Alan Thomas is a seasoned traveller. We first met at a BBC Capture Wales workshop in Haverfordwest, Wales, and we’ve met a few times since then too .. at DS4 and at BBC Wales and it’s always good to catch up. Alan has a condition called cerebellar ataxia which affects movement, balance and speech. Ever since making his first story, Alan’s been an advocate of digital storytelling when meeting people, speaking at conferences and in his blog. Alan is now Chairman of Ataxia South Wales and they’ve just launched their new bilingual website at http://ataxiasouthwales.org.uk
Alan went on to make another digital story – facilitated by the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling at the University of Glamorgan – to show at the European Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference in Vienna in December 2008. Stepping Stones:
Stepping Stone from Digital Stories on Vimeo.
The Ataxia South Wales website says that over 10,000 people in the UK have a form of ataxia. There is currently no cure but worldwide research is continuing to try to find an answer. The work Alan does as Chair of the organisation, using digital storytelling and speaking at international conferences is going to help in raising awareness and finding ways of tackling ataxia.