In his latest column for healthandcare.scot, Michael McEwan looks at the work of Speech Bubble Drama, a group that gives a voice to children and young people with conditions that impact how they speak.

Everyone should get the same opportunity in life no matter what ability that you have. Ability must not stop people from doing what they love.

Speech Bubble is the only Scottish charity that runs drama workshops for young people aged 5 to 24 with physical disabilities impacting their speech. 

I think this is a good way for people to come together and not just to meet new friends and help their confidence, but to show off their talent as well.

Around 1 in 100 births will result in a diagnosis of cerebral palsy (CP) and in Scotland around 150 children are diagnosed each year.

Young people with cerebral palsy just want the same opportunities as everyone else but sometimes they need help to do this, and that is okay

Speech Bubble Drama’s Chief Executive and co-founder Jennifer Cassidy says it all began in the cinema:

“There was a film called ‘The King’s Speech’ on release at the time and when I saw the king doing tongue twisters, rolling around on the floor and making lots of silly noises, I thought it looked like a lot of fun!

“My daughter has cerebral palsy which affects her movement and speech which is very soft, quiet and sometimes difficult to understand.

“She’s always been very bright and creative and loves to perform and be the centre of attention so I thought maybe drama might be a good way to help her improve her ability to communicate.

“One of the mums at my daughter’s school is an actor and she introduced me to Joseph Brown who is an actor, as well as a vocal coach, and also has CP.

“After a few months working together, Joe and I started to think that other people might be interested in what we were doing and that working on speech in a group might be a great way to make friends and be creative.

“And that’s how Speech Bubble Drama started.”

M is a 16 year old who has been with Speech Bubble since it launched in August 2020. She has quadriplegic cerebral palsy which affects all four limbs, and her speech is unclear. She has just completed six national 5 exams at a mainstream school and enjoys writing.

M has always been interested in drama but found that, in school, she would often be side-lined to non-speaking parts and didn’t feel confident enough to attend a mainstream drama group with able bodied young people. She joined Speech Bubble Drama primarily to discover techniques and strategies to help her use her voice more confidently.

She said: “Speech Bubble has given me confidence in the fact that I’m in control of my speech because I think, when I was younger, I felt a bit powerless to do it.”

M was also finding herself a little isolated in school: she has a personal support assistant with her a lot of the time and found her disability, in particular her speech, was getting in the way of making friends.

Joining the project has helped her to make new friends in the group and become more confident about meeting and talking to people generally.

Since joining Speech Bubble, M has started to use her voice much more confidently, not just in her day-to-day life but she has also taken up opportunities to speak in public such as being on a discussion panel at a local citizenship festival and volunteering to speak on a disability podcast.

As well as drama, M has developed in interest in film and television and has really enjoyed film making sessions. She’s made a film about global warming as well as a comedy about friendship.

The project gives young people an opportunity to be creative and express themselves on their own terms and dictate the level of support they need to do that.

M says the approach the group takes suits her:

“It’s really good because you’re not made to do something that doesn’t really represent you as a person. Even though it’s a disability organisation it doesn’t force you to make your art about disability. You can explore other themes in a safe accessible environment.

“What I really love about it is that it brings together people with disabilities who probably wouldn’t have met because it’s such an open opportunity.”

Speech Bubble Drama provides much needed opportunities for disabled young people to be creative in a way that highlights their abilities rather than their disability

They want to improve the wellbeing amongst the young people by improving their communication skills and confidence.

And by doing this they promote positive representation of disability in the arts and to see more people included and integrated with the wider community.

 

Michael McEwan is a freelance journalist.

Read more from Michael: Representation matters for Cerebral Palsy; Self-Directed Support still a lottery; A hospital is not a home

The views of columnists and people who write other guest insights articles are their own.

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