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No Triumph, No Tragedy

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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: Samantha Renke

25/03/2019

Samantha Renke

BBC Radio 4 - No Triumph, No Tragedy, Samantha Renke

Peter White, born blind, meets actress Samantha Renke, who has brittle bone disease.

Samantha Renke, actress and activist, talks to Peter White about her disability and her campaigns for better access to housing and acceptance, rather than exclusion and ignorance.

Peter White meets Samantha Renke, the Lancashire born actress whose rare brittle bone disease, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, has resulted in her sustaining 200 fractures in her lifetime. As a child she had to be carried around on a pillow to reduce the risk of broken bones, but she hates being called an 'inspiration' as it suggests her life with a disability is a 'worst possible scenario'.   

She believes that constantly referring to the disabled as 'inspiring' for their ability to cope encourages others to regard them with pity, instead of seeing them as people who are happily living their lives. Samantha found fame in a ground-breaking series of ads for Maltesers which confronted public perception of disability and won best actress at the LA Diversity Film Festival.

In an amusing and thought provoking interview Peter challenges Samantha about how far she is willing to go to make fun of her disability. The advert sees her recounting a story to friends about how she crushed a bride's foot at a wedding with the wheel of her chair. Using a Malteser to demonstrate the scene ends with her admitting that she still managed to leave with the best man’s number!

She is a passionate campaigner who often raises uncomfortable issues about how the disabled are seen and in this interview she talks about the impact of pity which she was aware of even from a young age: “you never forget the first time someone comes and crouches next to your wheelchair and tells you that if they were like me they couldn't cope – or even worse they wouldn't want to live. “

Samantha is a supporter of the disability charity Scope and patron of Head2Head Theatre Company – a self-proclaimed fashionista who loves searching for bargains in London’s markets: “The main struggle I've faced throughout my life has been maintaining my independence. Whether that is within work, in my social life or my home life.”

This involves her in campaigns for accessible homes for those with a disability, something she is passionate about: “I believe if you give people the tools they will be integral to society and not a burden. Provide more accessible homes and people with disabilities can live, work, socialize and become valued members of society! Without my home I no doubt wouldn't be doing the work I am now and I would not be the happy optimistic person I am today.”

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