Can We Talk About This For A Sec...

Seen, Empowered, Accepted, Recognised

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I watched a programme the other day on TV📺, a night of musical performances. I was ready to sing along to all my favourite West End hits: Dear Evan Hansen, Waitress, Tina Turner, and FROZEN! I wasn't anticipating watching a VT that would leave a lasting effect. A young lady named Beth Hinton-Lever came on the screen talking about her upcoming role in the show, A Chorus Line. Just at that moment, the doorbell rang . . . our supermarket delivery had arrived 🛒🍏🥐 (these guys always know how to pick the right time … or the wrong time). As I was sorting out the groceries with my back to the TV, I overheard her say, "first disabled actor to play the role". My head whipped around, eyes locked on the screen. Beth was born without a lower-right forearm. She always had a love for theatre but felt it was never a viable career option as she had never seen herself represented on stage.

WOW! I thought. Trying to bite back the tears that tried to encroach on what I envisioned would be a chilled Saturday night sing-along. I found it emotional not just because she was making moves in her field that hadn't been seen before, but also BECAUSE of the fact it hadn't been seen before.

Watching her on TV, I suddenly felt seen...I felt empowered…. I felt accepted, and I felt recognised.

I was born with a right arm Erbs Palsy… a disability that can be a restriction in many ways. It has meant navigating life with limited movement in my right arm, which is now considerably shorter than my left. Like Beth, I grew up with a love for theatre and performing arts 🎭. The older I got, the more I began to understand that my arm would restrict me from being able to pursue this dream as a professional career. How can I play a leading role if I can't even raise both arms above my head for the final bow? (When I was younger, I always used to get sweaty palms from the anxiety of the final bow whenever I did a show.)

I was sitting on the bus 🚌 the other day when my mind drifted back to a monologue I had written during College about body image and the effect my disability had on how I viewed myself in society. As I meditated on Beth's story, comparing it to my journey, I realised that parts of my monologue are still timely for today's society, in some ways, even more so.

When we are younger, we're told we can be anything we want to be… that the world is our oyster 🦪, but when we read between the lines, do they really mean that? Or do they mean that we can be anything we want to be . . . within reason? The world might be your oyster if you tick all the right boxes of society's criteria, but what about all the ways we don't?

What about the things that hold people back or the people that aren't well represented in this world:

Those with disabilities?

Those who are deaf?

Ethnic Minority Groups?

You name it; there are so many people out there under-represented whose dreams have been minimised to what is deemed by society as acceptable.

I've always been a big dreamer who wants to defy the odds, a person wanting to break ground for future generations.

A few months ago, the nation was captivated by a tearjerking performance on Strictly Come Dancing, where Rose and her partner Giovanni danced a part of their 'Couple's Choice' in silence. Rose wanted to find a way to tell her story, to tell her truth by representing the deaf community in a way never seen before, a moment that spoke a thousand words to the nation, but not even a pin drop could be heard.

People like Rose and Beth are doing things I could only dream of seeing for the future. They are leading the way for so many more of us to rise up and accomplish things we never thought we could.

One night about five years ago, in a college drama studio, I found a way to tell MY story… MY truth … to be all of me in what I was doing, showing myself it could be done.

Beth and Rose were able to show themselves and others that it CAN BE DONE.

Seeing Beth on the screen that night gave HOPE to the little girl inside of me that she would be represented in the future. I would have had so much more confidence if I had seen that VT 10 or 15 years ago. I HOPE that it can be shown on a larger scale than in a small college drama studio. I felt seen, empowered, accepted and recognised because it was the first time I saw someone I identified with pursuing something I always wanted to do. It's taken 23 years of my life to see a bit of me represented on the big screen.

Our world is far from a perfect one. I'm lucky that I got to see a little bit of myself on screen that night; I know it's not the case for so many. Representation for many of us is still so scarce, but that night gave me a spark of hope for the future. It gave me the confidence to pursue my dreams, knowing maybe I'll be the first in my field, like Beth.

We should be able to be whomever we want to be, the world should be our oyster, and our dreams should not be minimised by the world around us. My encouragement for you is to follow those burning dreams…

One day it will be you:

on that screen

In that role 👮🏻

Directing that company 👩🏾‍💻

Running that race🏃🏽‍♀️

Achieving that record ⏱

and someone will be looking up to you feeling SEEN, EMPOWERED, ACCEPTED and RECOGNISED because YOU…… made a way.