Kemi
Kemi has worked in the arts as an actor and performer for the past 25 years appearing in film, TV and on stage. Kemi has appeared in the West End and toured in plays internationally, having co-devised many works including the biographical drama ZHE which ran at the Soho Theatre.
Kemi was born and raised in East London, of Nigerian heritage. She is passionate about telling stories that represent her own experiences, the African diaspora and connecting with elders in the community.
People often wrongly interpret Kemi’s gender, she was born female but people have assumed she is male when in public bathrooms and the wider world. This has been frustrating and means she can’t use gendered bathrooms without having to explain she is female. This has led to her using disabled toilets so she can use the bathroom in peace.
Emma
Emma works in medical research and is also an award winning writer and blogger, telling short stories and talking about her experiences as a wheelchair user at diaryofadisabledperson.blog. Emma has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, ME) which affects her mobility and means she needs to use a powered wheelchair to help her get about day-to-day.
Emma uses disabled bathrooms; the lack of availability of the bathrooms in public spaces impacts the places she can access in a way that most take for granted. Emma finds people can make assumptions about who she is, seeing the wheelchair before the person, meaning her day-to-day interactions are more difficult than most.
Ben
Ben Pechey is a writer and creative director of benpechey.com. Ben is a micro-activist, using their platforms to talk about experiences of being queer and belonging to the LGBTQ community. Funny, thoughtful and aptly commentating on the world around them from fashion, harassment in the street to their Sunday book club.
Ben is non-binary, whilst comfortable in their own identity it can be difficult navigating the world around them and public spaces. Ben has faced harassment using typically gendered spaces for most of their life, they talk about their experiences of accessing bathrooms and the impact this has.