True Colours: The British Paraorchestra
Today at Buckingham Palace during the Queen’s Christmas Day Message the National Anthem was performed by the British Paraorchestra. They have become a well respected and familiar part of British music, but before the 2012 Paralympics very few people had even heard of them.
In the 2011 TED Talks video below, Conductor Charles Hazlewood speaks about the inspiration behind the orchestra, and introduces them as they make their first ever public performance.
Hazelwood talks of the universal power of music to communicate across language and cultural barriers, and asks why our musical culture excluded women from its major platforms until the 1960s, and why it still excludes disabled musicians today.
Where, he asks is their voice in society and why have they been rendered invisible.
It was in order to break this culture of exclusivity that Hazelwood formed the British Paraorchestra, the world’s first ensemble of professional disabled musicians. The quality of their music has inspired tens of thousands in Britain and beyond since they stepped into the international limelight with their performance during the closing ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games.
Even at their very first public performance, Hazelwood throws down the gauntlet to other countries saying: “Here’s our Paraorchestra, where’s yours?”
True Colours
The solo voice heard at the beginning and end of the track belongs to Lyn Levett, from the Paraorchestra. Lyn has cerebral palsy and cannot speak. With state-of-the-art technology she sings through her computer in True Colors, for the very first time.
- to enable The Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf & Hearing Children set up a new Saturday Signing Choir and
- to fund their next signed song DVD, and
- for the future growth and development of The British Paraorchestra.
Non-Profit Organisation:
Support the British Paraorchestra
“The British Paraorchestra is a non-profit organisation. We survive through donation and support from a variety of people and institutions. If you’d like to support us through donation please use the Paypal process on our website it’s secure, guaranteed and easy.
Most of our funding goes into facilitating travel and accommodation for our players, many of whom are dependent on full time personal assistants and travel with wheelchairs and other special equipment. As you can imagine that’s often a major challenge of logistics and accessibility.
We’re working hard to make every penny count and always welcome enquiries from people who want to help. Do contact us if you would like to talk about structural, corporate or institutional donations.
You can donate online, by cheque, bank transfer, credit or debit card and by post. Do get in touch if you need any other way of making a donation. Please make cheques out to British Paraorchestra, contact us for postal address.”
Stoke Mandeville: Ludwig Guttman’s Paralympic Vision
The First-Ever Scheduled Paralympics Games
With the start of the 2012 Paralympics only hours away, athletes, spectators, performers, celebrities, and royalty prepare in anticipation. This is the second biggest sporting event ever to have been organised in Britain, after the 2012 Olympics.
The last time the Olympic Games were held in London was in 1948, which happens to be the same year that Israel was declared independent, and it was also the year in which the precursor of the Paralympics games took place.
This was held in the British village of Stoke Mandeville as an event for injured World War II veterans. It was the first ever organised sporting event for the disabled and was to become the inspiration for the birth of the Paralympic Games.
It was intentionally scheduled to coincide with the official Olympics in Britain amd was the result of Ludwig Guttmann’s revolutionary approach to spinal cord injury treatment.
Guttmann’s mission was to provide paralysed war victims with an outlet for rehabilitation. He implemented his revolutionary methods at a time when disabled people were simply left in their beds to die. With very little specialist care available a person with spinal injury had an average life expectancy of two years as a disabled person.
The stadium for the Paralympics games still stands next to the Stoke Mandeville Hospital where the National Spinal Injuries Centre is located. It was renamed as the Ludwig Guttmann Sports Centre for the Disabled after Ludwig Guttmann died in 1980.
The Current Gaming Line-Up
Several websites have already posted this year’s gaming schedule. Competitions will take place in the categories of swimming, cycling, archery, basketball, volleyball, tennis, fencing, rugby, judo, powerlifting, equestrian shows, and more. Certain opening, victory, and closing celebrations also will take place during the 2012 Stoke Mandeville Games.
Meet the Superhumans from STITCH on Vimeo.
Ludwig Guttmann: Believing in the Future
Ludwig Guttmann, was born in a Jewish family in Germany in 1899 and fled from Nazi Germany just before the start of World War II. He first began his career working in a medical hospital in Konigshutte where he treated accident victims. This medical centre is where he had his first experience treating a spinal cord injury patient who died five weeks later of sepsis.
Guttmann continued to persevere in spite of this early unfortunate experience. He then worked in various hospitals over the years. Places where he was employed include the Jewish Hospital in Breslau where he became director in the 1930s, and the present-day Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
At this time, the medical fraternity disagreed with many aspects of his approach to rehabilitation, but despite being banned from practicing medicine in 1933, Guttmann continued to make a mark in the world. His vision was to give patients who would otherwise die an early death the chance to live as normal and as productive of a life as possible.
The experience of having or originally arrived as a refugee in the UK, and being forced to re-start his own life from scratch gave Guttmann a unique perspective which provided insight for his work with people who effectively also had to rebuild their own lives. Guttmann always emphasised the importance of looking ahead and not dwelling on the past.
“Ludwig Guttmann once said, “If I ever did one good thing in my medical career it was to introduce sport into the rehabilitation of disabled people”.
This is still true today and manifests itself through the organisation WheelPower, the national charity for wheelchair sport whose base is at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, which he established as the British Paraplegic Sports Society and which aims to transform lives through sport. Providing opportunities for young and newly disabled people to benefit from participation in sport is key to their rehabilitation and personal development.” Martin McElhatton, Chief Executive, Wheelpower – British Wheelchair Sport
One Patient’s Story
Daniel Alaile is one person who was admitted to the Stoke Mandeville Hospital’s Ludwig Guttmann Sports Centre in 2010. At this time, Alaile was just 16 years old when he was stabbed in a gang-related fight, leaving him barely able to move and in constant pain.
Part of Alaile’s rehabilitation regimen included wheelchair basketball and he was placed in a room with parallel bars, massage tables, and walking frames. He says this experience has given him hope, and he also stated at the time of his treatment that he just didn’t want to feel sorry for himself.
“After injury Guttmann focussed an individual’s mind on what they can do rather than regretting what they can no longer do. Through sport Guttmann gave that person back the will to live a full life with pride and self-respect”. Bob Paterson, IWAS
Read More
