Able’s life story interview

INTERVIEWER: Have you had any holidays in Ibiza?

ABLE: Yeah, I went to Ibiza in 2018. Really, really enjoyed it. I got up on the VIP stage – the VIP platform for free. That was at Ushuaia in Ibiza. Good fun, I really enjoyed it.

INTERVIEWER: Who supported you in Ibiza?

ABLE: My support worker Cassie.

INTERVIEWER: Nice.

ABLE: She’s – yeah. She’s still working with me now actually.

INTERVIEWER: What’s she like?

ABLE: She is – She’s like – She’s a lovely person. I like her a lot. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: What support does she give you?

ABLE: She takes me to the gym, shopping, hydrotherapy, appointments. She’s my main support worker.

INTERVIEWER: How many hours?

ABLE: I think 28 a week… Yeah, 28 a week. Yeah. Oh, yeah, and she takes me to festivals too. I managed to go to one this year. This is my third- This is my third time going to festivals.

INTERVIEWER: What do you like about festivals?

ABLE: Music… meeting new people…Yeah, it’s fun.

INTERVIEWER: What is your happiest moment?

ABLE: What’s my happiest and proudest moment? Oh, yeah, in Ibiza I have a photo with Craig David; Charlie Sloth the Radio 1 X DJ, One of the groups, I had a photo with one of the bands, one of the people from Rudimental in Ibiza. It’s quite funny. Yeah. Got photos of them. Sort of an achievement, sort of. Yeah. I got photos with various different famous people from all over. Yeah. And I went to Electric Bay in Torquey seafront. I got a photo with Chase and Status. Yes. Chase and Status. I got a photo with them. Yeah, so… A few people. Yeah. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: What’s the hardest time in your life?

ABLE: What’s the hardest time in my life? Probably…Hardest time in my life. Probably when I was younger, going through all of the physio, the training, all of the Budapest stuff. The training in Budapest and all that stuff probably. Probably that’s the hardest time.

INTERVIEWER: How did you get through it?

ABLE: I can’t remember it really, but – I can’t really remember. My mum was incredible, a driving force for that. Yeah, my mum was an incredible driving force for doing it. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: What does your perfect day look like?

ABLE: Probably…I don’t really know, really because I hadn’t really thought about it, so – I hadn’t really thought of that really, so – I don’t really know.

INTERVIEWER: What was it like to be in Ibiza?

ABLE: What was it like to be in Ibiza? It was – It was really nice. I really enjoyed it, great. Lovely, warm. It’s just really [a] nice place. I really want to go back. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Have you had any paid jobs?

ABLE: Have I had a paid job? Yes. I worked as a Quality Checker, going around dentists, hospitals, eye places – Eye… What’s it called? Eye…? Eye? Places where you get your eyes tested. Going around them. Seeing what their accessibility’s like and how they can improve on their services and I got trains and buses all independently. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Why did it end?

ABLE: Because its funding stopped for it. Like…It was funded by NHS, so – It was funded by NHS, so yeah, it’s dried up. So, yeah. It’s a shame. I did really love the job. It was good. Good fun, yeah. Just brilliant. Yeah

INTERVIEWER: What’s your dream job?

ABLE: Probably…I actually – have two, actually. A DJ or a tester, testing stuff – testing out wheelchairs and seeing how – what they can and can’t do. Yeah, so of course.

INTERVIEWER 2: Tell us about when you got meningitis.

ABLE: So, I got – I briefly went into it before. So, I got meningitis when I was 21 months. My mum was… So, I was perfectly fine 20 minutes before. There was literally nothing wrong with me 20 minutes before. So, when my mum was walking down with me to the bus stop to Totnes, to see what was wrong with me. And she met this, not neighbour but friend in the village, who knew a bit more about meningitis. So, she’s done her shopping and my mum said to her – My mum pulled it up, my top up, and there was like these black and blue spots all over my chest and body and it was septicaemia. I don’t know if that’s the right way of saying it. Yeah, that’s – So, there was a person in the phone box taking a phone call. The person who my mom was speaking to, took the phone off them, called 999. And then that’s how I ended up in Peto.  

INTERVIEWER 2: Amazing story.

ABLE: Yeah.

INTERVIEWER 2: Amazing. Well, what a bit of luck.

ABLE: Yeah. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER 2: What was the Peeto Institute like, I really wanted to know more about that?

ABLE: Peto.

INTERVIEWER: Peto.

ABLE: So, it’s in Hungary, so it’s a rehabilitation thing in Hungary, because they didn’t have a great care… – what’s it called? Care system for people who have disabilities, like physical disabilities, so it’s – they set it up to help people like me but in Hungary because the care system, it’s non-existent still.

INTERVIEWER 2: Did it help you?

ABLE: I think so. Yeah. My mum learned a lot from them. Yeah. My mum… My mum was really interested in it. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me all about that?

ABLE: About what?

INTERVIEWER: About the mud.

ABLE: So…So at Shindig the previous year, it was literally – in some parts of the festival, it was shin-deep in water and mud. Yes, shin-deep. Yeah, that’s got – Because it was – It was really nice in the first few days. Then, the summer storm hit on the last day. So, yeah. A summer storm on the last day. So, it just made everything literally like – literally mud everywhere. Cars were trying to get out and they’d get stuck. Literally it was like – Yeah. Rainy patch. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: So, did you your wheelchair get stuck?

ABLE: Only once. Because of my error. We did pretty well actually. When I looked at my feet. My feet were clean. My feet were – the whole of the festival, my feet were clean. Last night. The dizzy dip went straight down… oomph! Mud. All over my feet. All over my shoes, everywhere. I kept my feet clean the whole of the festival. The whole festival. And then on the last day, on the last evening I went down the dip in my wheelchair and got mud all over [my] feet. And my water bottle too. It’s quite funny.

INTERVIEWER: Do you have friends at the festivals?

ABLE: Yeah…Not so much friends, but my support workers actually. I have support workers and two best friends but mainly support workers. And I meet friends there. I make friends there, so yeah. My support worker organised, my mum’s support worker organised it. So, we go and I make friends there and then… Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Are you going this year?

ABLE: I am actually. I am. So, the festivals – I’ve been to ‘V’ festival twice. Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Exeter. The one in Torquay seafront I told you about earlier. Been [to] that one three times. I’ve been to Shindig three times. It’s my third or fourth year. Yeah. So, I’ve been doing a few festivals. Yeah, so, yeah. And WOMAD too.

INTERVIEWER 2: Talk about your fundraising for your U-Tech.

ABLE: Yeah, I fundraised for a piece of equipment that came from Malaga, like school tech, like a Segway, but it’s got four wheels and a joy stick and – the joy stick’s here and you stand up, you stand up, stand in it and move it – It moves. Standing up. And I fundraised for that, and I did a skydive for Seale-hayne. I did it for charity. So, yeah.

INTERVIEWER: U Tech. How much did you have to raise in the community?

ABLE: I fundraised for Utech £20,000 and I think I got that in not that long actually.

INTERVIEWER: Six months?

ABLE: I think it was, yes. Six months, yeah. I use it for going around shops, shopping, appointments in the hospital and stuff like that, yeah.