10 Years producing One Voice - Andrea Duckworth

After ten years and hundreds of articles, Andrea is moving to new projects. We couldn’t let Andrea go without celebrating this achievement and asking her to offer some advice for the future.
One Voice began in 2005. There was a newsletter for supporters of NMC but I felt that there was an unmet need, and that physio clients and their families could benefit from one too.  Being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy or an associated neuromuscular condition can often be very isolating and frightening. The purpose of this newsletter / magazine was to share ideas and experiences of living day to day with a disability and empower people to make the most out of their lives. I felt that having a disability should not prevent you from doing this. I wanted to get people talking and sharing their life experiences.  I put forward a proposal to Sarah Kelly, the Chief Executive of NMC at the time, and she loved the idea. The rest as they say was history!

I encouraged clients, carers, volunteers, staff, and in recent years the Trustees and others in the NMC community to share their experiences. Through that, we have supported each other through the good times and reassured each other through the challenging ones! It has been wonderful to see, that having contributed an article to One Voice, how much people have grown in confidence. In so many cases it has boosted their self-esteem and self-worth.  We have covered so many aspects of living with a disability including, pregnancy, parenthood, transition, life in a wheelchair, accessible days to mention just a few. One Voice has also inspired clients to try new things and some have started to learn to drive, something they never thought possible.  In other instances when we covered some very sensitive subjects such as depression and bereavement, it was really important to actively listen and support clients through very difficult periods in their lives.  As we celebrate One Voice’s tenth birthday, and look forward to the next ten years I would like to share a recent quote that I received from a client . “Thank you  for making a big difference to all of us. You have no idea just how important the magazine is, in communicating, informing, cheering us all up and reassuring us”.  So that leaves me to wish the new “One Voice Team”, Jon, Karen, Sanjay , Mark and Moyra the best of luck!   How did you manage to do One Voice on your own? I guess it was like having a minibusiness! It was like having to do a dissertation at University, three times a year. Roughly 12,000 words per edition. I am a driven and motivated person and saw each edition as a new opportunity. The hardest part was chasing articles if they had not met your deadline.  You would ask / send gentle reminders but sometimes you had to go without them, jig things around and change the content at the last minute. It always worked out in the end! As Editor, I felt fully responsible even when we had printing and technical errors which were completely outside of my control!

What tips would you give to the new team? Talk to different types of people, be really interested  in what they have to say or are doing in their lives. Be approachable and friendly and offer support to people writing their articles. Be motivated and have an ability to see the bigger picture. It is also important  to cope with pressure eg.  Deadlines - several articles  coming in at the same time or  articles not coming in, so  having to find alternative  material at very short notice. What was your vision for the future? I firmly believe that life is there for the taking. Yes, you might need some support from a pa , friend, family member, colleague. That enables you so that you can achieve in every aspect of your life be that in your leisure time or work time. Generally the greatest barrier is yourself.  Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies.  With my professional experience of disability through NMC - One Voice and Advocacy, and my personal experience through my own disability and my son’s, I am in the process of setting up my own business as a  Motivational Speaker / Life Coach / Advocate. I passionately believe that anybody can achieve in all aspects of their lives, whether they have a disability or not.

I am very excited about this venture and looking forward to working with NMC on projects in 2016. A Pharmaceutical company has asked me to speak later this month in Copenhagen at one of their events. They have asked for a patient to explain how they manage day to day living with Pompe disease. I am really looking forward to this opportunity but it will also be a bit daunting talking in front of 60 medical and commercial delegates from all over the world!

I see this as the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I always like to challenge myself, and as someone recently said to me, “you will not succeed until you move outside your comfort zone”.