OTHER WORK / TRAINING / EDUCATION

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Kim's Crusade: Alison Steel - July 1998

Kim Tserkezie, disabled since birth, has always been passionately interested in the media. At school in Gateshead she displayed the academic excellence that could have led seamlessly on to university at 18 and then into her chosen career.

But with distinctive single-mindedness Kim, now 24, turned her back on the classroom and went straight to work. "I really didn' t want to go to university straight away, I think that's partly because, as a wheelchair user, I hadn't been able to work before," she says, "Saturday jobs were usually in shops where the access was not brilliant." Kim's instinct to use her talents to help others is strong and she got a job as an administration officer for the Bridge women's project in Washington, supporting women who were returning to education, often after many years. Her experience at Bridge inspired her to enrol on a part-time degree course in psychology and sociology at the University of Sunderland. It wasn't the usual undergraduate experience for people of her age, but Kim really enjoyed her two evenings per week. "I was always very busy, with work and university, but I bonded with the people I was studying with - they were working people too." After two and a half years, however, Kim decided to take a break from the course. "Iinitially withdrew because I was having a baby and after sitting exams while eight months pregnant I decided to lake a short break. Fully intending to go back about six months later" she says.

Her son Jay was born in February 1995 and then, at a time when many women could be forgiven for taking a well-earned rest, fate played a hand, propelling her towards her longed-for media career. Kim explains: "I fully intended to go back in the September term, but I saw a job advertised in the disability press presenting and researching for Disability Today, a BBC Learning zone programme." After a nerve-wracking audition in London, Kim won a six-month contract to research and co-presentd a programme with the BBC's disability correspondent Peter White. Kim says: "The contract was flexible and I could do most of my research from home, which meant I didn't have to spend much time away from Jay. I hadn't done any presenting before and it was very much learn as you go along '. It was very exciting to present things I had researched and written as well." A trip to Portugal to research travel access was a highlight of Kim's time on the show. But she also covered disability issues closer to home, including access to arts venues and groups and the impact of new technology on disabled people.

More exciting however, was the opportunity that came out of Kim’s first TV break. "If you'd asked me at that time which single show I'd like to be on I would have said 'From the Edge', a disability poltical" says Kim. "It presents issues that affect disabled people, but it is also a celebration of disabled people and their lives and it really challenges people's perceptions.” Kim is now one of four presenters on From the Edge, swapping her previous late-night appearance's for a 7:30pm prime-time slot on BBC2.

She has just completed her second series of From the Edge and will start work on a third in the autumn. The show, which covers all the latest disability legislation and news, is laced with lots of humour but also confronts prejudice head on. It has for example, looked al the issues facing disabled parents, a subject Kim knows only too well because of the prejudice she experienced from both medical staff and the public when she had Jay. In between television commitments Kim has built up an impressive portfolio of freelance journalism, with reports for Radio 4's Does He take Sugar and an ongoing relationship with The Journalin Newcastle. Her ambition is to move into main­stream broadcasting, although she 's under no illusion about how difficult her dream will be to achieve. Kim says: "As a disabled person I think it would be fairly easy to research behind the scenes, but the hardest thing to crack is the face of TV."

It's time disabled people were more visible and I definitely want to pursue this area of work. I'm not going to give up my experience and skills, altough it's such a competitive world and I know it's going to be very tough. Especially in current affairs and news, disabled people are only used to report on disability issues, but they are participating in all areas of life and should be able to comment on them. "I've had some interest in proposals I have done for mainstream broadcasting so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I think that I can bring a perspective to the mainstream which will help to change attitudes to disabled people and to combat prejudice."

Meanwhile, Kim continues to work hard to highlight disability issues and runs seminars and workshops with professionals and community groups in a bid to change organisational policy and tackle the wider roots of prejudice against deisabled people in society. As an adoring mum of there-year Jay, Kim's time away from work is devoted to gym classes, soft play, walks in the park and all the regular demands of toddler life. But she's steadfast in her determination to complete her BA. "When my son starts full-time nursery I hope to use the new routine to finish my degree. It's great that courses nowadays have this flexibility." Kim will also be keen to see the University's progress in supporting disabled people. "When I first went to university it was a case of moving my classes to a room on the ground floor. But I did see the physical access improve during my time there. Things changed at Sunderland University in terms of attitudes as well as physical environment and that's not true of all universities. That's good, but it is vital to keepit going - those changing attitudes need to filter out across the whole student community."