Crip's Column
View from my wheelchair - Victoria Brignell on life as a disabled person.
Voice
- 0 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 05 May 2009
Victoria Brignell on Chelmsford, the power of radio and a particularly limiting aspect of her disability
When I was given my first job in BBC radio I almost felt as if I had been destined to work there. I come from Chelmsford, Essex, and on the outskirts of the town there are brown tourist signs which declare the place to be the "birthplace" of the wireless.
This boast does rather overlook the fact that the development of radio can be attributed to the work of a [...]
Penfriend
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- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 30 March 2009
How a bond formed at 13 with an Australian penfriend led Victoria Brignell to embark on a deception that has lasted two decades
Bushfires in Australia caused devastation and left more than 170 dead
It's difficult to imagine the horror experienced by those families caught up in the recent Australian bushfires.
More than 200 people were killed in February when savage flames swept across the state of Victoria leaving a trail of devastation in their wake.
An estimated 1,800 homes were destroyed some 7,500 people displaced. Rightly or wrongly, at times of disasters we tend to think first of those people we [...]
Assisted death 2
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- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 20 February 2009
Helping people who are suddenly physically disabled so they avoid despair and learn to adjust and enjoy life might prevent tragedies like the case of Daniel James
Miss highlights such as the collapse of the Berlin Wall? Not on your nelly!
The tragic death of Daniel James has naturally provoked a huge amount of ethical debate. Since it emerged that he had chosen to kill himself with the help of a Swiss clinic, rather than spend the rest of his life paralysed from the neck down, there has been much discussion as to whether British law should be changed to allow assisted suicide here.
However, while it is important to [...]
Assisted death
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- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 30 January 2009
The tragic death by assisted suicide of a young rugby player who chose to die because he'd been rendered paralysed raises all sorts of difficult ethical issues
Matters of life and death have been preoccupying me a lot recently. On New Year's Eve, as the minutes ticked down to midnight, I couldn't help thinking about Daniel James, the talented young sportsman who became paralysed from the neck down in a rugby accident.
He didn't live long enough to see the arrival of 2009. Unable to face the prospect of spending the rest of his life as [...]
Dangerous disabled people III
- 3 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 08 January 2009
Sinners tend to be more interesting than saints. Wickedness and wrongdoing seem to fascinate more than good deeds and gallantry, so instead of disabled role models...
A satellite image of the hole in the Earth's ozone layer
So who is the most dangerous disabled person in history? Who could possibly beat Kaiser Wilhelm and Joseph Goebbels? Well, the man's name is Thomas Midgley. Never heard of him? Then let me enlighten you. In the first half of the 20th century Midgley was one of America's leading scientists and inventors, receiving virtually every major prize in chemistry. However, his life wasn't all plain sailing. Unusually, in middle age [...]
Dangerous disabled people II
- 3 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 07 January 2009
Sinners tend to be more interesting than saints. Wickedness and wrongdoing seem to fascinate more than good deeds and gallantry, so instead of disabled role models...
WW1 had a devastating impact on all the countries involved
In second place is Wilhelm II (1859-1941), Kaiser of Germany from 1888, who played a large role in starting World War I and thus contributed to the deaths of more than 8 million people. Described variously as mentally unstable, immature, narcissistic and a megalomaniac, most historians regard him as being unsuitable for leadership. By pursuing an aggressive foreign policy, Wilhelm II created the conditions that made the outbreak of a [...]
Dangerous disabled people I
- 3 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 06 January 2009
Sinners tend to be more interesting than saints. Wickedness and wrongdoing seem to fascinate more than good deeds and gallantry, so instead of disabled role models...
Hitler's minister of propaganda was a key part of a regime that targeted the disabled
Unless you've been living on the planet Mars for the last 20 years, you'll be well aware that modern television is very fond of lists. The 100 best pop songs, the 50 most watched films, the top 10 celebrity breast implants (OK, I admit it, I made the last one up).
Anyway, I thought it was about time I came up with my own version.
My initial plan [...]
