Ep 19- Georgina speaks to Wiltshire-based author & researcher Dr Tanvir Bush

Tanvir lives in Corsham, Wiltshire and is an author, researcher and disability activist. She currently works as an associate research fellow for D4D (http://d4d.org.uk/), which is a project exploring disability and how disabled people experience community. Tanvir feels especially passionate about this as she started to lose her sight at 21 years old and has experienced first-hand how differently society treats disabled people She talks about ‘coming out’ as a blind person when she got her first guide dog Grace in 20 09. Grace sadly died a few months ago. They had the most incredible bond and she was by Tanvir’s side when her father died and whilst she was studying for her MA and PHD – in fact Grace is a doctor too!

Since starting to lose her sight, the discrimination against the disabled community has shocked Tanvir to the core so to try and ‘reach across the divide’ she decided to write a book ‘Cull’ (https://bit.ly/3hQAOdg). After all, she says, ‘1 in 4 people has a disability that they talk about … and every single group of people… every tribe will have disabled people’ so how come they are treated differently and often made to feel repugnant. ‘Cull’ is about a visually impaired journalist Alex and her guide dog, Chris (based on Grace). Alex starts to investigate a link between missing homeless people and the government’s new Care and Protect Act. You might think ‘Cull’ will be a heavy read think again! It is one of my favourite books, empowering for women, full of superheroes, an amazing guide dog and many twists and turns. I couldn’t put it down!

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit our shores, Tanvir describes how scary it was for the disabled community. Herd immunity was terrifying for them and left them feeling very vulnerable. She also talks about how, if she had contracted Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic and been taken to hospital unconscious she may well have had a DNR (do not resuscitate) placed on her because of her disability. In her own words that is ‘utterly terrifying’. In fact, whilst I don’t want to give too much away about her book ‘Cull’ the similarities between fiction and ‘real’ life are clear.

Now that the worst of this pandemic is over (fingers crossed) Tanvir talks about having to ‘gird her loins and go back out into the world’. This will take time as she’ll have to re-train her guide dog Mitzie to tackle buses, trains and travel again. Another difficulty for Tanvir will be noise as she has hyperacusis (noise sensitivity) and finds loud noises very stressful and disorientating. This episode is a must for everyone. Tanvir talks passionately and to the point about the difficulties and disparities the disabled community struggle through on a daily basis as she says, ‘what is key is a common humanity, respect for everyone’. This interview was recorded on Wednesday 16th June at 2pm BST. 

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