Page 3 - SENeXtra Sept 2021

1
We won t be forgotten
On 23rd March 2020, the world E 1 I .
crumbled to its knees. Black clouds of , 1 r . i l
anxiety, hopelessness, sadness and ‘ ‘ ‘
fear be in to roll in. ". , 5
9 3' 1 5 an
The sound of Boris Johnson's voice _ i ‘ "'3 _ __ ,
booms all around us as we sit watching . ' ‘ ._ “ ‘ . ‘V --
television with loved ones as he looks .' ._ . v ‘ ‘
straight into our eyes as he poignantly , V ». -
says ‘Stay Home, protect our NHS and ' Q xx. ‘ K \
save lives’. With the utmost conviction, , ‘,1?/4, I E ‘ ‘ * — ‘
almost believable. Cameras flashing, , _r- , \ J ,. ._, K
journalists conversing, scribbling .‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
notes, synchronisation and working in _ ' -a ,3 . T
perfect harmony. ,
On the very same evening, as we .. g
look out of our windows, bursts of /'3 '”“"' ” ‘ ’
normal quickly begin to diminish, hand
sanitisers, face masks, PPE are thrown lockdowns every day on a physical, We’ve been in lockdown since 2020
into our faces with no explanation or emotional and psychological basis. and it's now 2021, and more than ever
any real reason why. before we're still having to use our voices
Fast-forward to right now, nearly 18 louderthan ever, in orderjust to be able
We as a nation are told to adapt a stiff months have flown by since the first to matter especially with a disability.
upper lip persona and to just get on lockdown and our government seem
with it. On the other hand, when living to think this is totally acceptable to In times like this, we need to be able to
with a disability this is anything but abandon the disabled community stand shoulder to shoulder. However,
straightfonivard. Disability is 24/7. leaving thousands of families without when the phrase ‘disability’ is entered
access to basic resources such as well- into the government’s vocabulary,
That night we lay with food in our bellies, being, health and social care klaxons begin to sound in their heads.
comfy pillows under our heads, grateful
in the knowledge that we have each Question marks hanging overthem like Why? Plain and simple they haven't
other, but as we awake the next morning, a permanent dark cloud. The world is done enough to secure our future. After
life as we knew once before will never slowly beginning to open up again but months of cyclical anxiety, depression
be the same again, for all of us, but there are thousands of families with and chronic loneliness and also not
especially for those with a disability, children or family members of their own forgetting the heavy use of misleading
they and their families the ones who living with a disability left still searching pie charts and data.
are affected by the longevity of these for answers and craving normalcy.
However, the one thing that has let so
many people down with a hidden or
visible disability, and their families is
ADVER1-'SE IN ‘ 2 the sheer number of broken promises
, made by our shambolic government.
“ _ \ . Disability is beautiful and we’re only
- - , ‘ ‘ human after all.
special educational needs
The e5sENtia/read ‘iv ‘ \ We won't remain silent. We won't be
‘I’ - . forgotten.
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