At the start of 2020 I was invited to be involved in the 30th Anniversary celebrations of the charity Whizz-Kids. Providing life skills and wheelchairs, Whizz-Kidz gives young people the ability and opportunities to create the lives they want, just like any other youngsters.
To mark the anniversary our aim was to create 30 stories from wheelchair users across the charities history. An ambitious and historic project especially as the stories would be archived as part of the oral history collection at @britishlibrary Sound Archive, ensuring that the life experiences of wheelchair users today are captured forever.
We wanted to capture those involved with the charity as well as the young people (some now not so young), who have received life transforming support and wheelchairs that were actually right for them. Unfortunately, during the early stages of the project along came Covid19……. We managed a few stories but the project will now take well into 2021 to complete. In the meantime, here are some of the portraits that we were able to capture, following the guidelines of course!
Ade Adepitan; Olympic basketball player, TV presenter and author.
Ruth Madeley; BAFTA winning writer and actor.
Hannah Mambu; recently gained her Masters in Law and is about to start her career in law.
Samantha Renke: Actress, presenter and disability activist
