This can be a transcript of We're temporarily cancelling your career as first broadcast on 1 April. BETH -Howdy and https://asia365.club/ to the third Cabin Fever podcast. Are you able to consider it's week three already? I am Beth Rose and I am nonetheless presenting this BBC Ouch special from my flat. This time on the sofa. As we all know coronavirus has hit every single individual in the nation and adjusted the way life is lived.
But what if you are a type of vibrant younger issues starting out on your career, having negotiated workplaces, accessibility, colleagues and potentially some stereotyping and judgements too? Properly, luckily for us we know just a few of those brilliant sparks. First off we have obtained Lucy Edwards. LUCY -Hi there, I am Lucy. I'm blind and I'm a freelance journalist and presenter, at present sitting in my residing room. BETH -And we have additionally received Ellis Palmer.
ELLIS -Whats up, there, Beth, how's it going? My name is Ellis Palmer. I am a producer on BBC NewsHour on the World Service. I've bought cerebral palsy. And I am at the moment sitting on the Wirral peninsula someplace between north Wales and Liverpool. BETH -And we had been saying earlier you've got immediately bought a lot more northern, Ellis. ELLIS -Sure, I guess you could say that. However then for 2 weeks now, I used to be home, moved again to London, and only discovered I should not be in the workplace on the train again to London by googling cerebral palsy, coronavirus, and I used to be like oh god, I shouldn't really be at work.
ELLIS -So, I went into my office and my boss says, "Oh no, you do not should be right here, get out, get out!" So, that is once i got here dwelling and i came again up north the following day. And truly I listened to Ouch on my method residence. BETH -Yay. So, what did you see when you googled cerebral palsy and coronavirus? ELLIS -It was simply the chance of high-danger conditions, individuals ought to be at dwelling or practising excessive social distancing. I wasn't fortunately on the list for social isolation.
However I referred to as up NHS 111 they usually stated to me, "You ought to be working from dwelling, you should not be within the office". So, I needed to assume a bit outside the box in terms of technology, in terms of what I might do to do my common earn a living from home. LUCY -Yeah, it is exhausting, isn't it, being stuck at home in some respects. For myself being a freelancer my April was going to be a really completely different April to the one I'm most likely going to have now. I am blind so I am not on the high-danger situations, however I was a bit poorly with a cough and I assumed it finest to stay at dwelling.
However yeah, I was going to be flying to Spain and had all different commissions. And because the panorama of journalism changes, present affairs clearly would not keep nonetheless, those commissions probably will not essentially be there in a few months. So, that is the place I am at. BETH -Ah, that is a tricky one, is not it, as a result of we're sort of in that time the place we predict okay, issues are cancelled but they'll be rescheduled. But as you say, the thing with current affairs it all does sort of move on a bit.
LUCY -Yeah, it ebbs and flows, Beth. If you have received great concepts and you know who to point them to that's fabulous at all points, so I am not crazily nervous. However being a freelancer is tough. You recognize that being a freelancer that some things might change, but in addition you do half plan round those preparations because you have trusted contacts. So, I believe it was a bit weird. And likewise having my wedding ceremony cancelled that was really sad. I could be a bit extra jovial about it now, however the forty eight hours once we have been saying to ourselves, we will not truly do this, we can't put our family at risk in this way, it was rough.
BETH -That is tough. And BBC Ouch was significantly merciless to you as a result of we were getting you to work on a wedding ceremony takeover, weren't we, simply actually a week before. LUCY -It was fabulous, Beth, because I was obviously wanting forward to our wedding after which I used to be chatting to other fabulous disabled individuals also trying ahead to their wedding. So, I used to be getting really hyped, and then it was like boom, freelance work gone. But also due to YouTube planning all my content material, I've somewhat calendar that I share with my agent and my access worker, and that i had all schedules in, all of those wedding movies that I used to be going to movie.
And it's just all been like growth, gone. BETH -You sound very upbeat though. I am not sure I would be as upbeat as you, which is totally testament to your positivity. LUCY -Resilience I assume. However as I stated, I was actually upset about it. Me and Ollie have just mentioned to each other, "Proper it's another yr to give it some thought". Now we have to think about this positively as a result of I believe the main driving issue was realizing that I would perhaps put my dad or my nan or Ollie's dad at risk, and I believe that is why I am so jovial about it as a result of I feel like I'm protecting them safe. BETH -And in addition it is another 12 months of anticipation, and that's form of half the enjoyable, is not it, wanting ahead to it?
LUCY -Yeah, it's a very long time. But in addition I have been speaking to other brides and grooms who have had their weddings and so they're like, "Oh it is over so quickly". It is simply an excuse to come back to Ouch and ensure we do the pod. BETH -Exactly. We've received everyone lined up now. You have simply received a 12 months to wait and we'll get it on the airways. BETH -Ellis, what about you? Inform us the place you have been working and what you have been doing.
