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Screen-keen Dean
Dean Rhodes-Brandon set up an online service to market subtitled and audio-described cinema while he was still at school, and won the Daily Mail People’s Choice Award. Still only 18, this enterprising film fan says the UK leads the world in accessible cinema.
What’s the best thing about being disabled?
Well,
I’m profoundly deaf, practically blind in one eye and have mild
cerebral palsy, but most people don’t class themselves as disabled. I
get on with life and I’m very happy.
What makes you angry?
I’m
calm almost all the time: I rarely get angry. Frustrated sometimes,
like when the computer crashes in the middle of something important,
but I don’t really get angry!
What’s the funniest thing anyone’s ever said about your impairment? And what’s your best putdown?
Well, there’s always someone who comes out with “What are you – deaf?!” I reply “Yes, you fool”.
If you were Prime Minister, what one thing would you do to improve things for disabled people?
Enable
them to run their own business or have a job they’re happy in: make
their own money, feel good about themselves. Most people can do most
things if they try.
What’s the one thing that could be invented to make your life as a disabled person better?
Something
to let me hear perfectly, without hearing aids. I can’t wear hearing
aids when I’m asleep or swimming or in the shower. It would be safer if
I could hear at these times.
What do you most like about running a business?
Being
in control. My business is internet-based, so I can work from anywhere
with an internet connection, anytime. I like being able to decide my
own hours. It also enables me to attend college too, which is great.
And what do you not like about it?
No
proper holidays, unless I pay someone to do the work for me, which I
hate to do! So if I do go on holiday, I end up having to work. I’ve
never had more than four days off in a row. And my laptop and iphone
have to come with me.
Who’s your favourite disabled person ever?
I’d
have to say my mum, who’s quite mad, and the usual geniuses: Walt
Disney, Richard Branson, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Thomas
Edison, Lord Nelson.
Do you have any special or hidden talent?
Er, no.
If you didn’t have your impairment, which other one would you like to have for a day?
Tourettes Syndrome. I still live at home and I’m not allowed to swear.
How would you sum yourself up in ten words or less?
Happy, relaxed, oblivious to the world’s dangers.