PGP / SPD My story:

I am more than thankful to Optical Turnkey for amplifying the voices of survivors — all of us who have lived through harm and are still standing. In this interview, you can learn why I started this petition and exactly what I hope it will achieve. After everything that’s happened, I sat back and asked myself: What CAN I do about this? And the answer was to channel my pain into purpose — to push for positive change. Because blaming survivors must become a thing of the past. No victim has ever “asked for it”. We need to come together — as a community, beyond politics, beyond division — and build the safeguarding systems people desperately need to escape , evade, and survive. Attacks are becoming more frequent. Children are being targeted . If parents had the legal right to carry pepper spray, imagine how much safer our communities could be. Imagine how adults could step in, respond, and actively protect vulnerable children and targeted individuals before harm escalates. We can no longer ...

  I should be able to speak on my hometown’s radio. I should be able to share my lived experience as a Newtonian, to explain why I have started a petition calling for the legalisation of regulated pepper spray for self-defence. My hard work should and could be printed and represented. I should be heard by the very community I belong to. Instead, I am being invited to speak by people outside of this town — radio presenters, podcasters, campaigners — who see value in my voice and my work. Support and representation should never be conditional. It should never be “sometimes.” It should never depend on who you’re liked by, controlled by, or aligned with. Many people locally have asked me to run for council. A growing number want me to represent the disabled community. And I will represent my community — but I cannot and will not step into a council culture where corruption, ostracism, and silencing are allowed to continue. I do more for this town independently, where I can be suppo...