoshi Tajiri is Japanese and born August 28, 1965. He is the creator of Pokémon which became a huge global success and he has Autism.
When Satoshi Tajiri was a young boy, he loved to explore the outdoors and was really interested with insects. He loved to collect insects, looking for them in ponds, fields and forests, constantly trying to find new insects and coming up with different ways to catch insects such as beetles. He had such an interest in collecting and studying insects that he earned the nickname “Dr. Bug” among other children and friends.
In the late 1970s, the fields and ponds that Tajiri loved as a child were used to build apartment buildings and shopping centres. At this time, Tajiri’s passion for insects moved to video games and arcades. Because of his new obsession captured so much of his time and attention that he actually cut classes and wound up flunking high school.
His parents were concerned; they actually didn’t understand his obsession with games and thought he was a delinquent throwing his life away. He eventually took make-up classes and got his high school diploma, but he only did a two year stint at the Tokyo National College of Technology studying computer science and electronics.
In the early 1990s was when Tajiri first saw two children playing together with Game Boys using the Game Link Cable. He imagined insects crawling along the cable between the two systems. As he thought about the uses of the Game Link Cable, his idea for Pokémon grew, as he wanted to give modern children the chance to hunt for creatures as he did as a child.
He pitched the idea for Pokémon to Nintendo, and although they didn’t fully understand the concept of the game, he was given some initial funding anyway. Tajiri spent the next six years working on Pokémon. Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pikmin, and Donkey Kong, was assigned to help in the development of the initial versions of Pocket Monsters, Red and Green. While working on the game Tajiri came to admire Miyamoto as a mentor. As a tribute to Miyamoto and Tajiri, the main character of the original games and his rival have “Satoshi” and “Shigeru” among their default names.
After six years of development, Pokémon Red and Green Versions were completed. Although the Game Boy’s hardware was becoming outdated, the game still grew steadily in popularity because younger children could not afford brand-new console games so they turned to the inexpensive Game Boy games.
The success of Pokémon led to various manga adaptations, an anime, and more Pokémon games and spinoff games.
Satoshi has gone on record saying that he wanted the games to give children the same joy as he had during his bug collecting. People with autism tend to take up collecting as a hobby, so Satoshi gave them and everyone else a gift that only he could create: a whole new thing to collect.
While Mr. Satoshi Tajiri has confirmed that he has ASD, he does not publicly talk about his condition and would rather remain away from the spotlight, focusing on work and on pursuing his own interests above fame and fortune.
Jamie Oliver is a British celebrity chef. He has his own restaurant chain, has sold more than 14.55 million books, and has a reported net worth of over £240 million. He also has dyslexia! He struggled a lot at school – he was labelled as ‘special needs’ and was mocked by the other boys for being taken out of classes. He has always struggled with reading. Jamie did not finish reading his first novel until 2013: he was 38 years old.
“I’m not a good reader. I’ve always tried to read a book and given up after the first page.”
However, he does not think that dyslexia is a limitation. In fact, he has found his dyslexia to be a positive thing!
“being dyslexic or having special needs is not an excuse or reason for you not to prosper.”
What does Jamie Oliver think of Dyslexia?
Here are some positive things that Jamie Oliver has said about his dyslexia:
“If I’m in a meeting I just see the problems differently and I obsess about things differently.”
“Some bits of work need to be sweated over and cried over and crafted. Because I’m dyslexic, sometimes, when it requires a load of stuff to be done, I just do it. It’s like I’m a massive ten-tonne boulder rolling down the hill.”
“I’ve never struggled – my brain works in quite a weird way and I often imagine how it tastes and put concepts together in my head. I can 85% smell it and almost taste it, I’m normally about right. I’ve found my dyslexia to be such a gift in the job.”
“I’m humbled and excited that MI5 employ dyslexics specifically. Dyslexics look at problem-solving in a totally different way. This is why dyslexia is a gift, not a problem.”
Taken from an interview with Jamie Oliver about Dyslexia on the Guardian Website: “those with dyslexia [are] lucky”.
Made by Dyslexia
In 2017, Jamie Oliver was interviewed by the charity ‘Made by Dyslexia’. You can watch this interview over on YouTube, or read the transcript below:
Screenshot taken from the #MadeByDyslexia interview with Jamie Oliver on YouTube
Jamie Oliver #madebydyslexia interview transcript:
I loved school. I really loved school. It was like a glorified youth club. I had nothing to offer at school – I didn’t learn much about myself at school, didn’t feel compelled to excel and put extra effort into any class at school. But I liked hanging out with my mates. I didn’t bunk off, cause I was happy, you know it’s almost like the one hardest ingredient of school is if the kid’s happy, you’ve got all the permissions to do everything else. I was really happy, but nothing else happened and there’s a bit of a weird one as well because when I was at school dyslexia wasn’t really- you were either almost blind or not dyslexic so I was just put in special needs, you know, you’ve got a thick kid, so you know.
But now my nephews kind of get a proper run down. They know so much more about the particular type of help they need, they get the assistance, they don’t necessarily get dragged out of class and put in a blimmin’ room at the top of the school, like a sort of dunce do you know what I mean? So it was a bit of a stigma when I was at school – didn’t bother me, because I was one of the bigger boys, but it I mean- it wasn’t great for self-esteem really.
They [the teachers] all said the same thing you know, lovely boy, you know- polite, respectable, you know I got on with teachers but you know that’s why I love the debate about education. You know who said education is what we say it is? Oh look, a couple of dudes from 500 years ago sort of set up the structure of it, English, Maths, Science, okay okay so if you’re not very good at black and white and sort of traditional academia, you’re thick? Therefore you have no value or?
So for me personally, I’ve always been passionate since leaving school about- well there’s different types of intelligence and everyone has the ability to do brilliant. And you know, school should really be about facilitating kids to find their sort of inner genius and their inner confidence, and help them with life skills, and just being good people whereas actually school is quite rigid.
Everything’s based on measurement and every child is different, every town, every school is different, every part of the country is different – so there’s no way of controlling it. It becomes more about culture than sort of hard measurements and you know- quite a few of- well there were only five people in my special needs class but three of them have done really well. I know people that left school with As As and As, but are really on just above minimum wage.
Personally I think my strength is just a complete obsession to any expression of empowering people and teaching people to cook. Whether that’s a book, the paper its on the photographer we use, sitting next to- you know, fifteen years later, the effort on design and how we lay out a page to try and empower Billy from Bognor to be able to achieve something that’s really affordable, that a king would be happy to eat. Ultimately that is what it comes down to for me. We’ve got a massive problem in this country with under-mentored, under-loved kids that don’t see that you could be good at something very simple, and turn it into a life’s work. That you enjoy, that makes you want to get out of bed with a spark in your eye.
ATLAS Surrey 