ELLIS -When it comes to my work I started on BBC NewsHour at the top of January and it is nice, it's been actually, actually good. But I've been dealing with the Wuhan crisis since my very first day on shift; it's simply been Wuhan and coronavirus. Then it unfold from China to Italy and that's when places actually, actually began to shut down. I had really just been in Spain three weeks in the past, and flew back from Spain on the Sunday, went in to work on the Monday, Spain form of went into partial shutdown, going into complete shutdown the week after. I'm really up north now, however I might booked the week off.
I just had to cancel my flight to Spain as an alternative and go hand cycle up north right here on the Wirral peninsula. So, I've been out with my dad each single day. I'd really bought the hand cycle in January pondering nice, for the summer season, it should be a two-month wait. And that i bought it the week earlier than the UK went in to lockdown. So, I used to be fortunate in some ways that I acquired it at that time. I get pleasure from going to the gym usually in London, however having the hand cycle throughout this disaster has been a godsend when it comes to getting out and about, getting that recent air, otherwise I think I might be going a bit bonkers within the home to be honest with you.
BETH -I believe a lot of people would pay good money to go hand cycling on the Wirral. ELLIS -Yeah, there's some lovely coasts, some stunning countryside. And clearly it is quite quiet on the roads so actually it's a perfect time to go out cycling. BETH -With a hand cycle all of the movement comes from you basically pedalling but with your arms and palms? ELLIS -Yeah, with my arms, so I have to push it forwards. I really feel like I'm dishonest; it's bought a little bit bit of a energy help on it, which I find particularly helpful going up hills, otherwise I'd have been caught in the mud quite a bit.
I've explored a lot of my house peninsula I really didn't know existed. So, in that approach it has been constructive, working around my common work and everything like that. It's been great to get out and about, inside a protected distance and just for one exercise a day of course. BETH -I like the caveat there, very good. BETH -As a result of as you say, it retains you mentally agile. Is it essential that you've that time in the gym or have that point on the bike?
ELLIS -I find it helps things like my hand/eye coordination, my control. It makes it easier for me to get around. My circulation improves in my physique. My type of cerebral palsy it's not a spastic cerebral palsy, but I have a variety of over movement, so I find going to the gym or going hand cycling helps me considerably to regulate that over motion and management these spasms that I sometimes get. LUCY -Yeah, I believe it is really essential to get out. But obviously half-hour for my lovely little lady here, information canine Olga, isn't too, a lot for such an enormous doggie, so we have been having to regulate our little routine.
Obviously I am not going massively down to the outlets as a result of I'm not too sure of how I am undoubtedly going to remain two metres away from folks when I am unable to see them, so I am fairly anxious about that situation. Thank goodness I've received my lovely fiancé Ollie; I do not know what I might do. Freezing treats and putting them around the home for little Olga dog to try and discover has been paramount to her psychological health, her doggie psychological health.
However I believe she's still climbing the partitions a bit. Also I've experienced isolation before when i first went blind and that i had quite a low mental health time. I first misplaced my eyesight when I used to be 17, and I think it does deliver back a few of these ideas and emotions, feeling remoted and being indoors. I really like being social, I like speaking to contributors. Getting out and about to London was my lifeline and my the whole lot in some senses that made me Lucy; to suppose that me and Olga can go on public transport at any time we wished and feel free.
And now it's bringing back those feelings that I am unable to go down and get a tin of beans like I often would. It is a bit upsetting. Additionally I feel what is de facto highlighted on groups like VI Talk, a Facebook group that I'm a part of, is that a lot of visually impaired people like myself aren't being able to have their regular delivery slots on the supermarkets because they're being quite overwhelmed.
And I believe that is something I really wished to highlight because they're going hungry, fairly rightly there may be a listing of conditions, 1.5 million UK citizens who need the slots, but in addition I feel there needs to be a contingency plan for those visually impaired individuals who can't get out and about, like myself. ELLIS -A couple of factors from what you stated there. One, prior to lockdown I had just began cooking, albeit very, very wobbly cooking I have to say, I made a mess in my kitchen, however I really began having fun with making pasta. I am not in a position to do that now because my mum's kitchen here is not accessible. And it does make a large, massive difference by way of being unbiased.
LUCY -It actually does. ELLIS -Two, I'm fairly fortunate in that I produce radio for the World Service, so a lot of my job is dealing with contributors in Asia or the United States or elsewhere in Europe. So, lots of my job is completed over the phone, is done by WhatsApp messages and emails, is completed with issues like Face Time; so in terms of my precise workflow it is not modified that a lot. However for somebody who enjoys interviewing contributors and enjoys getting out to individuals it should be so irritating for you, Lucy.
