Evan Odell
Evan's page
Fundraising for Disability Rights UK
Story
I run a lot, and I work for Disability Rights UK, so it seems a natural fit to run the London Marathon in support of this great organization.
Disability Rights UK is the only national pan-disability, user-led organisation in the UK, and we're working hard to change the way government and society treats disabled people, and challenge outdated views of disability wherever we can find them.
Also the London course is flat and on roads and totally different from the hilly, off-road stuff you can grind out at 6min/km I'm used to, so it'll be a new challenge and I have no idea how it will go.
If I donate money, what will it be used for?
Your donations will go towards our core budget, which we use for work that is socially valuable but difficult to raise specific funds for. This includes:
- Providing advice and information on disability issues, including benefits, human rights, and specialised services. I've lost track of the number of disabled people who've responded excitedly about the factsheets on our website when I tell them where I work. Despite their usefulness, we receive no specific funding to maintain and update our guides and factsheets.
- Influencing national social security, health, education and other policies through engagement with civil servants and government ministers.
- Producing garishly coloured graphs about the lives and experiences of disabled people in the UK.
- Developing and promoting proposals for radical reforms of the disability benefits system.