Company
of Friends are a group of performers with learning
disabilities who put on plays, make films, dance, sing and generally have a
good time...
But there is a serious point to
everything the company does. It's all about independence- independence in love,
life and work.
The Company was founded by my dad, the
late John Rand, a clinical psychologist and also the father of a son with Down
Syndrome, my brother.
In the 1960s and 70s he was tasked with
getting people with learning disabilities out of so-called 'sub-normal' homes
and off long-term drug regimes.
He was passionate about not
underestimating how independent people with learning disabilities can be. It is
a challenge but it is also essential in a civilised society.
He felt that creativity, imagination
and performance are often extremely powerful as
expressions of freedom and independence.
In 2008, he helped set up a theatre group and they called it The Company
of Friends
With a simple motto: All are welcome!
John had a lot of contacts in the USA
through his work so it was with great excitement that we were invited to the
Young Adults Institute in New York to make a presentation at their 2014
conference on the theme of designing the future for people with learning
disabilities. The Young Adults Institute was set up after shocking revelations
in the 1970s by daytime TV host Geraldo of conditions inside an institution for
people with learning disabilities.
Fortunately, things have changed but
there is still a long way to go.
The company were all fired up to be
going to New York and to tell everyone about our work and meet other groups who
might inspire us as well. The only problem was….
Money.
We haven't got any. We are all volunteers.
So if you could give Company of Friends
a helping hand over the Pond to the Big Apple, we would be really really
grateful. Thank you!
Thank you!
Helena Kane
Be an ANGEL for Company of Friends
We can’t
offer you champagne and first nights, red carpets and limos, but if you would
like to make a small donation to Company of Friends to make performance a route
to independence for people with learning disabilities, then…..
You can be a
CHERUB for $25 (15.00 UKP / 18.00 EURO)
Or an ANGEL
for $50 (30.00 UKP / 36.00 EURO)
Or an
Archangel for $100 (60.00 / 72.00 EURO)
Please upload
a photo/avatar and we will design an angelic certificate just for you!