Tom shakespeare, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you, its great to be here. Great to have you. In your personal life and professional life everything has been intertwined in terms of your campaigning work, your academic work. I just wonder whether you ever, for a moment, considered going into something entirely disconnected from your own personal circumstances such as accountancy, law, geology . There are short people, restricted growth people in all of those professions. There are farmers, teachers, solicitors, everything. But i did not go that way. So as a social scientist i have always been interested in what ive experienced and disability has to be top of the list. Let me ask you about growing up. Your family has its own history which is important to talk about, i think. Your grandfather, it seems, experienced a mutation, a genetic mutation. My father. He was born in 1927. William shakespeare, unfortunate name. And his father, geoffrey, who was a Junior Minister in the liberal governmen
Everything has been intertwined in terms of your campaigning work, your academic work. Ijust wonder whether you ever, for a moment, considered going into something entirely disconnected from your own personal circumstances . Something like accountancy, law, geology . You know what, there are short people, restricted growth people in all of those professions. There are farmers, teachers, solicitors, everything. But i did not go that way. So as a social scientist, ive always been interested in what others experience and so obviously disability has to be top of the list. Let me ask you about growing up. Your family has its own history, which is important to talk about, i think. Your grandfather, it seems, experienced a mutation, a genetic mutation. My father. So, he was born in 1927. William shakespeare unfortunate name. And his father, geoffrey, who was a Junior Minister in the liberal government the last time the liberals were in coalition was very worried about it and was very upset ab
You ever, for a moment, considered going into something entirely disconnected from your own personal circumstances . Something like accountancy, law, geology . You know what, there are short people, restricted growth people in all of those professions. There are farmers, teachers, solicitors, everything. But i did not go that way. So as a social scientist, ive always been interested in what others experience and so obviously disability has to be top of the list. Let me ask you about growing up. Your family has its own history, which is important to talk about, i think. Your grandfather, it seems, experienced a mutation, a genetic mutation. My father. So, he was born in 1927. William shakespeare unfortunate name. And his father, geoffrey, who was a Junior Minister in the liberal government the last time the liberals were in coalition was very worried about it and was very upset about it because suddenly his child was short. The reason i mention the grandfather first because isnt it the
tom shakespeare, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, great to be here. it s great to have you. now, in your personal life and your professional life, everything has been intertwined in terms of your campaigning work, your academic work. ijust wonder whether you ever, for a moment, considered going into something entirely disconnected from your own personal circumstances? something like accountancy, law, geology? you know what, there are short people, restricted growth people in all of those professions. there are farmers, teachers, solicitors, everything. but i did not go that way. so as a social scientist, i ve always been interested in what others experience and so obviously disability has to be top of the list. let me ask you about growing up. your family has its own history, which is important to talk about, i think. your grandfather, it seems, experienced a mutation, a genetic mutation. my father. so, he was born in 1927. william shakespeare unfortunate name. and his fathe
yes. they can have a good life. and the thing is that if you look in the streets of our cities, you find lots of miserable people. they don t have my dna mutation, potentially, theyjust have hard lives and we can do something about that. were there societal pressures on you not to have children? yes, yes, there were. i remember when my daughter, when her mother was pregnant, there was an expectation, they showed that that pregnancy was affected by achondroplasia and i think there was an expectation. she was born in 1988, there was an expectation that we do the right thing and have a termination. we went. . .yeah? that was from the medical professionals around you? yes. notjust the medical profession. friends, colleagues thought it was the right thing to do. what about your own parents? well, my father was very welcoming he was a doctor and he knew the genetics, but he also knew that it need make no difference