Battlefront

We are campaigning

18th February, 2011

Ella Presents... Let’s Talk Disability Festival!

Next Thursday (24th of February), our 12th Battlefront campaigner, Ella Prendergast, will launch a free one-day festival at London’s Proud Gallery, hosted by T4’s Jameela Jamil

Kicking-off at Proud Camden at 2pm (doors open at 1pm), LTD Fest will see young disabled and non-disabled festival-goers and performers coming together for a totally inclusive afternoon of music, comedy, beatbox battles and lots more. Headliners at the event include:

Heavy Load (integrated punk band, stars of BBC documentary ‘Heavy Load’)

Jazz Morley – (BBC Introducing 2011 star)

Hayden from Freeslave (Radio 1 favourite)

James Birt – (Young Drummer Of The Year 2006)

Gareth Berliner and Caroline Sparks – Abnormally Funny People (integrated and able-bodied comedy duo)

Deaf Men Dancing (deaf dance performance group)

Candoco Dance Company (contemporary integrated dance troupe)

Reeps1 / Beatbox Hobbit / Bass6 (championship beatboxers)

L.T.D Fest will also feature incredible artwork from disabled and autistic artists, football skills performers, a karaoke room, delicious food and drink and hostess with the mostess, Jameela Jamil - a big supporter of Ella’s Battlefront campaign - who will take charge of compere duties during the afternoon.

Sounds cool, no? Damn right it does! Get more info on the LTD Fest Facebook events page here

So get yourself down to LTD Fest from 1pm on 24th of Feb or click back from the 25th to check out highlights here on battlefront.co.uk.

For more Ella, and to wish her luck for the big day, hop onto her campaign page here.

And check out this video starring Ella's sister, Nancy, to highlight the issue of offensive labels...

Over and out.

Big d

Comments on this article

Mary commented

I'm sure this campaign is well meaning but it annoys me that it's yet another 'TV' opportunity to raise disability awareness that is lead by a non-disabled person (and a very pretty, photogenic one as well - surprise surprise). Why was a disabled person, or even Ella's sister Nancy, not supported to lead this campaign? Are we not photogenic enough? I don't mean disrespect to Ella, but as a disabled woman myself, I'm just so fed up with the fact that disabled people themselves are rarely given these amazing opportunities.

Comments

Ella

Mary - While some of the other campaigns have been featured in the T4 series, mine is purely web-based using social media sites such as facebook, YouTube and twitter. I had set up this campaign before I won a competition with Battlefront to become the 12th campaigner. I had to go through various stages to be finally selected as the campaigner and I am extremely lucky to have been given this platform to further my campaigning. The campaign itself is extremely personal to me as I’m Nancy's sister (and a young carer) and I have seen the reactions of other people my age towards disability and my campaign is trying to change this. Nancy's cognitive development is severely affected by Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome which means that she would find it very hard to put together a campaign like this one hence why I have wanted to get involved and front it for her.

Nancy loves getting involved in the campaign when she can, but right now she is spending her time at a residential college gaining independence and life skills.

To ensure that disabled views were taken into account two of my mentors who have been key figures in nurturing my campaign (and who are also leading campaigners themselves) are also disabled. I hope that you feel that having the video of Nancy provides an insight into what my campaign is all about and that I have addressed your concerns. If you would like to find out more come to the LTDfest this Thursday at Proud Camden Galleries 2-5pm. There will also be an interview with paralympian Ade Adepitan which will give you some more information on my campaign.

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reuben commented

Good luck Ella! We've been working on the branding for the festival and your campaign. Can't wait for you to see it.

Comments

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