Come on, Vogue

Everyone of a certain age remembers the 90's pop song, 'Vogue', and the accompanying dance moves made famous by Madonna and her trend-setting risqué style.

The namesake of the famous song, Vogue Magazine, has long been renowned for pushing boundaries and attempting to reflect modern culture through their choice of models, styling and editorial.

And under the leadership of the current Editor-in-Chief, Edward Enninful, today the UK edition of the magazine has launched the May issue titled 'Reframing Fashion', which showcases 19 people living with a disability who are excelling in their chosen fields, from fashion, sport, the arts, and activism, representing some of the 16 million disabled people living in the United Kingdom.

As Edward Enninful comments in the issue: "Accessibility and Disability inclusion are everyone’s responsibility and opportunity – this is a movement, not a moment."

Of course I applaud and celebrate this move by VOGUE-UK and Enninful, to progress the normalisation of disability and increase the awareness and acceptance within society.

Some, me included, may say that it is a few decades late - but nevertheless it is a significant moment in the movement for a better society for disabled people.

This issue also acts as the perfect pre-curser to the event which is dominating most of my time and energy at the moment, the 2023 Butterfly Ball - London.

An event at which we too are celebrating disability and, in particular focussing on the recognition that we are all wonderfully unique and that once everyone accepts their own differences then we will be more understanding of other people's.

As I've said many times before in this diary and I'm proud to share, I'm dyslexic, and for me that provides me with a hyper-focus on lots and lots of small details and how they all connect to form a bigger vision.

Sounds wonderful? It can be and has proved very useful in lots of situations, but it can also be shattering, especially when there is so much to do. It is tiring to constantly feel like I need to be involved in every small detail, while also knowing that I've got lots of competing demands on my time with pressing decisions to make, contacts to meet and work to complete.

Fortunately at Caudwell Children and through our network I'm also supported by some fabulously talented and dedicated individuals that help me bring all the dots together to create this very special event and deliver all of our vital services at the same time.

Talking of services, it has been a busy start to the year at Caudwell Children and we've already supported thousands of disabled and autistic children from all over the UK.

During Easter it was lovely to have meetings at the Caudwell International Children's Centre regularly punctuated with laughter or shouts of excitement as we supported groups of children attending the Government's holiday activities and food (HAF) programme, which we've once again been commissioned to deliver throughout 2023.

These activities take place during the school holidays, but what is equally fulfilling is the now regular sound of more and more children and families attending the Centre every week for autism assessments and support.

We have worked incredibly hard to address the shortage of skilled clinicians needed for a comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment pathway, which was previously limiting the amount of children we could see, and while not at 100% capacity yet - it is getting a lot better and we're helping more children get the help they so desperately need than ever before!

So as I return to the many jobs that still need completing ahead of the Butterfly Ball in a few short weeks time, I'll bring it back to my inspiration for this Diary of a Charity CEO entry; the Vogue Magazine disability issue.

Sadly, every day I see the potential and ambition in disabled children and young people gradually stolen from them as society's perception of being 'different' limits what is believed to be possible.

At Caudwell Children, and now with the help of forward-thinking organisations like Vogue UK, we are working to 'Reframe Different' and to help people realise that they are as unique and different as anyone else.

Some people wear their differences on the outside, either by choice or by necessity, but most of us hide them away and keep them secret from the world.

Together lets change what it means to be different and, when we can, wear it on the outside and be proud.

I'll be expressing my differences on Thursday 11th May at The Butterfly Ball but you will have to wait a few weeks to see what I'll be wearing!

Thank you for taking the time to read my diary and for being interested in Caudwell Children.

Whatever you do over the next few days, weeks, months, years just remember...We Are All Different, Be You