DerinAdefajo

I have been able to give my opinion now for a couple of days and I still feel a bit stunted in my approach to what I can say.  I am very glad that the challenge has ended but it has given me a renewed sense of what it means to be voice poor. 

I really hope I never have to experience that as a permanent condition but I am glad I have attempted to even vaguely understand the oppression many people in the world face.  I will of course never understand the social, physical, emotional and mental limitations that affect the voice of a person but it is absolutely essential that we address this and remember that poverty is not only always about money and food. 

Poverty of voice can affect all of that and be very detrimental to a person's right to self development.  For me, at least for now, this is where this form of poverty ends.  I will endeavour in my professional and personal work to continue to advocate for the voices of marginalised persons to be heard both at home and abroad.

Thank you Oxfam and Nicola Sansom for initiate my thinking in this direction.

My boyfriend Adam and I decided to go to Birmingham for my friend Katherine's birthday but we had to stop to get Adam some jeans that he could go out in.  I probably do not have to tell you how utterly useless to his shopping experience I was and his reaction was "you know what? Let's not bother, this is completely pointless".  I knew he needed to get some jeans to I had to pause for a moment and to avoid a divorce on the shop floor of T.K Maxx, let him know when I didn't think the trousers were completely hideous.  Divorce didn't happen and we walked away with a nice pair of jeans for him.

We met Katherine in Birmingham centre where she was picking up a few things.  We went to a shop where she tried on what I thought were completely horrendous looking shoes with a mirrored bow on the side that she was very close to buying.  I had to make throwining up noises on the side to make it clear what my thoughts were on them.  I believe that was more a service to the community and to Katherine's feet than a gratuitous opinion giving frenzy.

The day ended at The Glee Club, a comedy club in the centre of Birmingham and it was all going quite well because the very first act was not that funny but as the evening went on, the comedy got so good I was nearly crying with laughter. 

I had failed yet again.

It's bonfire night tonight, went to a fantastic display with some friends but how do you watch fireworks without voicing an opinion?

No WOWs or AHHHHs or OOOOHs, it was hard but inside me I was jumping up and down with excitement. 

At a comedy club tomorrow.............really not a great week to have no opinion.

I think I learnt the importance of women only spaces tonight.  We went out for a drink and dinner and just talked about stuff.  I was still accutely aware of my challenge but felt like I could loosen my tongue a little being in a woman only space.......and the wine did help a little.

I realised I didn't feel quite so exposed or that I was breaking the challenge as I do in a mixed sex setting.  I just found that an interesting point to note.

I finished a blog yesterday and tried to post it but the computer decided to undo all my work and I believe I was justified it giving it a piece of my mind.

What I wrote about yesterday was that I had written my MP Andrew Gwynne expressing my disappointment at our global slow down on halving poverty by 2015. He responded promptly but spoke more about international issues on poverty and the voiceless.  This therefore led me to rethink my angle on this, I think I have to date placed too much emphasis on the voiceless people in far away "brown people" countries and not so much on the voiceless in our nation.

Within represention in the UK there are still vulnerable voices that do not get heard. Women, ethnic minorities, gay people, the elderly, disable people, transgender people. If you are unfortunate enough to have multiple identities, a black disabled gay female over 60yrs old with caring responsibilities, well it's your own fault and your voice should definitely not be heard in the mainstream.  When policy decisions are made or services are designed, it is important to get those marginalised voices heard. A transport system will not affect a single man with no caring responsibilities the same way it affects a woman who has to drop her kids off at nursery, take care of an elderly relative before she goes into work.  All policy implementation must consult appropriately with people it will affect. We cannot make assumptions about those that are "hard to reach", "seldom heard" or have "hidden voices."  If people feel like they deserve a say in something and that say will be listened to, just watch them speak!

My friend Helen read through my blog and wondered along the same lines as me, how different would this be if everyone around me actively force my voice down? Or perhaps took whatever ideas I dared voice and presented it as their own.

Didn't like the thought of that.