A Life Worth Living
Acting, Activism and Everything Else
Tommy Jessop
Having read it
★★★★★
No book is perfect and anyway perfection is a waste of space, which is the exact opposite of Tommy Jessop and what he has achieved in his life so far.
This memoir which comes from the heart is honest and direct and represents so much of what the world needs more of plus has some interesting facts and a few of Tommy’s food and drink choices that keep him fuelled when he’s campaigning, assisting others and acting!
One could say it’s not a great read in its writing style or flow but it is a real and genuine eye-opener to a life lived under a label – Down syndrome – and facing and tackling the breaking down of disability barriers and preconceptions that we can all have, certainly when knowledge about these matters doesn’t always come from sources like this one.
Differences are not that different once you’ve scraped the instant judgement and mainstream, headline-grabbing surface and really, if effort is made for the details and diversity of life, everyone benefits.
A good passage
[...] It is my acting that has given me a platform to speak out about issues I care about. In 2021 I joined the campaign for the new Down Syndrome Bill, campaigning for it to become law. This was a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Dr Liam Fox MP. It was introduced to the House of Lords by Baroness Hollins and supported by the National Down Syndrome Policy Group, whose members include several people with Down syndrome and health professionals. I was honoured and proud to become one of their Ambassadors.
This is the most important campaign that I have been part of because for too long people ignored our gifts and hid us away. We didn’t learn anything and did not have jobs or get married. The Down Syndrome Act is to make sure everyone with Down syndrome gets a proper education, with teachers understanding how we learn, better healthcare and real employment opportunities. For example, diagnostic overshadowing is an issue for us. It leads to healthcare professionals getting things wrong because they don’t look at our symptoms properly. That really does scar us for life and can even kill us.