0:00:03 > 0:00:06In '80s Wales, age-old prejudices were being challenged
0:00:06 > 0:00:09by a new generation of young men and women who,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13through sheer strength of character, refused to be broken.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18Anybody can get disabled through incident or accident,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20but it's how you deal with it is more important.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24It's how you live your life afterwards and what you do with it.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26From the minute I started doing wheelchair racing, it was like,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29"Wow, this is amazing, this is what I really, really want to do."
0:00:29 > 0:00:32And it gave me belief that I was good at something.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38I never thought that I would be good at anything, cos people used to say,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41"You'll never be good at anything, you're just a junkie."
0:00:41 > 0:00:43But there was me, now, I was getting promotion.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49This is the moving story of how pioneers like these
0:00:49 > 0:00:51faced up to their personal challenges.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54For them, it was make or break.
0:01:03 > 0:01:04At the beginning of the '80s,
0:01:04 > 0:01:09there was still much prejudice towards disability and diversity.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Those who looked or behaved differently from what was
0:01:12 > 0:01:16considered normal often faced hostility and rejection
0:01:16 > 0:01:19and there was very little provision for those who were
0:01:19 > 0:01:22disabled from birth or by serious injury.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29In 1982, after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands
0:01:29 > 0:01:33in the South Atlantic, Britain prepared to send a task force
0:01:33 > 0:01:35to reclaim its territory.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39The QE2 was requisitioned
0:01:39 > 0:01:42to carry over half the 9,000 troops to the other side of the world.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47On board was a battalion of Welsh Guards.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Among them was guardsman Simon Weston.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52I had a great time.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55You know, excitement and bravado in the beginning.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Cap badge over the left eye, never going to die, you know.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01You talk to most soldiers and they all think they're all bullet
0:02:01 > 0:02:06and bomb proof, you know, you've got a cap badge on, pfft, that's enough.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09It's the way you're indoctrinated, it's the way that you're trained,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12it's the way they teach you to think.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Events in the Falklands moved fast.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20British forces started landing on the 21st of May.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Within two weeks, thousands of troops occupied key parts
0:02:23 > 0:02:25of the island.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30But on the 8th of June, the planned amphibious assault on Bluff Cove
0:02:30 > 0:02:32became delayed.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37The troop ship, Sir Galahad, was left dangerously exposed to attack
0:02:37 > 0:02:39by Argentine bombers.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45Simon Weston was amongst a group of Welsh Guards on board.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48The last words I heard before I got injured was,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51"It's air raid warning green, it's red, it's red, get down, get down."
0:02:51 > 0:02:53The bomb came crashing through the side.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56It went into the engine room on the opposite side of the road,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00went through where I'd just finished playing poker dice
0:03:00 > 0:03:02and the bomb ignited the fuel.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05The fuel fire blew out over us,
0:03:05 > 0:03:09then the heat from the fire detonated the bomb.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14I tried to help somebody who sadly died in my arms
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and then I ran out of the fire. It was horrific.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22It's a part of my life that I'll never forget.
0:03:24 > 0:03:2848 men were killed on the Galahad and 97 injured.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31One of the most severely, Simon Weston.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39It took three weeks to get him to a specialised burns unit
0:03:39 > 0:03:41at a military hospital in Britain.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Hello, Weston, how are you feeling after your journey?
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Still very tired, are you?
0:03:50 > 0:03:53'The first week or two, it was a bit of a blur.'
0:03:53 > 0:03:54Stop! No!
0:03:54 > 0:03:56'I was just in so much pain'
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and psychologically, it was bewildering.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02You know, I had no idea what the world held for me at that point.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04I don't ever want a performance like that...
0:04:04 > 0:04:08'I had 12 operations in the first ten weeks of coming back.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10'You know, it was massive,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13'the amount of surgery I had to go through.'
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Advances in medicine were improving the prospects for prospects
0:04:17 > 0:04:20for people disabled through injury.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24However, in the early '80s, some wheelchair users were
0:04:24 > 0:04:29leading their own drive for a more active life, especially in sport.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37Tanni Grey-Thompson has been one of the most successful Welsh
0:04:37 > 0:04:39athletes of all time.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44She won an unprecedented 11 Paralympic gold medals, and her name
0:04:44 > 0:04:47became an icon of wheelchair racing.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53But her will to win was tested to its most extreme in her childhood
0:04:53 > 0:04:55in a battle for independence.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59I was born with spina bifida, so I tried walking with callipers
0:04:59 > 0:05:02and crutches, er, but it was really...
