Smile, you're on candid camera
October 1995

Kim Tserkezie beat off 80 hopefuls to present Disability Today. Who is she? Rod Hermeston found out.

Bright and bubbly Kim Tserkezie has been given a chance of a lifetime to break into television, something which until recently she never believed she could do. Kim 22, will co-present Disability Today with Peter White, BBC disability correspondent and presenter of Radio Four's In Touch. "It's particularly exciting for me because I've always had a love of the media. And I will be combining it with civil rights work," she says.
"It's like a dream come true. I can't believe that I'll be getting paid for it as well."
Kim has lived in the north-east all her life, though her father and maternal grandmother are Greek. She lives in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. She is a part-time psychology Student at Sunderland University, but also spends time campaigning for civil rights.

In 1994 she set up a group in the north-east called "Disabled Women's Action and Support". It has already worked with Newcastle Women's Aid on the issue of domestic violence against disabled women, and plans to campaign for improved transport for all disabled people, emphasising disabled women and safety.

Before becoming a student, Kim worked for two years as an administrator at Bridge, a project to improve training and education opportunities for women. She also took part in a sister project "Bridging Out", which provides confidence building courses for women.
"I was very fortunate to get a job on Bridge after finishing my A-levels. But after two years I decided to concentrate on my degree and civil rights work." Jenny McKenna a community development worker on Bridge thinks Kim has a rosy future. "This will just be the start. Within weeks of her coming to work with us as an administrator, we realised her talents went far beyond that."

Kim heard about the Disability Today job through DN. "I decided to apply, but I didn't even think I'd have a chance of getting an interview.
" She is only half way through her degree at the moment, but plans to take a break to present Disability Today. That will make it easier for her to look aft er her six-month-old son, Jay.
"Because of all the barriers out there, things are not made very easy. But I employ personal assistants 24 hours a day. They are not child minders, they help me do all the physical tasks of looking after Jay. It's quite a new system, which has been introduced in Newcastle.
"I was able to negotiate the details with them and it has worked out very well." She hopes to break into television full time, and do both disability and mainstream programmes. She wants to continue her campaigning work.

She will work from Newcastle, traveling to London when necessary Kim has been officially disabled since she was two, but went to mainstream schools. "Fortunately I had parents who felt strongly that I should be integrated into the local community. By the time I was ready to go to comprehensive school, I was able to speak for myself about why I wanted to Stay in mainstream schooling." Though she uses a wheelchair, she sees the details of her disability as irrelevant. " I have an impairment which society can't cope with. I experience disability as a result of society not developing all the support mechanisms, which I need to lead an independent life.

"I would never say that I have a disability, since disability is not an individual issue. It is a social issue, but representations of disability are always individualised. " I think Disability Today will be a way of sharing information, which is important, and sharing our identity as disabled people, which is empowering.