Artlink Stories
Turning reality into a Fiction
Click the titles or images to listen to and read the stories
But
by Anne Donovan
Something in the Pause by Nicola White
This Side of Heaven
by Laura Marney
Introduction by Alison Stirling, Artlink Projects Director
The real life complexities of complex disabilities are difficult to describe to others who do not have experience of it. The constant struggle to persuade 'providers' that your situation merits greater support, telling the same story over and over again often seem like some cyclical nightmare from which there is no escape.
Within the brave new world of a market-driven care system a new fiction often seems to be created. One where incomprehensible consultation exercises, a tick on someone's evaluation form, questions so leading that they will 'evidence' good working practices and manipulated statistics create their own 'short story'. In this new reality it is becoming harder to discern fact from fiction, as it would appear that these methods of measuring illustrate a very different service to what is actually being provided.
Artlink works with this idea of fact and fiction, by asking individuals with experience of complex disabilities to describe a particular aspect of their life, and then using the skills of a writer to describe the situation to people who do not have experience of it. Our intention is to draw attention to the real impact of policy on ordinary people, creating a series of fictional short stories, informed by fact, and written by some of the best authors in Scotland.
The short stories contained here are part of an emerging series of stories, each responding to a different aspect of people’s lives, from moving home in This Side of Heaven by Laura Marney, to the daily reality of caring in But by Anne Donovan, to the imagined thoughts of a disabled individual in Something in the Pause by Nicola White.
As funding cuts start to bite and policy is translated into overstretched and limited resources there is a real need to continue to highlight the facts in a way that will engage audiences. We aim to publish a further four stories over the next year.
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