So, I’ve been radio silent on here for one very simple reason; I have not had chance to breathe! A few weeks ago I started a petition to voice my outage in my local council trying to push something through without substantial public consultation or knowledge, and now I’m co-founder of a campaign group.
I’ve always been a strong believer in social justice; it is the corner stone of everything I do and a reflection of who I am. It’s probably why I’ve been a teacher, a personal assistant, and a foster parent. I want to live in a society where everybody feels respected, included, and has a voice.
“It feels like my ADHD brain was born for something like this.”
ADHD Girl
What is the campaign about, I hear you ask. Well it’s actually all to do with a street plan which include some major road changes. As a road user with a car, I would be quite affected, but to me the campaign is about me than that; its about people’s right to democracy.
So, when I started the petition it was from my local area of my home town, but then it all snowballed as it gained huge amounts of signatures quickly and I was asked to give a statement to the local press. It became apparent to me that it wasn’t just my local area that was affected, but everyone across all of my home town.
Weighing this up I then set up a group 2 weeks ago on social media in opposition to the street plan that gained 3000 people in the space of 48 hours. Within 12 hours of setting up the social media group, I met with my campaign co-founders to discuss strategy and we decided that we would have a visual campaign, an influx of feedback and a peaceful protest.
“I’ve only attended a handful of protests before, but I never ever expected to be leading one.”
ADHD Girl
Yes, all that within a space of a work!! It’s amazing how well my ADHD brain has thrived in these circumstances. My passion and good communication skills, combined with my ability to think of an do several things at once appears to be born to help run a campaign.
Our protest was attended by 300 people and though I was extremely nervous to hand over our petition to the head of our council; I think I held my own pretty well. There aren’t many times in my life when I can look back and say ‘I did exactly what I wanted to do there’ but leading a protest of 300 people was definitely the exception.
Needless to say our campaign is still ongoing, I’m still here and I’m never going to stop finding for social justice, even if I did get mixed up in local politics by accident. I just need to ensure I post in here alongside that.
