I've had worse care because of who I am
"When you're used to a particular person handling you, you have confidence and trust. But when they say ‘You know what, my time is up and I’m going to pass you on to this next person’ you’re like ‘Oh no, first of all, I’m a minority. Secondly, how is this...read more
"The minute you hit 60, the NHS starts treating you like you're a problem. Whether you've got issues or you haven't got issues, they are the experts, you don't know anything and you have to have things done to you. And I think that's a real issue for a lot...read more
"I was just being told either ‘This is normal, you're a woman, get on with it’, or ‘This is because you're depressed and you want to be a mum, this is the way that your body is physically emanating your depression’. And I wanted to throw those operation notes in...read more
"I wish I'd put my foot down earlier. I spoke to three consultants, two white male consultants, and they said I should try a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean). And my mum’s also a nurse. My mum said ‘don’t let them put you through this. I lost a friend two...read more
"There's huge health inequalities for autistic women. Not just getting a diagnosis, but getting any healthcare after you have been diagnosed. Because all of a sudden everything becomes your autism, the broken leg, the scratch on your finger. It's all autism."
"I've had care workers come to the house, they don't care. And I don't really mind that they don't care. I just want them to respect her. And to recognise her as an individual, with her own contributions to make."
"Until recently there's certain conditions that they didn't even realise people of colour could have, or that don’t show up the same way as on white skin. Doctors not realising that's what they had are just totally misdiagnosing."
"Some people are racist. For example Pakistani people wear very traditional clothes, but some people don’t like it. I’m wearing a scarf, and maybe some people don’t like that."
"We should work out a way for monitoring what’s going on with coronavirus. And when Black people start dying in larger numbers than any other group, and though the NHS then starts falling over backwards to make assessments about who and what the numbers were, we still don't know why....read more
"I get given medication, but I am not sure what it is for, or what is in it. If it is the weekend or the Centre of Sign Sight Sound are not there, I won’t take the medication because I am not sure of it. "
"I'm with my child who has a disability. She has Down’s syndrome. Some of you might know, she has a lot of health issues, quirky things. I've been put off taking her to the GP because generally it's ‘Well, you know, this is very typical. Yes, people with Down’s syndrome...read more
"From my experience, and from the experience of some of my friends with elderly relatives, the big thing that everyone says is that they wish they knew what was on offer and what paths they should go down."