I think this idea around disabled people
being inspiring is something that really
interests me because I don't, I
don't really know what people mean when
they say that, you know, if you're an
abled person watching a disabled person
do something good
I think it ultimately makes
able-bodied people feel good about
themselves or
take a bit of guilt away, the fact that
there's a disabled person succeeding
despite the ableist society that we all live in
Albinism is a genetic condition that
affects, in the UK, roughly one in 17,000 people
It stops the production of melanin in
the skin, so pigment
Generally in the case of my type of albinism, which is
called oculocutaneous albinism
that leads to lack of pigment in the
hair, skin, and eyes, and then when you
have lack of pigment in your eyes it
causes light sensitivity, nystagmus
which is a kind of wobbling of the eyes
and
low vision
Within Sight is a multimedia poetry theatre show
It's a fictional story
about a young woman with albinism who
has just found out that she's been
unsuccessful
in achieving a place in the GB
Paralympic athletics team, which is
something that she's been training for
and aiming for her whole life
I think it's rare to see a nuanced
disabled character
Generally disabled characters are either
villains or there as some kind of plot
crutch
to reveal things about other characters
Or they're there to be pitied
When a certain group is not portrayed that
often we have to be careful if then
every time they are portrayed it has
been in the exact same way
and especially with a
condition that is
relatively rare
that does mean that most people that
the only time they will encounter with
that condition is through media
representation, and then if all that
media representation is
one-sided, then it can have a huge impact
She looks like
The Da Vinci Code, Silas
The albino monk who slaughters half the
world's Catholics
Who kills with Navy SEAL precision
despite the legal status of his vision
yeah
him
The Malfoys, the comic book bad boys
quite literally
everyone Batman has to fight
I wanted to try and present a whole
character who
I think does some things wrong
in the course of the show, but
does some things that redeem her too
So I wanted to, to show that because
that's not something I've seen that often myself
With the show I wanted to think about anger
and
how we maybe permit anger from some
people and, and not from other people
So that was
a main theme of the show and like
exploring that emotion
It was really cathartic to write it
especially there's a poem that is
sort of based around a moment where the
character says all the things she hasn't
said before
and that was
really good fun, to be able to sit and
think about all those things and put
them into some kind of
articulate structure, felt really nice
You have half arsed ink
Who don't read the arrogance in small
print and still think yours are the
rules I should move to
Who have the cheek to presume that what
I need
is to live the life that you do, well in
truth
I ache to be average
I think I really want people to
leave and just reconsider the things
that they do
not, I hope the show doesn't ask too much of people
I'm not, kind of, demanding that
people change the world when they leave
but I think
you know, it's all small actions that can lead to big change