The Difference Makers

‘The Difference Makers’ is about unconditional love, friendship, perseverance and triumph. The story unfolds around a group of parents seeking answers for the safety of their children against the backdrop of the news report, published in the autumn of 2007, of premature deaths among people with learning disabilities in the UK. Spearheaded by Emily Beacon, a mother of a child with Down syndrome, the local Down syndrome parents support group, alongside other support groups, worked tirelessly to make sense of what premature deaths mean for them. Every parent was asking two unresolved questions: ‘Could this happen to their child?’ And, ‘What’s the government doing about it?’ Their deep fear about their children’s safety was only made worse by the pervasive silence following the publication. A serendipitous interview by their local radio gave them the platform to voice their inner turmoil. Emily Beacon’s words reverberated across local and national radio stations of the inconceivable agony that parents endured, and of health and social inequalities. A few days following the radio phone-in programmes were aired, the nation witnessed an unprecedented impact. The parents’ audacious call for change was finally answered when the British Prime Minister reached out to them.