“Earlier in the year I was asked by Parallel London to be an ambassador for them. The event is an annual inclusive participation challenge. Disabled and non disabled people attempt the 10k, 5k, 1k or 100m sensory challenge. Plus there was a festival village for everybody to enjoy afterwards.
As an ambassador I helped to raise awareness of the event in the months leading up to the big day. I was in great company with fellow ambassadors such as Sam Renke, Mik Scarlett, Dan & Emily from the Department of Ability plus Sam and Marl Bullock. If you haven’t heard of them please do google them! They’re amazing people.
The big day landed on my birthday – Sunday September 3rd. So I spent my birthday waking up early, driving to the Olympic park in Stratford, London. It was most definitely worth it.
The ambassadors kicked off the 5k run, which I was participating in too. Singer JJ Rosa and Sky news was there to help us.
Then myself, Kasia and our friends dashed to the back of the starting line, and began our challenge. Our friends included 1 and 4 year old kids, so we took the challenge leisurely. We had a great time mingling with the other participants. Our finish time was around one hour.
The medals and applause at the finish line filled us with pride. It was fantastic seeing people of all abilities achieving their own challenges. We all won Olympic medals that day.
Not only was I an ambassador but I agreed to speak on stage about inclusion too. So I headed to the village festival, and grabbed a bite of lunch. We watched JJ Rosa perform on the main stage (wow! so good). Met some of the partner visitors.
Then headed to the Parallel Beats stage!
I decided to talk about my point of view that the world is safer from hunger, disease and war than ever before. We have planes, rockets and the internet! Yet we have so many social issues and economic failures. Without going to extreme we need individuals to consider their own personal stories.
Going forward, I believe that a person and a society should be measure its success differently. Instead of financial wealth and material goods, it’s time we gave more credit to love and compassion. Not only will this solve societal exclusion, it’ll improve our overall economic and personal well being.
It’s absolutely possible for everyone to thrive. We’re no longer living in the wild. Let’s act like the intelligent beings we suggest we already are.”