0:05:02 > 0:05:04It was hard and I couldn't do anything.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08So, for me, having a chair was amazingly liberating,
0:05:08 > 0:05:10because I could go to school on my own,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13I could play with my friends, I could run away from my sister.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16You know, I could just do the things I wanted to do, so, you know,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19not everybody who becomes a wheelchair user experiences it
0:05:19 > 0:05:23from this point of view, but for me, the chair was independence.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26And I wanted to play sport, you know, I wanted to be active, so
0:05:26 > 0:05:31I was always racing around in my chair and I've always been wilful,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35stubborn, bit difficult, er, and determined.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Actually, my dad would say bloody minded.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Dad, because he'd been ill as a child,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45he knew that, actually, it was really important for me to be fit
0:05:45 > 0:05:48and healthy and strong, so he encouraged me to do sport.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Not to be an elite athlete,
0:05:51 > 0:05:52but I remember him saying to me,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54"If you need to go somewhere where there's steps
0:05:54 > 0:05:57"and there's no lift, well, how are you going to get up there?
0:05:57 > 0:05:59"You can't sit and wait for someone to carry you, you need to get
0:05:59 > 0:06:02"out of your wheelchair, you need to crawl up the stairs, you need to
0:06:02 > 0:06:05"drag your chair, you know, you need to be doing this for yourself."
0:06:05 > 0:06:09So, the encouragement for me to do sport was about that
0:06:09 > 0:06:10health at the beginning.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16The support that Tanni enjoyed reflected a more caring attitude
0:06:16 > 0:06:18to children's welfare in the '80s.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24But where there was poverty, it was the children who often suffered most.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28One of the biggest problems was domestic abuse
0:06:28 > 0:06:31and the consequences could have long-lasting repercussions.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35This is Tiger Bay,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40where Yaina Samuels spent her early childhood.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Her mother came from a mixed race family in the valleys
0:06:44 > 0:06:46and her father from Sierra Leone.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50But life for Yaina and her brother was far from happy
0:06:50 > 0:06:55because their family home was traumatised by domestic abuse.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58We were having to deal with so many things as children.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01We couldn't really understand what was going on, erm,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04just that our mum was being hurt.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09So, you know, as a child of about seven or eight, erm,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13wanting to save your mother but not knowing what to do,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16cos you don't have the strength to fight him off,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and nobody's listening to you cos everybody's screaming and
0:07:19 > 0:07:24shouting and hitting and everything, and I just felt so, so powerless.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31That experience growing up in domestic violence
0:07:31 > 0:07:33did have a massive impact on me.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Yaina's mother left the family home to escape the violence.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43So, as a young teenager, she took on all the housework
0:07:43 > 0:07:45for her father and brothers.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49She was bright at school and a budding gymnast,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53but her father stifled all her interests.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56My dad was too busy working and earning a living,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58cos he was the only breadwinner, my mum had gone.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04So I was doing all the chores in the house, stuff like that, erm,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and then I just started to rebel.
0:08:07 > 0:08:13Staying out late, come back, I'd get battered and I thought,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16"I ain't putting up with this. I'm gone."
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Yaina's teenage years were in turmoil.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Her flight from her father's violence led to spells
0:08:23 > 0:08:25in a remand home and Borstal.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28She had a child.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Then, through a friend in Newport, Yaina fell into heroin abuse.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39In the '80s, youth unemployment soared,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43fuelling drug taking of all kinds in Wales.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46But the rise in the use of heroin was most serious
0:08:46 > 0:08:49amongst those with troubled lives.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52The buzz went straight to your head because it's going in the vein,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54isn't it? So the buzz was instant.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57I used to say, "If you can mix it, fix it."
0:08:57 > 0:08:59I didn't want anything orally.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03It had to go into a syringe and up my arm.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07It gave me a sense of belonging amongst my peers for the first time.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10That sense of belonging with people that used was really important.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12They became my family.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Many teenagers found escape from deep emotional issues
0:09:25 > 0:09:28by having a good time with their mates.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31It could help loosen any inhibitions they had with the opposite sex.
