Extreme clowning: FEEL THE FORCE DAY

Behind the force

I started up the 1st sensory legion, which is an open costume group who aim to hold meet and greet days specifically for visually impaired,disabled and people with learning difficulties.

Many conventions are either to busy, or have a que ticket system, or for whatever reason are not always accessible to disabled guests.
we want to make these sort of days more accessible to all
and create a relaxed, fun environment when you can take photos and spend time with the various costume characters.

And also to be around people in the same position as others, and to be among friends and people who understand the situation.

Costumes will be able to be touched and explored, there will be a touch table with objects of refferance that can be handled, all of these different elements will open up whole new worlds to these people who may have only expierienced the tip of the iceberg.

These days are so important, they create memory's and discovery, stimulate interest and ideas, and even motivate.

One blind man who inspired this quest has been blind since birth and loves star wars and despite the fact he has listened to the film almost everyday for the last 15 years - he has no idea of the appearance of the characters,and the variations of species, etc.

Not every blind person gets a lot from feeling toys, for some they are to small, so a full size costume is ideal.

Many years ago myself and a work colleague was on our way to london with a deafblind gentleman to attend a fun day which was being held in leicester square.

On the train i was telling him what we would see and what would be there and we knew that the BBC was going to be there promoting the new series of DR WHO.

Now going by the gentleman's age and working out when he lost his sight we guessed that he may know or remember DR WHO, so we mentioned it to him on the train.

again and again we went over it, trying to use different words, but he just wasnt understanding.

It got to the point where we sort of gave up, whatever we tried it just was not getting through to him.

Later on during the day we approached the DR WHO stand and asked if we was allowed to touch the Dalek.

They said yes so we put the gentlemans hand straight onto the dalek and he signed to us DR WHO .

Myself and my co worker burt out laughing - we had previously been trying for over an hour to explain this to him but nothing - the minute he felt the Dalek he knew.

This tells me how important touch is,these cultural icons become so iconic.

that he instantly knew what is what as soon as he touched it.

My main mission will be to bring the world of star wars/ tv / film culture to those who ordinarily may not be able to access it as easy as we can.We aim to hold the first ever meet and greet conventions - specifically aimed at disabled people.

This will include star wars actors plus costume characters.

The project has been thoroughly supported by costume groups all over the world.

Warwick Davis has been with us since the start and supports the project 100%

It originally started off as a small affair but has attracted disability groups from across the region, i am estimating the day will bring 300 visitors+

and for many of them this will be a first time experience

Find us on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/1stSensoryLegion

Find us on Blogger

http://1stsensorylegion.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/this-is-red-5-im-going-in.html

EVENT DETAILS

IF YOU CAN HELP IN ANYWAY

EITHER BY TROOPING OR ATTENDING WITH PROPS ETC

PLEASE EMAIL ME

extremeclowning@hotmail.co.uk

26th October 2013

11am-3pm

Star Wars

Feel the Force - meet and greet day

Specifically aimed towards visually impaired, disabled, and adults with learning difficulties

( family and friends will be permitted but this event is purely to allow disabled people access to star wars, as they may not be able to attend / access mainstream conventions)

The Venue

Peterborough Parkway PSL Club

http://peterboroughparkwayclubs.org.uk/Home_Page.php

Peterborough Parkway PSL Club

651 Lincoln Rd

Peterborough

PE1 3AH

Telephone 01733 567835

E-mail for both clubs is parkwaysports@btconnect.com

Parking, plus food and drink will be available

plus a lockable changing room water / squash and jaffa cakes will be supplied.

the venue is wheelchair friendly

Star wars actors attending

Warwick Davis,

Pam rose,

Alan flyng

Peter burroughs

Nick Joseph

but could still use more

they will be permitted to sell autographs etc and keep the money - as they are not charging for attending

star wars costuming groups have been approached to attend

individuals can attend and troupe if they wish the more the merrier
Various costumers from all over the U.K will be attending

The more diverse the mix of characters the better it will be for the visually impaired

please remember that there will be a lot of visually impaired at this event, so it would be very beneficial if your costume could be touched

any props or models are also welcome as long as they can be touched under supervision

various disability groups in the area have been contacted

goldhay arts

pyramid pioneers

chime

beat this

lavalamp

sense

mencap

deafblind uk

shine

press will be informed

to come on the day

the response has been so huge

we do not want to risk having to turn people away

500 emails was sent out

before we realised how popular this would be

so i am guessing a lot of people will turn up on the day without tickets

the hall holds 250

200 tickets were available online

123 left - so far

Playgroup of 160 disabled nursery children will be coming to the event at 2pm

they heard about the day before it went viral!

and i didnt want to turn them away

so they will come at 2pm

FEEL THE FORCE DAY R.N.I.B RADIO INTERVEIWS

Jimmy feeling the Millenium Falcon for the first time

Discovering star wars through costumes and props

Feeling star wars figures for the first time

Discovering star wars through touch

ALSO

we have an R2 UNIT

film crew

photographers

compare

touch table - items supplied by Steve sansweet

braille posters / running orders

music / P.A

fancy dress competition

Q/A session

character line up for visually impaired

door staff

stewards

2 B.S.L interpreters

4 Deafblind mannual interpreters

Head of touch tours from the tate modern - interveiws / photos

We have had over 1000 retweets

and re-posts but the money is still low

below is the link to kickstarter

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1133394963/feel-the-force-day-star-wars-day-for-disabled-peop-0

The day will still run without the funding but we have over 150 people helping from all over the U.K and it would be nice to at least be able to feed and water them and help out with petrol etc.

we are up to £735

our goal is £3,000

so we constantly need to push this

we need some bigger companys that could maybe work with us

I have a friend who has agreed to wear the Leah slave bikinni (if we can get hold of one)

if the funding comes through, the photos of her will be on facebook

no funding no photos