The Birmingham community have come together to arrange a fundraiser for fellow drag performer and Access Lead for Birmingham Pride, Emma Round, better known by their drag king stage name, Crip Ladywood. The show entitled Crip L in Need parodies the Children in Need style, and will be a fundraiser to help support Crip Ladywood, following a difficult year for them and their wife Shek.
In January, they got hit by a car in a hit and run, which resulted in brain damaged, that has left them with transient hemiparesis and occasionally full neck down paresis. The driver can’t be traced as the cameras nearby were fake. Then, in July, Emma and Shek’s home was burgled while they were out at a show.
The perpetrators forced entry into the house and stole everything of value including much of Crip Ladywood’s drag which is sadly not covered by their contents or performers insurance. To add even further financial burden to the struggles that are already impacting their health, Emma’s powerchair, which had been struggling since the hit and run in January, died and they are now in need of a new one.
Emma has been a wheelchair user and active disability liberation campaigner for over 14 years, and has extensive experience with wheelchair services, motability and Access to Work, however, unfortunately “we are either not eligible, can’t get full funding, or can’t afford the monthly money we’d lose,” they explain.
For this reason, a Paypal fundraiser page and fundraising event to help have been launched. Crip L in Need, “a fundraiser to help a queer in need”, will be held at The Loft in Birmingham on Sunday, August 6 from 6.30pm. The show will feature performances from Alanna Boden, Blanche, Cake Boi, Crip Ladywood, Dahliah Rivers, Fatt Butcher, Ginny Lemon, Jenna Davinci, Misfit, Pork Pie and Peaches Munroe. The show itself is free to attend and audiences are encouraged to donate what they can via the Paypal fundraiser.
In a post from Emma Round, they said: “These absolute icons have come together to throw me a fundraiser and oh my heart. What a bleeding amazing show this is gonna be!”
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