Life Changers Wales in the Nineties


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In the '90s, Wales faced an explosion of social issues.

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From drink and drugs to disability rights and teen mums,

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they were to test the strength of many men and women.

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I think it just makes you more active and proactive,

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and we called ourselves the last of the civil rights movements.

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My daughter was in my arms and I just grew up, just like that.

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In a way, it was as if to say, this is my responsibility now.

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I was able to pass on my experience of addiction

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because you tell them how it felt for you.

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And when you see people who've got well, it's an achievement.

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This is the story of people who overcame

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extreme personal challenges.

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Through sheer willpower, they changed their lives for good.

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The '90s was a decade of change

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in some of the major social issues in Wales.

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Recreational use of drink and drugs

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became prevalent throughout the nation.

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Teenage pregnancy, once the shame of family and neighbours,

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was the highest in Europe.

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And disabled people were starting to fight for their rights.

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Disabled people had had equal access to recreational

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and educational services since the 1970s.

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But by the early '90s, they still had no legal protection

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against discrimination.

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Activists wanted that to change.

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Rosie Moriarty-Simmonds was born with severe impairments

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which affected her limbs

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after her mother took the drug thalidomide during pregnancy.

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Instead of arms, Rosie has four fingers, and she cannot walk.

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She got a degree in psychology and applied for many jobs,

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but felt she was always turned down because of her disability.

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And even when an offer did come,

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it was withdrawn because of her access requirements.

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I think I cried for three days, then I got angry,

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then I got frustrated again, then I got angry again.

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And then I thought, this is absolutely ridiculous.

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Somebody has to give me a break.

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And eventually I did get a break,

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but I can see how some people give up.

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And I've always felt that I'm lucky, I can speak for myself,

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so if I can speak for myself, I should also be speaking for

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and advocating for those who can't.

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I think it just makes you more active and proactive,

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and you want to go out and make change.

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I think it was at that stage that I kind of became the bossy little,

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feisty little madam that I've grown up to be.

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Though eventually Rosie found a job in the civil service,

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her interest in disability politics led to a complete career change.

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The real political activism for me happened in the early '90s,

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when there was no anti-discrimination legislation

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and I was getting more and more involved.

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I retrained, did a home journalism course,

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also getting involved in disability equality training

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and campaigning.

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You had DAN, who were the Direct Action Network.

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You had Disability Wales

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and you had the Cardiff and Vale Coalition of Disabled People.

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And we would hold demonstrations fighting for legislation,

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particularly in Wales.

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What I would teach within disability equality training

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would be to the social model of disability,

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but the world in which we lived was the medical model of disability.

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And the difference between the two is that the medical model

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looks at the disabled person and sees them as the problem,

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whereas the social model of disability

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turns it completely on its head and looks at society.

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And it says it's society that's the problem,

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and it's society that has to change to accommodate

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and include disabled people.

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There were so many issues that needed to be addressed.

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Everything from disabled people and employment,

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education, access to transport, access to information,

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and that's why disabled people had to stand up

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and fight for these rights.

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So trying to get members of society to understand that,

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we'd hold demonstrations in London, you know, march up Whitehall,

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start off in Trafalgar Square, bring the traffic to a standstill.

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We called ourselves the last of the civil rights movements.

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-What do we want?

-Civil rights!

-When do we want them?

-Now!

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So the more radical the activities,

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the more press coverage you would get.

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And then you would get society, hopefully, asking questions.

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And then through the education route,

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people like myself would come along and answer those questions.

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In 1995, the campaigners got a result

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when the Disability Discrimination Act was established

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to improve the rights of disabled people.

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For the first time it would be unlawful for employers

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to discriminate against someone on grounds of disability.

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I believe that it was very successful,

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because as a result of having the legislation

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some people who would not have bothered,

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suddenly found that they had to make change,

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and certainly, as far as employment and education and service provision,

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it's made huge differences for disabled people.

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In the late '90s, music, magazines and the internet

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were a magnetic attraction for young people,

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and the reason was sex.

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But growing numbers of teenagers having underage sex

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led to more schoolgirl mums in Wales than anywhere in western Europe.

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The stories behind the headlines

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were often due to poor sex education.

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Some were due to troubled family circumstances.

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The most troubled of all were those who suffered sexual abuse

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as children.

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Samantha Yemm grew up with her brother and two sisters

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near Newport.

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When I was round about five years old, my mum worked quite a lot,

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she was in the butchers trade at that time.

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So my mum worked a lot, my dad worked a lot.

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He worked with the funeral home.

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So, come the summer holidays and things like that,

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it was very hard for my mum to get a sitter

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so we ended up going to my Grancha's house quite a lot.

