RNIB Connect Radio 20th Anniversary - Tracks of My Life with Dr Hazel McFarlane MBE

Episode 47,   Sep 05, 2023, 06:00 PM

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Tracks of My Life is a show on RNIB Connect Radio presented and produced by Toby Davey where he invites a guest to take us on a journey through their life, sharing the tracks that mark important moments which bring back memories to them.

Their chosen tracks of their life might include the first track they can remember hearing, the first track they bought, a number of tracks that mark moments in their life and the final track, a track that they would like to pass on which might give people hope for the future.

In this special RNIB Connect Radio 20th Anniversary podcast version of Tracks of My Life Toby is joined by Dr Hazel McFarlane MBE, a disability activist and researcher who has worked in and alongside the sight loss and disability sectors for over 30 years.

Hazel’s contribution to the sight loss sector was acknowledged earlier this year when she was awarded an MBE for services to people with sight loss,  in the King’s Birthday Honours List.

Hazel’s Tracks of My Life musical journey starts at home, growing up with her twin sister and two older sisters, going to a mainstream school which was quite unusual at the time.  

Then to a powerful time for Hazel when she was involved in the Disability Movement in the early 1990s, campaigning for disability rights and along with many other disabled people helping to force the government to set up the Disability Discrimination Act.

After a track dedicated to her son Michael we will hear a track that marks the time in 2005 when Hazel gained her PhD and a validation that the education system that Hazel had gone through had got it wrong for her at the time with not the best support for a visually impaired young person.

We will then come to a beautiful piece of classical music that has a bit of a military connection which marks the time when Hazel met her partner.  

And before we come to Hazel’s final track we have a track that holds great memories for Hazel of New Year’s Eve 2019 which her parents got up and danced to. 


Image: RNIB Connect Radio Bright Green 20th Anniversary Logo