24. Vicky James - Bench Talk with Jo Hilditch

Feb 21

Vicky Nicolson-James is the mother of lovely Clementine. 18 year-old Clemmie has profound and multiple physical and learning difficulties and has been looked after assiduously by her mother and father, as well as being at Westfield Special School in Leominster. Having a disability of any sort makes life difficult for the individual and of course the rest of the family especially when out and about trying to do the everyday things we all take for granted; as well as visiting tourist attactions. Vicky is making it a project to improve awareness in the community with her Accessible Herefordshire campaign – imagine if you can’t take the family out because there’s nowhere suitable to change your child. This podcast will make you realise how lucky you are – if you know nothing about living with a disability, or with a person with a disability this podcast will give you an understated view and help you appreciate the resilience needed and so well displayed by this lovely lady. It is particularly poignant for me as I had a sister Nicky, who was very similar to Clemmie, and was one of the early pupils at Westfield, so I well understand the daily struggles.

Today our bench was in the quiet kitchen of Westfield Special School.

References:

Vicky’s Accessible Herefordshire Page - Accessible Herefordshire Information Page (mailchi.mp)

Visit Herefordshire – www.visitherefordshire.com

Westfield Special School - Home - Westfield School Leominster

Great Ormond Street - Great Ormond Street Charity | Home (gosh.org)

Megan Baker House - Home — Megan Baker House

Star College - National Star College at Hereford

Cattle Market Shopping - Old Market Shopping in Hereford | Shops, Restaurants, Cinema in Hereford (oldmarkethereford.co.uk)

Berrington Hall - Berrington Hall | National Trust

Herefordshire (accessiblecountryside.org.uk)

Motability scheme - Motability Scheme - The Car and Scooter Scheme for disabled people