Christopher Reid is 24 years old, from East London. He is a keen athlete who hopes to represent Team GB in the next Paralympic games in 400m and 800m running events. Christopher has a learning disability and has had mental health difficulties in the past and he blogs about his experiences to raise awareness and advocate for others who may need support. As part of his work, Christopher is a Star Supporter for DanceSyndrome, helping to promote our work. He is taking this to the next level in August with a fundraising walk to raise money in memory of his late father.
Christopher met DanceSyndrome Founder Jen Blackwell and Ambassador Becky Rich at the Dimensions 2019 Learning Disability Leaders List celebration, where they all received awards. They were all inspired by each others’ stories and they wanted to collaborate and work together to further advocate for people with learning disabilities, so Christopher was invited to be a DanceSyndrome Star Supporter and he was proud to accept.
As well as having a learning disability Christopher has dealt with bi-polar as a result of bullying in school. After living independently prior to the pandemic, he had to return to his family as a result of another episode during lockdown. All these things made him a stronger person and has made him determined to help people that are going through the same problems. He has raised over £7,000 for charity in recent years and now he is on the road to recovery he is determined to raise money for DanceSyndrome too.
He said “My name is Christopher Reid I have a learning disability. I met Jen and Becky at the Dimensions Leaders List awards and was impressed by their talent and enthusiasm. My dad passed away 3 years ago and he loved to dance so it seems a fitting charity to raise money for in his name.
“I am planning to do a walk on Saturday August 21st (the day after Dad’s birthday) from our house in Leyton to Cadogan Terrace in Hackney where he was born.”
DanceSyndrome Managing Director Dawn Vickers said “We are hugely grateful to Christopher and people like him who help us, especially as we are adapting to life after the pandemic. This has been such a challenging time for individuals like Christopher and for small charities like DanceSyndrome and it’s wonderful to see collaboration like this by people who want to empower other people with learning disabilities and create a better post-pandemic world. This fundraising will have a big impact on our work!”
For more information about Christopher’s fundraising, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/christophermemorywalk or you can donate to our work directly using the form below.
