'In My Younger Days'

This practice research was presented at two public performances by the researcher's group, Cyrff Ystwyth. One learning disabled participant Eddie Wadsworth worked for 9 months with the group and researcher to create this work that was auto-biographical. The work addressed his lived experience of disability, loss of family and foster care and his his love of music and his unshakeable determination to not disappear as a person with disability, but to be present and active despite all and any barriers; to be a performer and creative maker. Central to this work was how verbal story telling could be shared and embodied by an ensemble comprising individuals of radical difference. Some participants were non-verbal, some with profound physical disability, and across an age rang between 18 and 75.