0:09:31 > 0:09:37But in the 1980s, saying "I'm gay" took a lot of nerve.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Whether to friends or parents, coming out was a tense affair.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44And if you were in the public eye,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47it could be the biggest decision of your life.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Stifyn Parri was enjoying a rapid rise to fame
0:09:56 > 0:09:59after growing up in a rural village in North Wales.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Yet, as his career advanced,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08he found it impossibly hard to be open about his sexual persuasion.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18When it came to my sexuality, it's not like you wake up one day go,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20"Oh, I'm gay," or, "Oh, my God, I'm gay!"
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Or somebody switches a light bulb on.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Erm, it's a very slow...
0:10:26 > 0:10:31or it was for me, a very slow, gradual process.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33I don't really know when I came out to myself.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37It could have been anything between the age of eight
0:10:37 > 0:10:39and in my mid-twenties.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44In 1982, Stifyn landed a part in Coleg,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46a soap opera on the newly launched S4C.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52He was playing a normal heterosexual character, but as the series
0:10:52 > 0:10:58progressed, Stifyn's natural homosexuality became apparent.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02After two years in the soap opera, I could see that the writers
0:11:02 > 0:11:07were starting to think of maybe changing my character to be gay,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11because I, as a person, had been choosing what clothes I would wear
0:11:11 > 0:11:15and I was always ending up in yellow and green dungarees
0:11:15 > 0:11:19and going out in my own time to buy buttons to go on them.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Then, in 1986, the writers of Brookside were
0:11:24 > 0:11:27looking for someone to play an openly gay character.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32I get a call from my agent and my agent says,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36"You have an audition to play Gordon's...'friend'."
0:11:36 > 0:11:41And we all knew by the way that she said "friend"
0:11:41 > 0:11:45that that meant it was his boyfriend.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50I get the part of playing quite a gregarious, two-faced,
0:11:50 > 0:11:57cocky character, erm, very out, very outspoken.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Their peck on the cheek was the first gay kiss on TV.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Such portrayals were controversial and pushed the boundaries
0:12:07 > 0:12:10of society's attitude to diversity.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14But, for Stifyn, acting the role of a gay man was very different
0:12:14 > 0:12:17to coming out himself in public.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Even after two years in the Brookside part,
0:12:20 > 0:12:25'Stifyn was reluctant to make such a statement about his sexuality,
0:12:25 > 0:12:30'yet within the gay community, he was already a star.'
0:12:30 > 0:12:35'There I was, in Brookside, starting to become this sort of gay icon,'
0:12:35 > 0:12:40because, of course, there weren't many iconic characters that were out
0:12:40 > 0:12:45on the television for people to look up to.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47I was more or less telling a lie at the time,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51but I do believe that you have to come out in your own time.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Simon Weston was medically discharged from the army
0:13:00 > 0:13:01in March 1985.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08Much had been achieved with surgery to repair his physical injuries,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12but, as he started to come to terms with his future in civvy street,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15there were now major challenges with his mental health.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22I was just trying to get through, trying to muddle my way through,
0:13:22 > 0:13:26you know, trying to be macho in the sense that nothing's getting to me.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29And the problem is that, when you do that,
0:13:29 > 0:13:34that's when you're at your most vulnerable because you try to...
0:13:34 > 0:13:38You try to think that you can handle it and you can't.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46But I was going through mental health problems.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50I had depression, I was drinking too much.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53All I wanted to do was get back to the life I'd had before.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58I wanted to be who I used to be, that's what I wanted.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00I wanted to play rugby, I wanted to be in the army,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02I wanted my life to be normal again,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04but that was never going to be the case.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09I contemplated taking my own life,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13but it was only a cry for help, it was only a cry because I was
0:14:13 > 0:14:18so depressed, I was so lonely, my life just wasn't happy.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Simon was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28But, despite his mental anguish,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31he battled on with the support of his family.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39The 1980s saw a transformation in wheelchair racing
0:14:39 > 0:14:45and it became a magnet for lovers of sport, like Tanni Grey-Thompson.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48I loved that element of competing, of being better and from the minute
0:14:48 > 0:14:51I started doing wheelchair racing, it was like,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54"Wow, this is amazing, this is what I really, really want to do."
