Over 3,500 people have subscribed to monthly podcasts from Scope’s pioneering oral history of people with cerebral palsy, Speaking for Ourselves, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

 

The podcasts, created by Effective Podcasting, are to support a free Citizenship teaching pack and DVD, which has already been requested by nearly 2,000 schools and colleges.

 

The broadcasts draw upon over 230 hours of recorded testimonies by people with cerebral palsy, aged 50 and over, which have been deposited for public access with the British Library Sound Archive and Wellcome Library.

 

The result is a fascinating insight for students into the lives of disabled people in the 20th Century and reveals the extent of the prejudice disabled people faced. In the second podcast, which focuses on disabled people and work, Judy Smart, who has a degree, recalls working in a sheltered workshop: "...the worst job that I ever had, and that was screwing up newspaper to pack round lamps, and Veronica and I did this, day in and day out for about a year…”

 

Alex White, the project manager for Speaking for Ourselves, said: “Speaking for Ourselves has enabled disabled people’s voices to be heard by thousands of students and help to banish disablism from the classroom.”

 

Paul Campbell of Effective Podcasting said, “We wanted to work with a forward-looking charity like Scope because we admire the work they do. It is superb that Scope fully realises how powerful podcasting is as a communication tool and we look forward to a long-standing relationship with them.”

 

For more information on the project, call 020 7619 7228.

 

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Scope is a national disability organisation whose focus is people with cerebral palsy. Our aim is that disabled people achieve equality: a society in which they are as valued and have the same human and civil rights as everyone else. www.scope.org.uk

 

Speaking for Ourselves is funded by a £185,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

 

The podcast is available from http://www.speakingforourselves.org.uk/index.php/home/scope_podcast

 

The free DVD teaching pack is available from http://www.speakingforourselves.org.uk/index.php/siteinfo/contact_us

 

The complete 'Speaking for Ourselves' audio collection will be publicly accessible at the British Library Sound Archive, collection reference C1134.