Inspirational! (Although don’t tell her we said that!)
On Sunday the 19th October, we took a carers’s trip to see Francesca Martinez at the Ilkley Literature Festival. If you don’t know who she is, we would highly recommend you find out! Francesca was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 2 years old, a condition which she calls “wobbly”, and is a star of shows such as Grange Hill and a successful stand up comedian. She has recently written an autobiography and inspirational story of living in a world obsessed with conformity and “normality” when you are disabled.
The show was brilliant. An hour of Char March, locally based writer and poet, interviewing Francesca about her book, “What the **** is normal?!”, was an hour of belly laughs and inspiration. Francesca herself doesn’t like to be called inspirational, claiming people say that about anyone who “is disabled and not depressed” but it certainly was inspirational to our group. Not because she is disabled, not because she has achieved so much and has such a good career, but because of her ATTITUDE!
As she says, “accepting yourself is an act of civil disobedience” and that is just what she does, accept and love herself and that confidence shines through in everything she said. That is why she inspired all of our group, disabled and non-disabled alike, because she truly loves and accepts herself, an attitude we can learn from!
The afternoon was a great success, we ate at Outside the Box in Ilkley, a recomendation if you do not know about his community run cafe, which trains people with learning disabilities in customer service and catering. The food, service, drinks and staff are all wonderful!
Our clients said:
“Not just an afternoon out but inspirational”
“Loved seeing Francesca Really good show. Nice group of people. Well organised.”