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No Triumph, No Tragedy

Documentaries

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: Disability

Peter White talks to disabled people who have achieved outstanding success in their field

Peter White talks to disabled people who have bucked the odds and achieved outstanding success in a variety of fields

No Triumph, No Tragedy: 05/09/2011

05/09/2011

BBC Radio 4 - No Triumph, No Tragedy, 05/09/2011

Peter White talks to Dr Lin Berwick about her life living as a blind wheelchair user.

Peter White talks to Dr Lin Berwick about her life living as a blind wheelchair user. Lin has cerebral palsy and has been blind since she was a teenager.

Dr Lin Berwick was born with cerebral palsy and lost her sight as a teenager. She tells Peter White about the way her mother dealt with being told her baby was a waste of everybody's time and that she should 'go home and forget about her'.

Lin has inherited her mother's determination that she should live a fulfilling and adventurous life and when she met her husband Ralph, she says her life 'really took off'.

Together, Lin and Ralph set up the Lin Berwick Trust, which provides accessible holiday accommodation for severely disabled people and their carers.

As well as being her husband, Ralph willingly acted as Lin's carer and they enjoyed a long and happy marriage until Ralph was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Lin describes her devastation at being told this news and, as a Methodist preacher, how she felt the need to cry out to God and demand why they had been dealt this cruel blow.

Deeply distressed by his condition, Ralph finally refused his medication and died shortly before this interview was recorded.

Producer: Cheryl Gabriel.

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No Triumph, No Tragedy

05/09/2011

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