LUCY -Oh my gosh completely. Likewise I get the contributor facet of issues. When I'm producing a chunk it is straightforward to sit behind your pc. And obviously on a telephone Zoom name like we're on now it's fairly simple for me because I do not get these visible cues after i see you both in individual anyway at Broadcasting Home, so that is sort of advantageous to me. And I'm trying to get on the market and have a look at programs, keep myself speaking to individuals in the business.
I really took part in some programs that were online that were hosted by Donna Taberer, the expertise lead for the BBC. I discovered her on Twitter, linked up together with her, and she's operating some free programs which are going on throughout the entire of isolation by Zoom, so get your palms on these tickets if you'd like. Conserving the freelance work going, however there's not quite a lot of extra things being commissioned, so it's hard. BETH -You've additionally received your YouTube channel, have not you, Lucy?
BETH -How is that affected in the intervening time? Is it maybe even more widespread? LUCY -I believe I'm getting extra views, Beth, yeah. I keep doing stay reveals, a little bit of a cooking live, so only a bit of inspiration I feel. The tendency in this period is to feel a bit low and a bit remoted, and YouTube is my saviour in some senses. I see on a regular basis folks like myself have a bit of a cook and we are able to all have a chat, so it's good.
BETH -Do you receives a commission per view? LUCY -Sure, monetisation per thousand views. It is determined by the month and how many individuals are on-line and the adverts which are positioned on there. So, say in December as a result of quite a lot of firms are promoting for Christmas the run-up is very advantageous for YouTubers because you get a lot more lucrative advertisements being on the entrance of your videos. It's doing properly. I believe lots of YouTubers nowadays are saying that they are not getting as much income from YouTube because they are knocking down your content material in case you say sure issues, because they monitor what you say in videos.
So, for instance if you happen to say coronavirus currently they may put it to the bottom of the pecking order as a result of they don't want fake information spreading, which that is working in a great way in some senses. But I think it is a little bit of a shaky technique to make money in some methods. ELLIS -Do it's a must to say COVID then instead? LUCY -You say COVID-19 or corona and it's just about demonetised.
BETH -Do you get a listing at the beginning of each month in regards to the matters they don't need you talking about? BETH -You just have to guess? LUCY -You simply need to go along with the stream, yeah. There's been quite a lot of speak round it in YouTube. They're simply making an attempt to verify pretend news does not spread. BETH -And is that this a time for you to really put time and effort into YouTube? LUCY -Yeah, I think it is a massive time to flourish on YouTube in some methods as a result of you've gotten the viewers, but you cannot go outside. And I believe a lot of content material lately viewers members want to see you doing issues.
The content very much has steered away from simply being in your bedroom with some fairy lights behind you. I feel it is change into a lot more professionally cut and edited. What I might say it's a really great time to return to basics, residence grown content material. I am additionally aware that I do not just want to keep talking about how I am doing this at residence due to the coronavirus. I want my channel to be a bit of an escape.
So, I am thinking about perhaps getting on my exercise bike stay. Ellis has given me inspiration! BETH -So, going back for each of you, you've both been journalists for what, three years? ELLIS -Scary thought however yeah, three years. BETH -So, inform me, going back three years, how exhausting was it to get your foot within the door and get your career going? ELLIS -I'm not going to lie, it was a challenge. I used to be mainly learning in Birmingham, then moved to Barcelona to do my master's, and then completed my master's in Barcelona, heard in regards to the BBC job, acquired the job. Then really the toughest thing was finding someplace to reside in London, and that was actually, really troublesome.
The rental market is a nightmare. It isn't accessible in any respect for me as a wheelchair person to discover a flat; it was a nightmare. So, I had 4 months to find somewhere to live earlier than I started work principally. All I needed was the bathroom to be a wet room bathroom, and truthfully it was superb how troublesome that was to get. When it comes to starting in my publish to be truthful the BBC were sound in terms of creating any reasonable adjustments I needed, any assistive expertise I needed.
And I'll say all my bosses have been pretty sound on the disability entrance as well. However I really assume this crisis might throw up a extremely, actually fascinating thing for a number of disabled folks, which is we had to battle numerous the time to get cheap changes, however now a lot of non-disabled people are discovering they need reasonable changes, laptops or whatever, to be able to earn a living from home. And now they're realising form of the knowledge of our combat. Hopefully there will likely be extra of an acceptance of remote working, simply spending a day within the office every week. So, I really assume the longer term of labor publish COVID-19 may very well be probably advantageous for disabled people economically talking.
LUCY -I totally agree Ellis. Being in a studio flat with fairly a big Labrador on the third flooring was fairly a problem. ELLIS -Oh my god, I remember your flat, yeah. LUCY -It was just not accessible. Me and Ellis have a very close friend, Alex, one other journalist, and we all tried to get into that flat. We had a hilarious night where all of us tried to rise up steps to try to get in that flat. It was just so tiny.
