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 Anna Young - a remarkable young woman who wants to take her wheelchair into space |
Nobody's Child | Anna C Young | Camden book review
Matthew Lewin meets a remarkable young woman who wants to take her wheelchair into space Order this book
AT the bottom of every email that Anna Young sends out is the phrase: “Why do they say it is wrong that I am reaching for the stars?”
It is a phrase that in many ways sums up the frustrations she has faced in her life in her fight to overcome physical difficulties, neglect, mental health problems, prejudice and disappointment.
Despite her disabilities, Anna is now an active, independent woman who has fulfilled many of her ambitions, including getting a university degree, appearing in a film with Kevin Spacey, working as a freelance journalist interviewing celebrities and travelling widely around the world.
Anna was born in 1965 with the lower part of her body affected by cerebral palsy. She was the illegitimate result of a one-night-stand with a man from Pakistan, and her mother virtually abandoned her from the word go.
Her mother initially gave her to friends to look after “much as she might have given away a goldfish she had won at a fairground,” she writes in her remarkable autobiography, Nobody’s Child.
“My life has been a constant struggle against those who have tried to limit me and prevent me from being a full person,” she says.
“I’ve fought back against criticism and cruelty and I’m now more determined than ever that they shall not succeed. This book is a record of my successful struggle to be me – and to reach for the stars.”
After years of abandonment in a children’s home, Anna was finally placed with a foster family and, although she lived with them for many years, it was a very unhappy time. She felt that they were unsympathetic to her needs and ambitions.
As soon as she was able, Anna left the foster parents, determined to educate herself and make her way in the world. But initially the obstacles were so huge that they almost defeated her.
Various homes and colleges didn’t work out and at times she felt so suicidal that she took serious overdoses and became almost addicted to talking to The Samaritans on the telephone.
Finally, she came to London where she managed to buy a flat in Alexandra Road, Swiss Cottage, which she part owns with the Notting Hill Housing Trust. Thus settled, she was able to take a degree in philosophy, start her career as a freelance journalist and partly fulfil her dreams of becoming an actor.
She is a lively and active woman who prides herself on her appearance, wearing designer clothes and making regular visits to the hairdresser.
She has become adept at finding finance for her various ventures and her electric wheelchair, for example, is a remarkable machine which takes her all over the place, and can also lift her up to normal eye-height so people she is talking to don’t have to lean over her as if she was a child.
She also plays a part in public life, chairing the public and patients’ forum of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.
The book reflects many of the conflicting emotions she has had throughout her life. At times, for example, she is extremely bitter and angry with her mother, yet at other times she is sympathetic and even seems to be reaching out to her.
She is also very conflicted about her foster parents, about whom she has very little good to say. And yet, “they were the only family I ever knew,” she told me.
“There was an article about me once in a magazine in which I spoke about my foster parents, and I had a very angry call from my foster mother. They have a very different view of it all.”
Does she have any other great ambitions? “Yes, I would like to go into space!” she replied animatedly.
Given how she has overcome so many obstacles in her life, we shouldn’t be surprised if she manages to get to the stars after all.
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