0:14:54 > 0:14:55And I loved it.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02For all aspiring athletes in the sport, it was a must
0:15:02 > 0:15:05to compete at the birthplace of the Paralympic Games,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13At the age of 13, Tanni was picked to race for Wales there.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Stoke Mandeville had this huge influence
0:15:16 > 0:15:18because it's the first time that I got to meet lots
0:15:18 > 0:15:23of other wheelchair users who were sporty and it made me feel
0:15:23 > 0:15:26that what I wanted to do was OK.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28And then maybe at 13 or 14, you think you're quite good
0:15:28 > 0:15:32and then you see how much better you need to be.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36And I remember thinking, "OK, what do I need to do?
0:15:36 > 0:15:38"OK, what steps? How much do I need to train?"
0:15:38 > 0:15:40You know, "What chair do I need?"
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Wheelchair racing is an incredibly technical sport.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54When you're pushing at your top speed, you're only in contact
0:15:54 > 0:15:56with the rim for less than 0.1 of a second,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00so it's not about brute strength, it's about your strength
0:16:00 > 0:16:02through the speed, through the rim.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04And then it's about how you manipulate your hand speed,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07your cadence, which part of the rim you push,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10so you're making lots and lots of different decisions.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15I think, being sporty, what it gave me was belief
0:16:15 > 0:16:18that I was good at something and that I could be better.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22Tanni trained hard over the next four years
0:16:22 > 0:16:26and was rewarded with selection to represent Great Britain
0:16:26 > 0:16:30at the Paralympic Games in Seoul in 1988.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34Having been brought up in Cardiff and not really travelled that much,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36to suddenly be on the team for Seoul...
0:16:36 > 0:16:39I think I was one of the final athletes to be selected.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41But to get that letter through which said, you know,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45"Dear Tanni, congratulations, you've been selected for Seoul,"
0:16:45 > 0:16:47was incredible.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50And, for me, you know, winning the bronze was just huge,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54and then had the medal ceremony, which was amazing.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05In the '80s, towns like Aberystwyth were transformed by an influx
0:17:05 > 0:17:08of young people, especially students.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12The popularity of the university fired up the night life
0:17:12 > 0:17:14with the seafront community.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23It was here in 1981 that Yaina Samuels was offered the job
0:17:23 > 0:17:26of store manager at the Wimpey Bar.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30"Wow, me?! Yeah! OK, I'll have some of that!"
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Free flat on top, yeah, right by the sea.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38The street that my flat was on, you walked straight down the street
0:17:38 > 0:17:40and there's the sea.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43"Wonderful," I thought, "absolutely wonderful."
0:17:43 > 0:17:45So I took the job.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Yaina moved to Aberystwyth to escape her heroin abuse
0:17:49 > 0:17:53and get her life on a proper track with new friends.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56But after her best friend from Newport joined her,
0:17:56 > 0:18:01it all fell apart and she started using heroin again.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04Slipping back into heroin masked deep seated problems
0:18:04 > 0:18:08caused by her father's domestic abuse in her childhood.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14I hadn't really dealt with the reasons for why
0:18:14 > 0:18:17I was using in the first place.
0:18:17 > 0:18:24I found pleasure in it, it was a release from the pain in my life,
0:18:24 > 0:18:29it was a way of blocking out my feelings, my emotions,
0:18:29 > 0:18:30my low self-esteem.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Even though I was in the job and I was a manager,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36I didn't feel good about myself, I didn't like myself at all.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42A year went by and then the police raided Yaina's flat.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46And although she managed to dispose of the heroin,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48she lost her job at the Wimpey Bar.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52Yaina returned to Cardiff.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58By the mid-80s, South Wales was awash with heroin,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01where its use had increased tenfold in a few years.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Yaina continued to take heroin.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Then, in 1986, she was raided again.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13This time, her 11-year-old son was with her.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18I was horrified that that had happened while my son was there
0:19:18 > 0:19:22to witness it and that shook me up, big time.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25And it was then I made that decision that,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28"Things have got to change.
0:19:28 > 0:19:33I went and registered myself with the clinic, with a drug clinic,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37and then I was put onto a methadone treatment programme.