ELLIS -I believe we ended up making a cardboard ramp to get over some stairs mainly. I got up on Alex's wheelchair, sat within the middle. LUCY -I was crying laughing. It was ever so funny. I believe it's simply we're so resourceful. Having a disability you assume on your toes. And I believe it has been very eye opening seeing most of the people also maybe have to combat a couple of issues, possibly a glimpse into what we need to go through each day.
I believe it's been loopy. However it is also highlighted to me, as I said, that isolation isn't easy and it's actually made me feel humble to how I've tailored. ELLIS -For most individuals on their everyday routine they don't seem to be going to encounter any obstacles in terms of getting round. But I'm a wheelchair consumer, I've bought cerebral palsy, I've bought slightly little bit of hearing loss as properly, and for me getting around, getting from A to B, going to the cinema, listening to the telly, no matter it may be, will be an actual problem at times. And I feel that type of factor makes you quite resourceful. That's incredibly beneficial in a crisis like this that you do not panic, however you sort of think proper, how would I do that, how would I try this.
You're ready to join up the dots fairly rapidly as a result of you're used to having to get round awkward situations in a means that perhaps some individuals aren't. LUCY -I think that is in all probability why I am not that upset in some methods, I have never held onto the upset about my wedding ceremony, because there are a lot of issues that go incorrect in my each day life: I get right into a taxi, I might or will not be discriminated towards; I go online to a bit of software and it could not work with my Jaws screen reading software.
And you need to learn to be versatile. I believe that's why I am capable of get by way of this isolation, that's why I was the one that rallied the troops within my household and mentioned, hey we will get by means of this. I made positive my nan was set up on an iPad and that i posted it to her, made her a little guide and said, nan you will get via this, I know it'll be arduous. ELLIS -I've bought two grandmas: I've acquired my eighty one 12 months previous grandma in Hull and that i've obtained her arrange on Face Time. But oh my god, she cannot use it very well at all.
I love her to bits, however you see extra of her body than you see of her face, which can be a real challenge at occasions. However still it's nice to have the ability to see her; it is nice to be in a position to speak to her. My different grandma, who I love to bits, an old Irish lady, I have to name her up through a landline as a result of she's not got the web, she's not obtained a mobile; she would not know what Skype is that if it hit her within the face.
LUCY -Oh bless her. ELLIS -That should be actually, really isolating for my grandma. And I believe if you are a disabled person in an city space or a semi-urban space I assume things are a bit bit easier. But if you're a disabled person in a rural community it have to be so much tougher for you throughout this period of isolation. LUCY -Yeah. I love getting on the telephone to my mum and my auntie and my nan. They usually say, "Luce, I am actually scared about COVID". And i mentioned, "I am too, stay safe. I do know we will not see each other". We reside an hour and a half away, that's the way in which we communicate most of the time on Face Time.
And I believe it's about discovering the positives and silver lining in all the things. If I considered it too exhausting, I've watched breakfast telly, they're saying, look outside the window, it'll make you're feeling pleased, I am unable to see any gentle anymore, I am unable to see the sunlight, I see lovely scenery when I'm going and walk Olga for the 30-minute slot that I've, I do really feel upset about that. But I have to consider the positives as a result of I am fortunate, I am doing my dream job, I love being a freelance BBC journalist, I like being a presenter. And if I thought about the negatives I wouldn't be the place I am.
I believe Ellis has that on his facet too: he's such a happy person. BETH -Yet one more question, Lucy. You did a very awesome factor at Christmas: you were Radio 1's first blind presenter. BETH -You are coming again, aren't you? Is that still happening? LUCY -Yeah in August, it's been slightly postponed, however I'm coming back. I am doing one other radio reside sort affair. It is going to be improbable. BETH -So, that's one thing tremendous exciting to sit up for. ELLIS -We tuned in once you have been on Radio 1 at Christmas and oh my god, you were fantastic, Lucy, you were nice. It was actually, really good. ELLIS -My mum and that i have been dancing in the kitchen, "Oh my god, we know her, that's Lucy!" It was unbelievable.
ELLIS -It was nice to hear you on. LUCY -I simply cannot wait to get again in there. We've been having huge talks about easy methods to make Radio 1 studios accessible in some capability. So, yeah watch this area, guys, it's extremely exciting. BETH -That sounds like such an excellent place to wrap up this version of Cabin Fever. Thanks so much Lucy and Ellis for joining in, and we'll be holding in touch with you guys as well. Additionally, remember, we have now are releasing the isolation diary podcast each week which follows Ouch presenter, Kate Monaghan, and her family doing their 12 weeks of shielding. And of course there's your entire Ouch back catalogue to maintain you entertained on the BBC Sounds app. Converse to you soon.