Brooke is joined by guest, Luis Canto, who discusses his experiences with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and the challenges he faced growing up in South Africa. Luis shares his journey of diagnosis, medical treatments, and the societal perceptions of disability in both South Africa and the UK. He emphasises the importance of equity over equality in providing support for individuals with disabilities and highlights the need for empowerment and advocacy within the disabled community. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We must keep advocating for equity rather than equality, emphasising the need to provide individuals with what they specifically need, tailored to their unique circumstances.
• Luis' journey showcased the significance of personal growth and resilience in overcoming challenges and realising one's potential, serving as an inspiration for others facing similar obstacles.
• Contrasts between how South Africa and the UK view disability are discussed, emphasising the need for societal shifts in perception and treatment of individuals with disabilities.
• It's important to support and uplift one another in order to provide empowerment through mentorship

BEST MOMENTS

"I think the NHS gets a lot of flak, but there is a lot of positive things that the NHS does for the UK." 

"It's about giving people what they need and not saying, well, we're giving everyone this, because that's what we're supposed to be." 

"I think that the reason why I do what I do is I just want to make sure that everyone just has the best start in life or at least the best opportunity in life to do what they want to do." 

"And just to put into context how close we are to that, recently, and I'm talking two weeks ago, so we're in February now, about two weeks ago, Bristol Council had... they would lock you away." 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/disabled-and-proud/id1621152878

HOST BIO

Disabled and Proud is the show that brings listeners a different perspective on disability. Each week this podcast highlights an awesome disabled guest speaking about their own disability; why they are proud to be disabled and why they are proud to be themselves. 

The conversations in this show will look at what challenges these amazing people face socially, mentally, physically and life in general. This show is raw, open, honest, funny, welcoming and educational. 

Disabled & Proud does exactly what it says on the tin! And whilst we are creating this space for disabled people to be unashamedly themselves, without the need to conform to society, this is also not about toxic positivity. This show will be shining a big, bright light on disability without it being “Paralympic or pity”. 

As you will hear disability is WHOLE, COMPLETE & PERFECT and whilst the topic of disability can be quite heavy - and we definitely don't shy away from the bad days - this podcast is also about having fun too! Our aim is to play a part in reclaiming the word disability - turning it from inadequacy to perfection!