0:19:39 > 0:19:45Stifyn Parri felt pressure to make his big change, to finally come out.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48In 1988, he was invited to join the gay rights movement.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54In the '80s, AIDS was falsely regarded as a gay plague,
0:19:54 > 0:19:58leading to extreme hostility towards homosexuals.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02In this climate of fear, the government enacted Clause 28,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06banning local authorities from promoting homosexuality.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09All this compounded Stifyn's inner turmoil
0:20:09 > 0:20:12when he went on the march against it.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16If you're closeted, if you're hiding something, you are very clever,
0:20:16 > 0:20:21and, of course, I was there as an actor representing gay people
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and I hid behind that.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28So I find myself with Ian McKellan and Michael Cashman.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33I felt a little bit like Ava Peron, but I still had the little Stifyn
0:20:33 > 0:20:39in me that I wasn't actually letting out, a bizarre position to be.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43Clause 28, banning the promotion of homosexuality,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45was repealed 15 years later.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51After leaving the army,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Simon Weston struggled to fill a great void in his life.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58The turning point came when he was invited to become an honorary
0:20:58 > 0:21:02member of FAB, the charity for bringing physically handicapped
0:21:02 > 0:21:05and able-bodied people together.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09You'll have to come on a FAB weekend, cos they are an experience!
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Simon was inspired to set up his own charity, Weston Spirit,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17with the aim of helping inner city youngsters keep out of trouble
0:21:17 > 0:21:18through activity courses.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Get yourselves under, come on!
0:21:21 > 0:21:24'We just came up with this idea that we wanted to do something that
0:21:24 > 0:21:27'would help youngsters take charge of their own destiny
0:21:27 > 0:21:31'and to realise that they were the best investment they could make.'
0:21:31 > 0:21:33The most important person in their life was them
0:21:33 > 0:21:36and the decisions they make and take would affect their life,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39directly or indirectly, forever.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42And we just wanted to change the direction of a lot
0:21:42 > 0:21:45of youngsters who were making poor choices.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48The activities included Simon taking the youngsters
0:21:48 > 0:21:49to visit disabled groups.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56The families saw their loved ones no longer being a problem.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58They saw them being somebody who was contributing to society,
0:21:58 > 0:22:03rather than somebody just taking and abusing society
0:22:03 > 0:22:07and it made a massive difference to a lot of young people.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10I'm immensely proud of what we achieved.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12You've seen more of the world than I have!
0:22:12 > 0:22:15We just don't know...
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Anybody can be injured, anybody can be damaged,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22anybody can get disabled through incident or accident,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24but it's how you deal with it is more important,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28it's how you live your life afterwards or what you do with it.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33It really comes down to what you're prepared to do with what's happened.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Being injured, it changed my life, quite literally, in a flash,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41but all it did was change the direction of it.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44It didn't stop me living my life.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Simon Weston became an iconic figure, much-loved
0:22:49 > 0:22:53and respected for his triumph over tragedy.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04Tanni Grey-Thompson's success in 1988 was crowned
0:23:04 > 0:23:07when she was presented with an award by the pioneer wheelchair
0:23:07 > 0:23:11racing champion from Pontypool, Chris Hallam.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13..and congratulate you on becoming the first
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Western Mail Welsh Disabled Sports Personality of the Year.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Thanks very much.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22I think, if I'd been born in another part of Britain,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25I wouldn't have had some of the sporting opportunities that I had.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28You know, the fact that I lived, you know, 15 miles away
0:23:28 > 0:23:32from Chris Hallam, who was a huge icon in disability sport
0:23:32 > 0:23:37in the '80s, who broke down so many of the barriers
0:23:37 > 0:23:42in terms of media coverage and sponsorship and attitudes...
0:23:42 > 0:23:45He just put wheelchair racing on the map.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49And then, because he was in Wales, for me to come behind him,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51it was so much easier for me to get publicity
0:23:51 > 0:23:54and to get coverage and to be treated as an athlete
0:23:54 > 0:23:56and nothing else.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01And, you know, without Chris Hallam, then I don't think, actually,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04Paralympics would be where it is today.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10Tanni went on to win four silver and 11 gold medals in the Paralympics.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15She now sits in the House of Lords as the Baroness Grey-Thompson.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22In 1989, Yaina Samuels was making new friends
0:24:22 > 0:24:25and holding down a deputy manager job in Cardiff.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29She was staying free of heroin with the help of her methadone programme.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33But feelings of inadequacy still haunted her.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37Then, one day, an enlightened council training scheme
0:24:37 > 0:24:38changed her life.
