#iwb2021 #ChooseToChallenge #deaf #Disability
This year for International Women’s day we at appa would like to celebrate two remarkable women.
Dorothy “Dot” Miles made a fundamental contribution to Deaf lives and culture through her poetry. She was also deeply involved with the BSL dictionary, the development of BSL accredited qualifications and the first UK deaf teachers training programmes.
She was formidable, passionate and a true heroine. We must honour her memory at every turn and tirelessly pursue her goals and passion for equality for the deaf in this hearing world.
Cerrie Burnell- actor, writer, and presenter was born with a right arm that stopped just below her elbow. Initially encouraged to wear a prosthetic Cerrie resisted from the start and completely stopped wearing one by the age of 9.
Her acting career took her across numerous TV and stage roles including the play The First to Go about the disabled holocaust in Nazi Germany. Cerrie landed the role of co-presenter of CBeebies in 2009. Within a month complaints were received that she was scaring children. Yet in the face of this oppression and prejudice, Cerrie powered on.
As a disabled woman with a successful public-facing career, Carrie is a fantastic figurehead for disabled people and for women to forge their own paths and not allow the culture of perceived perfection stop them.
