I conducted the following interview with my mum about living with a son who has cererbral palsy. I wanted to interview her to find out if her views were the same as mine and because we are talking about the same person, my brother Paul, I thought about using some of the dialogue in my piece in the style of verbatim/documentary theatre.
Here is the transcribed interview
"People used to give me and Paul funny looks when we went round places like the market, as if you’re not supposed to be out with him, accidents like bumping into someone's legs happens and you get a look as if you should know better. I got upset once when at a fete, because a teenage girl, about 16/17 said Paul should move out the way of her to let her through because she didn’t think he had the right to look at stuff. I’ve never hit anyone but I gave her a mouthful. I ran over someone’s feet who wouldn’t let me through with Paul, I thought it was like judgement on him. I get funny looks at car parks when Paul isn’t out of the car yet but when they see him being helped into a chair they stop. Kids have asked why is he in the chair, why does he need a frame? And you just explain that his brain is like a computer and that it doesn’t work properly, but they accept it and get on with things, they are more accepting than adults. I feel sorry for the people in Leicester who were called names because her daughter was disabled, and a result they set the car on fire to commit suicide. I know someone who was disabled who lived nearby and people were throwing stones at them and knocking on the door at all hours of the day and night to annoy them."
"Now shops are different because they have to have space and access for disabled people, but before the laws I couldn’t get in most shops. I got angry once at a shopkeeper who only had one aisle out of four that had disabled access, but he told me that he wouldn’t move his stock and that the wheelchair should only stick to the central aisle."
"Yes, it offends me when people use the word retard or spastic as an offensive word. Spastic’s society was for people with cerebral palsy, but I don’t know why they call it that."
"If it’s just once, using the word doesn’t bother me, but if it’s repeated then yes, people should be locked away or arrested for using words like that."
"People stare at Paul all the time, but most of the time they end up walking into something like a lamp post. Its kind of like Karma for them staring."
"At the caravan Paul was bullied for being disabled, a guy called Mark used to pick on him and bully him. Once you (Andrew) got in a fight with mark because he pushed Paul to try and knock him over. Most of the time he just gets on with it and ignores them. Once, he retaliated and called them something back but I don’t think they understood him. If he went to a normal school he would have been bullied more, but he went to a special school for disabled people so he didn’t get bullied."
"It annoys me when people park in disabled bays. Paul is fortunate enough to be able to walk a little bit, but half the time they park in those spaces to go to a cash machine, or quickly pick something up from the shop, but the shops say they can’t do anything about it because they don’t own the car park and that he’s got every right to park wherever he wants."
"It pisses me off when the paths or roads are uneven because it’s hard to push his chair or for him to walk in his frame."
"It used to be hard going shopping because when he was smaller you had push his wheelchair and push the trolley too. I like the special wheelchair trolleys they have now but you can’t get much in them anyway. I complained at Morrisons once because there were no tables for the disabled, they gave the disabled table in the cafe up to someone else and the other tables had fixed chairs."
"From what I can see, there are very few subway London Underground stations with lifts and it means I have to plan my day around the stations with lifts, which are broken most of the time anyway. It’s hard to use the escalators and its dangerous too when I have to take Paul on them. There should be more lifts at all the stations, but it’s an old subway system so I don’t think they will."
"If you are in a wheelchair and you want to go to a museum, we had to wait but we got in for free, but we had to wait because by law there are only 2 wheelchairs allowed in the building, it’s the same with the titanic museum in London. There are benefits, like closer parking and cheaper tickets to cinemas and museums. The swimming pools are usually rubbish because unless it has a ramp Paul can’t go swimming. They have hoist but they are degrading. It also takes ages to get him in and out of the hoist to the toilet or anything like that. Paul can’t go on the beach or the sea because his chair and frame sink in the sand. If you go out anywhere or on holiday you have to plan things around him and whether it is disabled friendly. A lot of the museums and castles are okay at the bottom but you have to watch a video to see the rest."
"Disabled discrimination does still happen even though there are laws against it. Some places don’t really cater for disabled, but if we can’t get in we just walk past. The buses are low floors and they’re good, but not all of them are."
"The council house that we are in doesn’t give you any space to store disabled equipment like chairs, frames, batteries, hoists and lifts you just have to squeeze in. Paul gets annoyed when people who aren’t disabled use the disabled toilets. He swore at a woman before because she parked her car on the path to get her child out but he couldn’t get past without going into the road. He usually stops to let people past in the street so he’s not in anyone’s way."
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