0:24:38 > 0:24:45There was this advert in the paper for trainee black housing officers.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48I thought, "Black, that's me!
0:24:48 > 0:24:51"Housing officer, that's not me...
0:24:51 > 0:24:52"but that could be me!"
0:24:54 > 0:24:58So I thought, "Wow!" I thought, "I'm going to have a go."
0:24:58 > 0:24:59And I got it.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02I mean, I was really gobsmacked by all this, I was like, "Whoa!"
0:25:02 > 0:25:05I mean, really gobsmacked, because for somebody who's grown-up
0:25:05 > 0:25:10believing that they're not good at anything
0:25:10 > 0:25:15and has low self-worth, then for me to get these jobs, it was a massive,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18absolutely massive boost for my confidence.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22A year later, Yaina was appointed housing officer
0:25:22 > 0:25:24for Cardiff City Council.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29Her experience of abuse and addiction helped Yaina excel at her job.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32It was also a way to put her past to right.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37I loved my job because I felt I was in control of something.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40I could help somebody flee domestic violence.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43I totally understood domestic violence
0:25:43 > 0:25:45and the impact it had on children.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48I totally understood drug addiction
0:25:48 > 0:25:51and the impact it had on the wider family.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56It was kind of a healing process for me, as well,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01cos it helped me come to terms with what happened
0:26:01 > 0:26:04while I was growing up.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08The ordeal that Yaina and her family went through
0:26:08 > 0:26:10inspired her to set up Nu-Hi Training,
0:26:10 > 0:26:15a ground-breaking social enterprise to help addicts with their recovery.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20In 2014, Yaina won the St David's Award for Citizenship
0:26:20 > 0:26:23from the Welsh government for her remarkable work.
0:26:25 > 0:26:31In 1988, after much media attention, Stifyn Parri felt the pressure
0:26:31 > 0:26:35for him to come out could go on no longer, but it would be
0:26:35 > 0:26:39on his own terms and it was his mother he had to tell first.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43She said, "You do realise that a lot of people in the village
0:26:43 > 0:26:44"think you ARE gay, don't you?"
0:26:46 > 0:26:50And it was at that point that my barrier came right down
0:26:50 > 0:26:55and I said, "Well, it's taken me years to tell you this,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57"but I am."
0:26:57 > 0:27:02And she took one look at me and said, "No, you're not,"
0:27:02 > 0:27:04and she left the room.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08And I shouted and said, "Please come back. It has taken so long
0:27:08 > 0:27:11"for me to come and tell you this and it's important
0:27:11 > 0:27:13"that you understand."
0:27:13 > 0:27:15And I got her to sit down.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19I told her another few people that she really loved and adored
0:27:19 > 0:27:23and looked up to were also gay, and she realised
0:27:23 > 0:27:28that I was still her son and that she had nothing to worry about.
0:27:28 > 0:27:35I realised I was far more whole as a person once I'd come out
0:27:35 > 0:27:40and felt that I had nothing to hide or nothing to be ashamed of.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43I felt more fully rounded as a person.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47By the end of the '80s,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50there was a growing acceptance of difference and diversity.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Simon Weston met Lucy when she volunteered to help
0:27:55 > 0:27:59with his charity, Weston Spirit, and they married in May 1990.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Two years later, he was awarded an OBE.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Simon's approach to life was at the heart of his recovery
0:28:10 > 0:28:14and it has also brought a lasting success to his marriage.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18When you've got that chance to enjoy yourself, grab it.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22When you've got that chance to have a laugh, grab it.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26And we do, we really do and it's very, very funny.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31But, you know, you have to take those moments when you can get them.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36The 1980s saw the beginning of a transformation
0:28:36 > 0:28:42in attitudes to disability, diversity and drug addiction,
0:28:42 > 0:28:46made possible by the extraordinary courage of our Welsh pioneers.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Next time, we look at the new passion for culture
0:28:50 > 0:28:54and history in Wales that inspired its fight for survival.