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And my Grancha was our main carer at that time.

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But unbeknown to Samantha's parents, her grandfather, Grancha,

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was sexually abusing her and her older sister.

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When I was five, that's when it started.

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Erm, I can remember everything up until...

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..maybe the age of seven.

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And I've blanked everything out since then,

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cos it was sexual intercourse.

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As Samantha grew older,

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the opportunities for her grandfather's abuse became fewer,

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until they ceased altogether.

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For Samantha, like many young teenage girls and boys,

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secondary school discos were like a rite of passage.

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It seems natural that here,

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sexual feelings were aroused for the first time.

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Obviously, you go into the big school,

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and it's like, oh, my God, boys, boys, boys.

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You know, proper teenage, proper girl.

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And I didn't feel at that time I was a really attractive person,

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because, to me, I wasn't.

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It was, like, "Oh, a boy's interested in me." "Hi", sort of thing.

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When Samantha was 14, she began going out with an older boy.

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Though she suppressed the memories of her grandfather's abuse,

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Samantha had mixed feelings about sex with her boyfriend

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for the first time.

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David was very charming.

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Erm...he was a very attractive boy.

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He looked a bit like Tom Cruise!

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He had the smile.

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But the first day I had sexual intercourse with David,

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erm, it didn't feel abnormal.

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I wasn't frightened. I wasn't scared.

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But I felt that regardless of what happened with my grandfather

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I still needed that male figure,

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because that's what was going to cure me.

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I always felt that I was missing that, kind of, interaction, maybe,

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of a sexual relationship.

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So being with David and actually having sex with him

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that very first time was like a connection for me,

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as though, OK, I'm not going to let him go now because he's mine.

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And because he was showing me some kind of attention

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that made me whole as a person.

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He made me feel wanted, loved, and he cared for me quite a lot.

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And, erm...

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I don't know, we just clicked, and it was what I was looking for,

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I thought.

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But the young couple made no attempt to use contraception.

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For a lot of people in the '90s, drinking was full-on.

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Bingeing by both sexes became the fashion amongst the young.

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But the reasons that led some to extreme drinking

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were often personal.

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It increased the chance of alcohol dependency,

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especially for those vulnerable to psychological issues.

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In Newport, for example, 40% of men drank more than was safe for health.

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Mike McNamara was lead singer with Big Mac's Wholly Soul Band

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based in the city.

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I loved all that type of music so it was great to be able to do,

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to, sort of, emulate all those heroes of mine, you know?

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Sam Cook and Wilson Pickett and all that sort of early gutsy soul.

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And because there's so much excitement,

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everybody just gets into the spirit of it and wants to dance.

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# I feel good

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# I knew that I should... #

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But there was a problem.

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Mike needed to drink in order to boost his self-confidence

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when performing.

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There was a certain point with the booze,

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where it enabled you to do the job without the fear.

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But once I started drinking, I couldn't stop.

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You felt good about yourself. You felt you could talk to people.

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You felt you could communicate with people.

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You could get on great with people.

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All of a sudden, you know, the shackles were thrown off,

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and so you think to yourself,

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I like that, I'll have a bit more of that.

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And then, eventually, it takes over.

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And it ruins you. Destroys you.

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I can remember falling out of the car at one gig,

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and we'd been drinking 2020...

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..special brew and the show was dreadful.

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My wife was there and she said, you were terrible.

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Erm...

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But I thought I was great. I thought I was great that night.

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And I was dreadful. Singing out of tune, didn't...

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You know, I wasn't aware of what was going on,

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what the band was playing or anything.

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In 1996, Mike's drinking reached crisis point.

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I'd been drinking all night, I got a bottle of white wine

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from behind the bar to go home with

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and I'm lying in bed at four o'clock in the morning, wide awake,

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and my wife turns around, she looked at me,

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and I could see the look of despair.

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At this moment, Mike realised he needed to reach out for help.

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In the '90s, police busts of drug dealers were rising.

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-Police officers!

-Police!

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Addiction could cost users over £100 a day,

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often funded by crime.

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And their family lives were reduced to chaos.

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Brian Morris was in it up to his neck.

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A drug dealer, addicted to heroin.

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He lived in Amsterdam with his partner, who was also hooked.

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Their six-week-old baby boy was treated for the addiction.

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I owed Turkish heroin dealers quite a lot of money

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and they proposed a deal for me to make that money

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by smuggling a kilo of cocaine to Wales.

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Then I'd be able to pay them back.

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I wasn't going to do it ever again, because this baby arrived, you know.

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I brought an addicted child into the world.

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That was so shameful.

