"The saddest thing of all was that I wanted to be a teacher and I was turned down. And that broke my heart… I went for my interviews; I got my qualification; I got my place at college. I went for a normal medical, you know, heart and lungs, what have you, that was fine. Several weeks later I had a… message to go and see the college doctor, who I thought they were just out of politeness asking that I should see him. And I stayed with him just a few minutes and in that time he said, ‘You couldn’t possibly teach children, you couldn’t possibly manage their coats…’ So, you know … And that was all the grounds he gave. And I was so stunned I didn’t fight my corner really."

 

Pauline Farr’s experience of disablism is just one example of the discrimination disabled people face, taken from the latest monthly podcast from Scope’s pioneering oral history of people with cerebral palsy, Speaking for Ourselves, supported to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

 

The podcasts, created by Effective Podcasting and which have been accessed over 35,000 times since December 2006, are to support a free Citizenship teaching pack and DVD, which has already been requested by over 2,200 schools and colleges in the UK and around the world.

 

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.

 

Alex White, the project manager for Speaking for Ourselves, said: “We hope that Speaking for Ourselves will enable disabled people’s voices – like Pauline’s – 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, visit www.speakingforourselves.org.uk or call 020 7619 7228.

 

- Ends -

 

For more information please contact Lucy Pogson, Scope Press Officer on: 020 7619 7204 or email lucy.pogson@scope.org.uk

 

Notes to Editors:

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. All 10 podcasts plus the free DVD and teaching pack are available from www.speakingforourselves.org.uk

 

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