"Were you scared when you went into the hospital?"

The Schools Project 2003–04

Mabel Cooper and Jane Abraham

"Were you scared when you went into the hospital?"

"What toys did you have?"

"Did you have a boyfriend?"

"Did you make friends and do you still see your friends?"

These were the types of questions put to Mabel when she visited 12 classes of 10-12 years olds in SE London and Kent. The children from Redriff School, St. Johns Catholic Primary School, Bacon College and Guston C of E School, had been prepared for her visit by the teachers who had met Mabel and had read her life story. Mabel told them about her life in St. Lawrence's Hospital and other institutions which she lived in from the age of 6 months to 30 years old.

Mabel met with and commissioned an artist to produce some line drawings to accompany her telling her story. Jane interviewed Mabel and then Mabel answered questions from the children.

She spent about 1 hour in each class. She also joined in playtime and assembly at two of the schools. She left them with a challenge to produce a poster about stopping bullying and including people who are different. The results were spectacular and we want to display some of the posters (now framed) at the conference.

We would like to tell the conference about the Project and show (using OHP) how we used the artists line drawings to tell Mabel's story.