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But we had the baby for two weeks and the Turkish dealers came round

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and they were threatening so I could have lost my life.

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or they could have hurt any of us,

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so I agreed to do this deal.

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In December 1995,

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Brian travelled to Swansea to sell a kilo of cocaine.

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One last deal to pay off his debts.

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He was trying to come off heroin and was suffering withdrawal symptoms

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as he waited in a hotel room with another dealer.

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I was going through cold turkey.

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Hot and cold sweats and stomachaches.

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I wasn't feeling very well at all.

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And it was about 12 noon when suddenly the door burst open.

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"This is a raid! This is the police! Don't move!"

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With guns pointed at us.

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Then I had thoughts going through my head, I'll get ten years for this.

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My son is not going to see me...

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..at all any more.

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Brian was arrested and taken into custody.

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His plans for the future blown away.

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But then, at this moment of despair,

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he felt his life change for the better.

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The next day, while I was in the police station cell,

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I just cried out to God to help.

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Then, this little voice came into my head and, not audibly,

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just like an impression...

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"You can use this, Brian, to change your life.

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"You can use this time. You can get educated.

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"And you can turn it round."

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And just a warmth came over me,

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and I felt hopeful,

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the despair and fear left me.

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And from that moment I decided it's high time now

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that you gave your life to God,

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because he's been knocking on your heart for years,

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but you've clouded it with drugs for so long.

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Rosie Moriarty-Simmonds never let her disability compromise her life.

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She married her husband Stephen in 1988.

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He was also thalidomide impaired.

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And like many couples, they were thrilled at starting a family.

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A disabled person to bring up a child, even in the 1990s,

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was quite rare.

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Because...

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you weren't seen as being capable of doing it.

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You weren't seen as being able to organise your own childcare

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or your own child support.

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And there were so many people that surprised me

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by their attitude towards that - "Well, how are you going to manage?"

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But it was our decision to have a child, our choice to have a child,

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our right to have a child,

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and nobody was going to stop us from doing that.

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Being a mum was absolutely fantastic

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and I was determined to do as much as I could for James myself.

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I would pick James up from his cot in a mouthful of baby grow,

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with my teeth, carry him through to the kitchen,

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lie him on the kitchen table flat,

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hold the bottle in my fingers like that, and feed him that way.

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And instinct is quite incredible, I think,

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because if anybody else was changing his nappy

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he'd be a right little wriggly eel,

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but, instinctively, when I was doing it, he would know not to move.

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While bringing up her son James,

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Rosie worked hard developing her consultancy on disability issues.

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It was a busy time.

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But as she adapted to new situations,

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Rosie drew inspiration from her own mother's attitude to life.

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-How old is she?

-Two and a half.

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My mum, being busy and active,

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was something that just seemed to be natural with her.

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I think that I've inherited it.

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And coming from the kind of childhood that I had,

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constantly being told you can do whatever you want,

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you can be whatever you want.

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But you've got to instigate it.

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You run your business, you raise your family,

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and I did an awful lot of voluntary work.

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But I thrived on it.

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You felt empowered, you felt you were really making change,

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and it felt real.

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It was real, you know, at long last.

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You know, what you wanted was actually happening.

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In 2015, Rosie was awarded an OBE

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for her services to the equality and rights of disabled people.

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# Wake me up before you go go

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# Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo... #

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In the late '90s, research among 13 to 15-year-olds in Wales

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showed 32% of boys and 39% of girls

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claimed they had had sex by the age of 14.

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Samantha Yemm was still with her boyfriend David at 15.

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They used no contraception in their sexual relationship.

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Yet Samantha was surprised when she discovered

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she was going to have a baby.

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The day came when she broke the news of her pregnancy to her mother.

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Instead of telling my mum face-to-face,

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I wrote this really big long letter

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and explained to her, you know, that I'm truly sorry, erm...

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Sorry.

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I'm sorry, you know, I'm pregnant.

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And I told her how far gone I was in this letter.

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And my mum's face just dropped after she read this letter.

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It was absolutely heartbreaking knowing that I'd disappointed my mum

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in a way that she didn't want me to ruin my childhood.

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I can understand why and, you know, she was scared for me

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more than anything.

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The late '90s marked a high point in teenage pregnancies in Wales

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with over 6,000 a year recorded.

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Samantha received no sex education from her parents

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and was already seven months pregnant

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by the time her school gave a class on the subject.

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She was 16 when her baby was born.

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She got a lot of support from her mother and grandmother

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but it was still a life-changing moment for her.

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I grew up pretty quick, as soon as my daughter was in my arms,

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and I was in the delivery room and had my daughter there.