A sitting target
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- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 10 November 2008
It's estimated that 65 million people worldwide require a wheelchair but more than 20 million of them do not own one which can mean no school or participate fully in lfie
Contrary to what Hamlet claims, "to be or not to be" is not the question, as far as I'm concerned. The choice which has preoccupied me frequently during my life is - manual or electric? As I'm paralysed from the neck down, I cannot propel myself in a manual wheelchair. To drive a chair on my own, I need to use a battery-powered one and control it using my left [...]
Wheelchairs I
- 2 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 07 October 2008
The perils of the electric wheelchair have left Victoria Brignell stranded on more than one occasion. Here she talks us the highs and lows of her different sets of wheels
During my university years I took great delight in confusing the shoppers of Cambridge. In those days I often used a battery-powered wheelchair which I controlled using a foot switch. When I went into the city centre, I could see a puzzled expression pass over the faces of other pedestrians as they noticed the joystick on the wheelchair's arm and then realised that my hands weren't touching it. I could [...]
Sleeping
- 1 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 08 September 2008
'I dreamt that I saw Iain Duncan Smith riding on an ostrich through Parliament Square. Make of that what you will.' Victoria Brignell on insomnia and other matters...
At the time of writing I am going through a bout of insomnia. Last night I lay in bed and watched the green numbers on my digital clock flick through the hours of the night at the same pace as a snail carrying a heavy bag of shopping. By the time dawn arrived, it felt as if those numbers were taunting me. (Lack of sleep does strange things to one's [...]
Oh dear it's the Paralympics
- 8 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 08 August 2008
As the most glittering festival of disability sport approaches, I'm faced with my usual dilemma: to watch or not to watch? Victoria Brignell struggles with an antipathy towards sport...
Oh dear, it's the Paralympics soon. Sorry, that's probably not the reaction you're expecting from me. But I'm afraid the Paralympics is not an event I look forward to with breathless anticipation. As the most glittering festival of disability sport approaches, I'm faced with my usual dilemma: to watch or not to watch?
There's a part of me which feels I really ought to support this sporting spectacle. Disabled people [...]
Where there is art there is hope
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- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 01 July 2008
How the disabled - many of them victims of a long-running and bloody conflict - are helping bridge the ethnic divide in Sri Lanka against a background of escalating violence
The island of Sri Lanka should be a tropical paradise. With its golden palm-fringed beaches, diverse vegetation and dramatic landscapes, it is a stunningly attractive country. Lying off the southern tip of India, it was known to Arab geographers as "Serendip" and it can boast a rich and colourful history.
Over the centuries, the island was settled by the Portuguese, the Dutch and eventually the British who seized control [...]
A miracle convention for the disabled?
- 2 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 03 June 2008
Fine words without actions are meaningless but actions usually only come about after fine words have been written - Victoria Brignell celebrates a new UN convention
Last month the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force. It may not be a snappy title but it marks an important development in disabled people's pursuit of equality. Sixty years after the original UN Declaration on Human Rights was launched, disabled people have finally gained their own charter and full recognition that they too have human rights.
Disabled people are one of [...]
Sliding doors
- 2 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 06 May 2008
How much being disabled has altered the course of a life - Victoria Brignell ponders whether being in a wheelchair has actually made all that much difference...
During the year I spent doing journalism training in Cardiff, a film was released called Sliding Doors. Starring Gwynneth Paltrow, it shows two versions of the same woman’s life. At the start of the film you see her running for a tube train. In the first plot line, she just manages to catch it while in the second, the sliding doors of the carriage close merely a couple of seconds [...]
Ancient world
- 5 comments
- Posted by Victoria Brignell
- 07 April 2008
Smeared in mustard, paraded naked - the curious and often cruel treatment of disabled people in Ancient Rome, Sparta and Greece
This summer’s special exhibition at the British Museum is an exploration of the life and achievements of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (he who did so much to boost the North England tourist industry). Although the exhibition doesn’t open until the end of July, I’ve already bought my ticket.
Since I was a child I’ve been fascinated by the ancient world. Indeed, spurred on by two evangelical Latin teachers, I [...]
