Dr Lin Berwick MBE
“The neurologist... said, ‘This child is spastic. Take her home. Forget about her. She’ll never be any good. You’re wasting my time, your time, and everybody else’s.’”
Dr Lin Berwick MBE, counsellor, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, homeopath, Methodist preacher, Braille transcriber - Sudbury
- For details of the Lin Berwick Trust, go to www.thelinberwicktrust.org.uk
- Read her new book, God's Rich Pattern: Meditations for when our faith is shaken
Born: 18 March 1950, London
Educated: school for physical handicapped at Bromley Hall; Dorton House School for the Blind, Sevenoaks, Kent; Hethersett RNIB Vocational Training Centre; RNIB Commercial Training College, London; Westminster Pastoral Foundation, London, Methodist Mission; British Institute of Homeopathy, London; University of East Anglia.
Lin Berwick tape 1 - listen now
Born on 18 March 1950 as St. Andrews Hospital Bow London. Three months premature weighing two pounds. Thought to be stillborn. Cerebral palsy and partial sight. 13 Alton Street, Poplar, ... 00:30:25
Lin Berwick tape 2 - listen now
Regarded as 'posh'. Description of school building. Bullying when Lin became blind. Alfreda Elderfield, teacher. Learning glockenspiel. Lin's faith. Braille and basket weaving. Benefits of Bobath ... 00:30:18
Lin Berwick tape 3 - listen now
Hamstring operation in 1962 at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Hackney Road. Spent 12th birthday in hospital. Pain. Plaster to thigh in six months. First four steps. Breakdown, loss of weight, tranquillisers.... 00:23:31
Lin Berwick tape 4 - listen now
At age 14 (in 1964) Lin visited Moorfields for a regular check-up. Increasing visual perception problems. Difficulty with school work. Severe damage to retina. Told by a doctor: "Well, you'll be blind ... 00:31:19
Lin Berwick tape 5 - listen now
Dorton House head, Mr Bolton; Miss Joan Brown, Deputy Head. Head offered Lin, the first physically disabled student, a six-week trial in October 1966. Light and dark perception. Walking on two tripod sticks.... 00:31:17
Lin Berwick tape 6 - listen now
Bank worried about physical access, including steps and swing doors. Lin offered to work for a month with no salary. Bank had to alter switchboard to make it accessible. Lin learned all staff extension numbers... 00:09:35
Lin Berwick tape 7 - listen now
Blindness caused disorientation in public places. Manager Mr Chandler offered Lin's mother work in bank's post department. Father became a bank messenger in the City, enabling him to transport Lin... 00:30:40
Lin Berwick tape 8 - listen now
Autobiography, Undefeated
Lin Berwick tape 9 - listen now
Meeting famous people. Community care. In the 1970s disabled people were finding their voice. Lin became frustrated with militant disabled groups. 1976 - took evening course in counselling. ... 00:30:53
Lin Berwick tape 10 - listen now
Advised to think for one month about preaching. Second eye removed. Preaching in church difficult because of access. Prejudice. 1981-88: passed exams in Old Testament, New Testament,.. 00:27:41
Lin Berwick tape 11 - listen now
Lin's book about the Christian perspective of her life called Inner Vision
Lin Berwick tape 12 - listen now
Believes that Scope hasn't adjusted to the demographic change of more people in older years with cerebral palsy. She has had no support from Scope... 00:19:13
Download the PDF transcript of Lin Berwick's interview (539kb)
We're social, follow us!