Making something impossible possible
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[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