Oct 1, 2018
Richard Freeman's special guest this week is Athena Stevens. Athena Stevens is a playwright, performer and director, an award-winning stand up comedian and a human rights activist. She has campaigned for fair housing, education and small business accessibility, and is an advisor to Transport for London and the London Underground on the experiences they provide for disabled commuters. Athena's written work often explores issues surrounding autonomy, self determination and independence and her most recent play ‘Schism’ directly challenges historical ideas about disability and sexuality. Her own experience of being an American in the UK and having been born with athetoid cerebral palsy does not define what she is or isn’t capable of, but certainly gives her a powerful perspective on life in modern Britain. Richard and Athena spoke on the phone in early August 2018, but being both in noisy places the sound is not always clear - but bear with it, it gets a bit better as it goes along. They talk about Athena’s writing, activism, politics and ambitions and what sort of world she is striving to create. ---- Useful links: MLK letter from a Birmingham jail https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html Athena’s website https://www.athenastevens.com/ Athena’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19n4WJoBVA4 Athena talking about ‘Schism’ on BBC R4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b39v3n The Guardian article on Athena suing British Airways https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/08/playwright-ba-london-city-airport-wheelchair-athena-stevens Athena on Twitter https://twitter.com/athenastevens --- Have you checked out all of other interviews - there are now over 55 past podcasts available on iTunes, Soundcloud are wherever you accessed this one. Please tell us about your favorites and share with others. --- The Possibility Club is also an online platform for like-minded people and a monthly event to ask the big questions in business. culture and education? If you want to get help powering your ideas - visit www.thepossibilityclub.org Richard Freeman appeared for always possible and this podcast is produced and edited by CJ Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts.