Exciting Times
  Everyone can turn something boring into something exciting - think differently about it.
Sorry - we had a problem sending out our easy read version on Monday. We have sorted it now so here you go!
We can finally bring you some of the work that the people on Sync Intensives have been coming up with.
We have a great group of people - all very different - and we are very happy to share their thinking with you.
This month we can share two people's work.
The first is Liz Carr - she is a presenter and performer. She co-presents the BBC's Ouch Podcast, and she is also a writer, does comedy and is a disability activist and campaigner.
The second is Lynn Weddle - she is a visual artist, a photographer and boss of the Charlotte Miller Art Project (cmap).
We also talk at the end of the bulletin about something called drivers – these are the different things that push us into action. They are the things that drive us. Read on to find out more about what drives you!
With great power comes great responsibility
Disabled people are good at leading. Its natural for us. We sometimes don't choose to lead, we are seen as leaders just because we are disabled. If we are disabled people, and people see us do things - we become role models, if we like it or not.
This is how our easy read article starts, the one on the Sync website written by Liz Carr.
Liz reckons everything she knows about leadership, she learnt from Spiderman, well, from the line his uncle says which goes: “with great power comes great responsibility”.
Liz asks herself,
As disabled artists do we have to produce work that shows all disabled people in a good light?
Her article is like her standup comedy routine - it has words in it some people might not like - so be warned.
What she is saying is very interesting. How much do we stop ourselves doing things because we think 'Oh, disabled people shouldn't do this'. Should we stop ourselves doing things just because we worry about what people think?
At Sync we think leaders should be who they are, and not try and be what they are not.
This means you don't have to try and fit in all the time.
Yes you do need to think about other people, and how they might think and feel, but only to the point that is still comfortable for you. You should not try and stop being you just to make someone else more comfortable!
At the end of Liz's article she says:
I know that people will make up their own minds about me. Some people may see me as a role model, some people may see me as rude and offensive.
I can’t control how people will feel about me and my work.
Maybe I can do most when I just let myself be me. When I don't stop myself saying things because I think some people will be hurt or offended. When I don't try and be a role model. When I don't try and speak on behalf of everyone else.
Maybe what Spiderman's uncle meant was, “with great power comes great responsibility - to be true to yourself”?
How true to yourself are you being in the way you lead at the moment?
To go straight to Liz's article
Lynn Weddle
Last year I completed a Masters degree in Photography at the University of Brighton and had an exhibition called 'Hidden" shown that was work made by my me working with young people with hidden disabilities.
Lynn Weddle has worked with The British Museum, National Maritime Museum, Aspex Gallery, De La Warr Pavilion, Towner Gallery and Pallant House Gallery. She is also the boss of cmap which runs arts projects for young people in the Latin American countries of Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil.
In her case study, she tells us about her journey - from being bulled at school to finding her love of art and the sea. As she takes us along, we find out about the places she has been and the people she has met. We also find out about her family in the past.
She is related to the great explorer James Weddell (1787-1834). In the spring of 1832 he sailed to the Southern Ocean - and a place there is now called the Weddell Sea.
From all accounts, he was an amazing leader, pushing the men forward, encouraging them to go beyond themselves.
Lynn’s journey has also made her really think about herself. She has a hidden impairment - dyslexia. She now helps other people look again at themselves and what they can do.
It’s the perfect match to Liz’s article this month – rather than looking outwards at what others expect us to be and to become - Lynn has looked inwards through much of her arts practice to find her strength, and then brought this into her work with others.
She feels that she connects with other people with hidden impairments - and this means she can take better, more real pictures of them.
What can you use from your experience of the world, that can help you connect outwards to other people?
To go straight to Lynn's case study
What’s driving you?
Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete.
If you're alive, it isn't. (Richard Bach)
In fairytales and stories it's often easy to work out what makes particular characters do things.
It’s much harder to look at ourselves and be honest about what makes us do things.
Why?
Sometimes it is because we haven't thought about it much. Sometimes we think other people will think bad things about us if we tell them. Maybe they will think we are big headed or vain.
The truth is we are all driven by different things.
The things that drive us give us energy, give us a zest and a fight for life. We need to say what they are and understand them - and not hide away from them.
Do you do what you do because of any of the drivers on the list below?
Don’t get put off by the words themselves – check what they mean to see if they fit you.
Recognition - a desire to be known or visible; a search to be noticed.
Power – a desire to succeed, to make things happen, to make a difference, to influence other people
Hedonism – wanting fun, excitement, pleasure and good times.
Altruism – a desire to help others, concern for how other people are, wanting to serve the public and make the world a better place
Affiliation – needs and enjoys frequent and close contact with other people, needs to work with other people and make things together
Tradition – a belief in values such as family, hard work, saving money, good manners and duty to others.
Science – interested in how things work, comfortable with technology, likes facts and things that can be shown to be true
Commerce – an interest in creating money and running businesses that make money.
Security – a need for a things to be safe and stable for yourself and for others, not very happy with risky things.
Aesthetics – a need for self expression and an interest in the look, feel, quality and sound of things.
Driving things forwards
You may find that one driver really stood out for you.
Or maybe there were a few that you thought might be yours.
Or perhaps you thought of a different one – one we may have missed off our list.
The question is now you know what your driver is – what are you going to do about it?.
That’s it for this month.
All the best,
Jo Verrent and Sarah Pickthall
Sync
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