Accentuate

Hi, my name is Kristina Veasey and I am excited to be a part of the Our View core group.

Equality and inclusion are central in my outlook and I hope that both my work and personal experiences will provide a sound basis for my contributions to Our View and help to steer Accentuate towards achieving what looks like a fantastic programme of opportunity across sport, arts, culture and beyond.

I believe that initiatives that bring people together can encourage an awareness and respect for individuality.They can help us to understand more about people’s abilities and differences. I have a strong interest in community cohesion and I work with others in my home town to organise free projects and events that bring people together and add vibrancy to where we live. We do fun things and make things happen but it’s the journey towards doing them that makes it meaningful for me. The building of relationships, the empowerment and the coming together is what it’s all about! Seeing how different people draw on their personal experiences, their culture, their beliefs, their abilities and strengths makes for a rich environment and helps to break down barriers.

I have far more faith in these bottom-up approaches to change as they come from the heart and are generally delivered by those with direct experience of the issue being addressed. That’s what I hope Our View will be able to do for Accentuate- to allow those with personal experience of being Deaf and disabled to shape, direct and advise. We can make sure that Accentuate's approach to access and inclusion is well-informed and not tokenistic. We have the opportunity here to model good practice and hopefully that will inspire changes in equality, attitudes and understanding amongst other organisations and individuals across the South East as well.

As well as my own personal experience of being disabled I bring with me over 10 years experience working both directly and at strategy level with disabled children, young people and adults. My background is in advocacy, coaching, participation and consultation. I also deliver equality training to professionals. You can find out more about what I do on my web pages www.kristinaveasey.talktalk.net

In addition, I am also a former international athlete having competed in wheelchair basketball at both the Sydney and Athens paralympic games. I was also paralympic ambassador for Amnesty International during the games in Beijing. When I first discovered wheelchair basketball I was instantly hooked! I love its fast and furious nature and the total adrenalin buzz you get from playing a hard game. For anyone interested in playing wheelchair basketball you can find out more information through the GBWBA website www.gbwba.org.uk

Having now retired from the basketball scene I can now be found, more often than not, in some rather stylish welly boots trying to grow vegetables in the garden (and I do mean trying – watering is not my strong point and we currently have a nice array of dried up something-or-others forming a delightful feature in the far bed!). I also enjoy painting and photography and facilitate community projects and exhibit in local exhibitions.