Body confident

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-51206154/hannah-the-body-positive-quadruple-amputee

Hannah Olateju lives in the UK and works in social media. She is a very confident and happy person. When Hannah was 2 years old she had meningitis and had all four limbs amputated to save her life. As she was growing up, Hannah says she did not see pictures of amputees like her.

"When I was younger I never really saw people like myself on TV. I didn't see anything so I became that example for myself."

Hannah says, "People sometimes feel quite uncomfortable with an amputee and they don't really know how to cope with you or how to manage or how to speak sometimes. So I always make a point of complimenting them or making a joke, basically showing them that everything's fine."

"I think it's very important that people like myself or people who aren't seen as normal are seen in normal circumstances because we need to show people that we are just like them.... life is not that different. The only difference between you and me is that I have less limbs."

"It's OK, it's OK to be yourself. To people who think that we should just be behind the curtain and not be looked at, they need to get a life first of all, and they need to go and focus on their own life and let people like myself continue living our best life."

What do you see in the picture?
How is the person in the picture similar to you?
How is the person in the picture different to you?

explain the story

- Hannah talks about being an amputee; what is an amputee?
- Listening to Hannah talk, what do you think she feels about being an amputee?
- "People sometimes feel uncomfortable with an amputee.." why?
- why does Hannah make a joke with people when she meets them?
- what is Hannah trying to show people around her all the time?
- Why doesn't Hannah hide her limbs?
- what does the wording on the Tshirt mean?
- "Life is not that different." what does Hannah mean?
- how do you think Hannah felt growing up and never seeing images of amputees?
- If Hannah came to our school, would she feel different? How would we make sure Hannah did not feel different at our school?
- What can we learn from Hannah?
- Why is this story about No Outsiders?

www.no-outsiders.com

No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the equality act in primary schools by Andrew Moffat