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I just grew up, just like that, in a way.

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I would say, this is my responsibility now.

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I was scared, I was frightened, holding this little,

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tiny little baby in my arms, being a teenager,

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I'm thinking, "Oh, my God, it's like holding a doll."

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I'd only just finished playing with dolls in a few years previously

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and now I'm holding a real-life doll in my hand.

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I'm thinking, "I don't know what to do with it."

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Samantha and her partner David were engaged

0:21:260:21:30

but after nine months living together as a family

0:21:300:21:33

the relationship fell apart.

0:21:330:21:35

She moved back home with her parents

0:21:350:21:38

and set about finishing school and getting a job.

0:21:380:21:41

My daughter was at home, I'm in school,

0:21:410:21:44

I need to finish my learning, I need an education.

0:21:440:21:46

I've got a baby to support, you know, this is my life now,

0:21:460:21:49

so I need as many grades as I possibly can

0:21:490:21:51

to get a good job to support my child.

0:21:510:21:53

Samantha's grandfather was eventually prosecuted

0:21:540:21:58

for her sexual abuse.

0:21:580:22:00

But though his crime had traumatised her as a child,

0:22:000:22:04

her baby helped her focus on the future.

0:22:040:22:07

Having a baby doesn't solve everything.

0:22:080:22:11

Erm, but, to me, it solved...

0:22:110:22:14

..my inner feelings of, you know,

0:22:150:22:18

I have got somebody else to care for now.

0:22:180:22:20

I just wanted a better life for myself

0:22:200:22:24

and, obviously, and my daughter. I wanted to own my own house.

0:22:240:22:27

I wanted a really good job, I wanted to have that luxury

0:22:270:22:30

to take my daughter on holiday.

0:22:300:22:32

This was the future I was looking for.

0:22:320:22:35

That's what motivated me. My daughter was my motivation.

0:22:350:22:38

I wanted my daughter to have a fantastic life.

0:22:380:22:40

I wanted everything for my daughter,

0:22:400:22:42

everything that I was doing was for my daughter.

0:22:420:22:45

Samantha qualified as a nursing auxiliary

0:22:460:22:49

and bought a house near Newport.

0:22:490:22:52

In the '90s, alcoholism was a deep social and psychological wound

0:22:570:23:03

that scarred families and communities.

0:23:030:23:06

It was estimated that there were over 50,000 people

0:23:060:23:10

with a serious drink problem in Wales.

0:23:100:23:12

Mike McNamara was one of them.

0:23:120:23:15

Like so many people in the same situation,

0:23:160:23:19

he sought out a local branch of Alcoholics Anonymous,

0:23:190:23:23

the mutual fellowship set up to help alcoholics

0:23:230:23:26

achieve sobriety and to remain sober.

0:23:260:23:30

Mike found he needed to confront deep psychological issues

0:23:310:23:35

if he was to turn his life around.

0:23:350:23:38

The alcoholic doesn't stop drinking until he's hurt enough.

0:23:390:23:42

Not the people around him, until he's hurt enough.

0:23:420:23:46

But it took me months and months and months,

0:23:460:23:48

to even speak at AA meetings.

0:23:480:23:51

It's almost like a revelation to me

0:23:510:23:54

because alcoholism was to do with an addictive personality.

0:23:540:23:58

Erm...

0:23:580:23:59

The self-centredness,

0:23:590:24:02

the world revolves around me

0:24:020:24:05

and you live in your own head.

0:24:050:24:07

And that's very, very true of me.

0:24:070:24:09

I am a very solitary person.

0:24:090:24:12

# Your love

0:24:130:24:14

# Is lifting me higher... #

0:24:140:24:16

Perseverance paid off and eventually Mike was able to come to terms

0:24:160:24:21

with his new, sober life.

0:24:210:24:23

It's learning again to live.

0:24:250:24:28

It was a whole new ball game.

0:24:280:24:30

It was being aware of what was going on, rather than,

0:24:300:24:34

sort of, having that... that veil between you and reality.

0:24:340:24:39

And when you get sober,

0:24:390:24:41

you start to realise...

0:24:410:24:43

that all of those things that you thought were you,

0:24:430:24:46

you thought you were gregarious, you thought you were this

0:24:460:24:49

because you went out in the pub and you've done this, done that,

0:24:490:24:52

and danced on the tables and all that, that was you...

0:24:520:24:55

That's not you at all. You're nothing like that, really.

0:24:550:24:58

Mike's new life included singing for Children In Need.

0:24:590:25:02

# To share a love that brings us dignity... #

0:25:030:25:08

Mike wanted to give something back for the help he received

0:25:100:25:13

with his fight against alcoholism.

