Interview with Susan Bucknall
“I couldn’t go out. I just couldn’t even go out of the house without people picking on me all the while. Kept on picking on me all the while, you know. ‘She a spastic’ and everything like that. And I didn’t like it.”
Born 6 October 1949
Educated Little Green Lane School, Small Heath; Victoria Special School; Dene Park in Tonbridge
Tape 1, Side 1
Born in 1949 in Birmingham. Elizabeth was name of ‘real’ [biological] mother, who died before Susan was born. Susan couldn’t sit up, feed or dress herself. Father brought in someone to help in the home and they decided to get married. Maternal grandmother’s supportive attitude. Family meals. Playing with sisters. Skipping. Washing up. Father shouted a lot.
Tape 2, Side 1
Father’s temper. Feeding. Fifteenth birthday party. Grandmother Ada Bissiger. Father worked at Cadbury’s and Rover until he retired. He used to help Susan to walk. Saw a film of children in wheelchairs at school. Diagnosis at 18 months of cerebral palsy. Speech difficulty. Used a wheelchair when young. Younger brother. Susan in callipers until age 18. Operations on both legs. Hospital radio stations. Orthopaedic hospital in Northfield. Woodlands Hospital. Falling out of bed. Visits to the shops. Getting older. Arthritis. Relationships with sisters. Card games ‘Snap’ and ‘Patience’. Name calling and staring in the street. Stepmother. Bathtimes. Discipline. Weekly dinners with Aunt Maureen and Uncle Frank.
Tape 2, Side 2
Visits to Aunt’s. Broad Street. Outside toilets. Moved to Northfield aged 14. Porlock Crescent. Stirchley, Green Oak Crescent. Susan had to be lifted up onto the school bus and tied on to the seat by the conductor. Little Green Lane School in Small Heath. Pauline Johnson was in the same class. School at Bell Lane, Victoria Special School. And I was there till I was 18. Then I left school and went to Dene Park in Tonbridge to see what I could do, or couldn’t. Skipping and riding bike with sister. Hiding a letter about nits from nurse. Relationship with parents. Special shoes and callipers. Mum and Dad went on holiday without Susan. Relationship with Nan in Northfield. Granddad died before Susan was born. Riding three-wheeler bike. Christmas. Using a typewriter. Relationship with sisters. Auntie Wyn lived in Kings Heath.
Download transcript of tape 2