Making something impossible possible

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[Music]

[Applause]

thank you very much for your applause

it’s funny really because we never

really think about the level of hand and

arm

function required to make a simple

clapping sound

it’s like so many other two-handed

activities we do hundreds of times a day

we don’t ever think about them but for

young people with a condition called

hemiplegia

two-handed activities are sometimes

impossible

in fact they’re incredibly difficult

so hemiplegia is caused by an injury to

the brain and the literal translation

is hemi half plegia paralysis

it affects approximately one in 1 300

people so it’s actually relatively

common

and it means that independent living is

a real struggle

in fact the people that we work with

they tell us that they have three top

goals they just want to be able to get

dressed independently

wash themselves independently cut up

their own food

and eat independently they tend to go to

mainstream schools but they spend

all day feeling like the worst or the

slowest of everything

it’s an incredibly difficult world for

them many of them suffer bullying and

teasing

and one thirteen-year-old girl who we’re

working with she said

that everyone in her school calls her

the one armed girl

and in her eyes she says well she

described her hemiplegia as a

horrendous and terrifying disability

now we’re very blessed in our country we

have a national health service that does

so much

and for so many people but for young

people with hemiplegia they have limited

access to services

they need to be given very often a lot

of monotonous exercises to practice on

their own accord

but they’re kids and they’re not usually

motivated to do so

so what’s our solution

well our solution is magic

literally magic let me introduce to you

my colleague richard mcdougall who’s a

professional magician

and he’s going to show you an example of

some part of our programme

would you like to see some magic yes

three of you great awkward

this is the mystery of the jumping ball

and it only takes place over a count of

ten

one two three four

five six seven eight

nine

ten

so it’s great magic but how does that

solve the solution

well let me tell you we’ve brought

together pediatric

specialist occupational therapists to

work alongside

magic circle magicians the therapists

explain the exact

type of exercises and movements that the

young people need to practice

to build up their muscle strength and

dexterity in their affected side

the magicians then go away and carefully

select magic tricks

that in the performing of the trick it

replicates the exact

movement and exercise that these young

people need to do

we then teach the young people how to

perform magic which works to improve

their self-esteem their confidence

and their communication skills so if we

look at this trick again

perhaps just the first half of this

trick say and look at the functional

reasons why this particular trick has

been selected

the mystery of the jumping ball so

in that first movement alone the young

people are having to engage the shoulder

extend the elbow extend the wrist and

use a pinching grasp

so the larger movements are essential

for things such as putting on a coat

the smaller movements for picking up

small objects

one two three four

and in this part of the sequence the

young people have to stretch their hands

out flat extending the fingers

followed by supination of the forearm or

turning the palms face up

so that translates exactly for example

to being able to

stabilize a piece of paper when you’re

writing or carrying a plate or a tray

five six seven eight

now this part is about coordination so

the young people have to be able to move

both hands independently yet

simultaneously

now that’s essential for so many things

in our day-to-day lives for example

using a knife and fall to cut up your

food

so you can see in just a small part of

that

sequence the huge number of reasons why

we use magic

and that’s just one trick of many that

we teach the young people

so we invite the young people to come

along for 10 days over their school

holiday

in their eyes to become young magicians

but from our perspective we’re able to

deliver

60 hours of intensive task focused

therapy

which i’m pretty sure the kids aren’t

going to be signing up to otherwise

it also means we’re able to meet what

nice recommends for this patient group

we’re under we’ve underpinned all of our

programs with scientific research

the papers have been published in

peer-reviewed medical journals

so we know that it works and our

national health service are now starting

to commission this as a clinical service

so that means if you live in certain

boroughs or regions

and you have hemiplegia you can go to

your gp

and be referred on to a magical therapy

program

how exciting is that

now magic is exciting and fun and it’s

very core

and that’s what’s one of the core

strengths of this program

because the young people are motivated

to go away and practice their magic

in a way that they weren’t with the

traditional exercises

now one of the other core reasons magic

works is we’re giving them a skill that

their friends don’t have

so one boy who we worked with said to us

after performing a short magic show

for the first time in my life people are

looking at me for all the things i can

do

rather than those things that i can’t

now there’s one other reason why i love

magic in this setting

and that is the exact um parallel

between magic

and the young people’s lives so when you

see magic

the reason you get that sense of wonder

and excitement

is because you think you’re seeing

something impossible

but when you learn magic you realize

that that thing that seemed impossible

is actually possible you just have to

put in a lot of hard work to get there

now we give the young people the

functional skills and self-belief to

take that

back into their everyday lives so all

those things that once seemed impossible

can be replaced with the possible

now it’s only right that we should give

the last word to the young people that

we’ve been working with

as after all it is their hard work and

their determination

that is making the magical difference to

their lives

it’s hard

if girls don’t feel

quite a bit sad because

none of the people in my class actually

have helped

enjoy except for me

so yeah

no can’t do it

oh man my new one’s done

doesn’t matter

i did it i did it

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in magical everybody believes in me

i’m not the only one with hemoplegic now

so i feel much happier

i feel much practice

there we go i feel

more confident doing more things than i

could before like

i can’t do that before but now i can

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when i came here and i saw other people

i didn’t know

that there was many of us but there

actually are

i feel not so much alone

because even though i’ve got another

person in my school

that has hemiplegia it’s

just

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makes me feel it makes me feel

although i’ve already seen this

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it makes me feel

less afraid actually

you