0:25:130:25:15

So he joined the Kaleidoscope Project as a counsellor.

0:25:170:25:21

Here he brought his experience to its work with people

0:25:230:25:26

recovering from substance abuse in Wales.

0:25:260:25:29

I was able to pass on my experience of addiction

0:25:310:25:35

and you can see that recognition in their eyes,

0:25:350:25:38

when you're speaking to them,

0:25:380:25:40

because you tell them how it felt for you.

0:25:400:25:42

And you can see that they thought the same as I thought,

0:25:420:25:46

that it was unique to them.

0:25:460:25:48

That self-centredness, that whole, sort of,

0:25:480:25:50

amalgamation of personality defects that are common to us.

0:25:500:25:54

They can relate to it.

0:25:540:25:56

And when you see people who've got well,

0:25:560:25:59

who've been off the drink for years,

0:25:590:26:02

who got their job together, their life together,

0:26:020:26:05

you think to yourself... that's an achievement.

0:26:050:26:08

Brian Morris was given a 12 year sentence

0:26:110:26:15

for attempting to sell over £1 million worth of cocaine.

0:26:150:26:19

Dartmoor Prison was now his new home.

0:26:200:26:23

Not seeing my son grow up

0:26:230:26:25

really, really hurt.

0:26:250:26:27

I used to spend hours in prayer.

0:26:270:26:30

I spent hours crying,

0:26:300:26:32

and, you know, saying sorry about that, praying for my son,

0:26:320:26:35

praying for my family and hope they'd forgive me.

0:26:350:26:39

And I started working on all different aspects of

0:26:390:26:42

what was wrong with me in my life and what had gone wrong.

0:26:420:26:45

And I've done this through these Bible courses

0:26:450:26:48

which touched different areas, different topics about behaviour

0:26:480:26:52

and about learning new ways of living.

0:26:520:26:55

I did course after course after course.

0:26:550:26:58

I went up to college level as well.

0:26:580:27:00

While I was in prison I started a prayer group.

0:27:000:27:03

It grew into 12 people coming to my small cell every day,

0:27:030:27:08

who needed prayer.

0:27:080:27:10

And I knew I was doing good and helping.

0:27:100:27:12

Even the officers said, "That's great what you're doing.

0:27:120:27:15

"It's a lot calmer here on the block."

0:27:150:27:18

By late 1999,

0:27:180:27:20

Brian had accrued over 65 learning certificates

0:27:200:27:23

from his Bible courses.

0:27:230:27:25

They formed a part of his application for parole

0:27:250:27:28

for good behaviour.

0:27:280:27:30

And to his delight,

0:27:300:27:32

he won his freedom after serving five years

0:27:320:27:35

of his original 12 year sentence.

0:27:350:27:37

Brian was the model of a reformed prisoner

0:27:370:27:41

and went on to become pastor of Oakdale Baptist Church

0:27:410:27:45

near Caerphilly.

0:27:450:27:46

My enthusiasm while I was in prison

0:27:460:27:49

kept me strong for God and my faith.

0:27:490:27:52

And I enjoyed touching people's lives and seeing people change,

0:27:520:27:57

giving something back, that gave me a lift from my guilt, you know?

0:27:570:28:02

It took that guilt away

0:28:020:28:04

for the years that I'd been a drug dealer.

0:28:040:28:07

And I felt when I became a pastor,

0:28:070:28:11

even though I'd served the time for my crime,

0:28:110:28:13

still, deep down, what I've done, you know, will people accept me?

0:28:130:28:17

But people greet me in the street and have warmed to me.

0:28:170:28:20

All that's forgotten. They remember, you know, what I've become.

0:28:200:28:23

# You're my love, you're my sweetest thing

0:28:240:28:27

# Don't shy away, don't shy away... #

0:28:270:28:30

In the '90s, many people faced extreme personal challenges

0:28:300:28:35

as the social landscape of the nation was transformed.

0:28:350:28:39

But through their inspiration and strength of character,

0:28:390:28:42

they changed their lives for the better.

0:28:420:28:45

Next week we see how men and women helped create a new world of work

0:28:460:28:50

by striking out on their own.

0:28:500:28:53

# Ooh, ah, just a little bit Ooh, ah, a little bit more

0:28:530:28:58

# Ooh, ah, just a little bit You know what I'm looking for

0:28:580:29:01

# Ooh, ah, just a little bit Ooh, ah, a little bit more

0:29:010:29:05

# Ooh, ah, just a little bit

0:29:050:29:07

# I'll give you a love you can't ignore... #

0:29:070:29:09

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