Skip to main content

MIF21: Looking Forward To Tomorrow (part 2 of 5)

It was my first time inside Manchester Central Convention Complex’s Exchange  Auditorium ( please bear with me, there’ll be a million firsts for me documented in this blog) and it was so cool. The audience were in groups according to what event we’d chosen to attend. And after our Welcome by co-designing group members Carmen Ffye Paulo and Heidi Taylor-Wood, Vincent Dugdale came onstage and presented five NHS Key workers (and in my opinion unsung heroes)  on stage to share some of their experiences about issues that have affected them including the pandemic, disability, healthcare and the inequality of class, gender and race as well as how they are using their positions to create a positive change for the present and for the  future.

There was:  Qualified teacher Diane Rutherford who is also brap’s Learning and Development Lead. Some of her work includes engaging with schools and universities to break down social barriers and stigmas around learning disabilities and mental health as well as how a student can be impacted in various ways by teachers and by learning.

Dr Devapriya Dev, a Consultant General & Respiratory Physician at Royal Bolton Hospital and one of the doctors on the frontline throughout the pandemic. Having been a doctor for more than 20 years he’s also an important leader in the Indian community in this city and as the Chair of Nrityakunj (a South Asian cultural organisation in Manchester) and Global Governor (UK) for the American College of Chest Physicians he has been continually working towards inclusion and diversity within the NHS.

Naomi Yeboah, a community learning disability nurse, actor, writer and producer.

Joy Warmington, the CEO of brap, where she is engaged in the development of many of brap’s training and development programmes. As a member of the NHS Leadership Faculty, one of her many roles includes using her background in anti-discriminatory practice and application to create inclusive leadership programmes, and as a lifelong qualified teacher she knows how to design and deliver programs that are innovative, effective and fun.

And finally, Polish-born, Manchester raised Zuzanna Kouamba who is a final-year student midwife.

For full bios of these incredible human beings please visit the link https://mif.co.uk/lftt-speakers/

Before leaving the stage each of them shared their hopes and dreams that had them looking forward to tomorrow.

Listening to them all I was reminded yet again how being a minority or being different means that you will be in a lifelong battle that you never wanted or chose to fight. It’s one of the reasons why no matter how many times I’d like to, or try to, every conversation that I have is carrying the weight of the lack of equality we have present in this moment in time. Yes, we’ve come a long way but we still have a million miles to go.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Great Unknown

Today I am celebrating my 33rd birthday, and in typical British fashion have decided to celebrate it all week. As someone who thought they would never actually live to see their 17th birthday, I am taking this week as an opportunity to put myself first and celebrate all of the wonderful things this city has gifted me. On the 4th, ironically America's Independance Day, I shall be celebrating my independance by voting in the UK Parlimentary general elections. And on the 5th I shall be performing for the very first time at Band On The Wall, a showcase that allows me to finally share he very begininng of my creative musical journey under the care and tutelage of Levi Love.  To be world premiering my work at such a prestigiously historical venue s mindblowing to me until my ego interupts me and says "Of course your first show has to be in one of the biggest music venue spaces in this entire city, duh."  My minor accomplishments have never been that small, when I actually take ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Poem: The Quiet Room

  The Quiet Room Intrinsically obligated to serve, Do you think the  artist just saw a plate of cheese on the table and was like....I can do that? Head bowed in servitude but only in a prostrate submissive form. It's not that I can see it, it's that you can't  unsee it. Looking at it long enough the angles are not only angular but long enough. I should go, away from this quiet place but it's comforting here. Here, these walls hold the part of me that was so scared, the part of me that put my best foot forward in the frozen snow. What a long path of misstroden woes and forgotten beguilements.
1 comment
Read more

Poem: Only A Number

 Only a number, Fixed intent, Work hard and pay your taxes, The city is paved with your tears, Starving to feed the extra mouths, Rent paid for an empty fridge, Children with lightning gold smiles, Who possess a resilience harder than diamonds, When all is lost, Gather in numbers, As the small kindnesses accumulate, The silver lining is sharper than the knife edge, And if they didn't have the children the adults would be lost, Drowning in a tidal wave of despair, Neck ache from sticking it out and holding it high, Society has given you a number, Remember that you were born with a name. Remember that you are loved, Remember that you are capable of loving, Despite your rage, Despite your fear, You will always and forever be more than... Grief, Pain, Low Expectations, Heartbreak, The sum of all your memories and all your losses, You will always be more than just a number. ------------ A total of 6,848 people living in the city are currently without a home, according to Shelter. The ch...
2 comments
Read more