We All Matter Eh?, supported by the Guernsey Disability Alliance’s (GDA), initiative to improve public awareness of hidden disabilities has this week launched its next phase. The initiative shares the experiences of local people living with a wide range of hidden disabilities. Individuals share their stories to create a better understanding of their condition and the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis.
This week, the focus is on hearing impairment – something that affects an estimated one in six people in the UK alone. Lorenzo Crispini who has been hard of hearing all his life, explains some of the barriers he has faced and tells some amusing anecdotes in a short film that can be found on the ‘We All Matter Eh?’ website matter.gg. Other information and support material including a fact sheet and resource details have also been published on the site. The campaign is underpinned with a comprehensive social media campaign that launched yesterday (27 July).
This is one of a large number of mini campaigns WE All Matter Eh? aims to run – each looking at a particular disability, as Executive Director Karen Blanchford explained:
‘We are working closely with our member charities to look at a range of specific disabilities from brain injury to fibromyalgia, from cystic fibrosis to autism. We are planning around 15 overall. Social attitude and understanding have been identified as being the main barriers for people living with disability so we aim to improve public awareness by sharing these personal stories with them.
‘We are hoping to generate funding for each mini campaign and we are very grateful for those companies who have already agreed to support us – including the Co-operative Society and Ravenscroft.’
The hearing impairment campaign is being funded through Lorenzo’s own efforts. He will be running the Guernsey Marathon in August and hopes to raise sufficient money to cover the cost of this week’s promotion.
Anyone wishing to support him can make a donation.
Anyone interested in funding a future campaign should contact [safe_email]Karen@disabilityalliance.org.gg[/safe_email]