Alan Martin (actor)

Alan Martin is a British actor, dance workshop leader, disability issues presenter and trainer, poet and musician.

Alan was born in Liverpool in 1963 (though he still claims to be 21!). As a baby, he suffered a serious illness which left him with Cerebral Palsy. As a result, Alan has no speech and, until he was 31, he had no effective means of communication. Then a group of really good friends, aware that Alan had a lot to say and no way of saying it, set about raising £10000 to buy him an electronic communication aid. This first device, called a Liberator, really did liberate Alan.

He set about trying to make up for lost time and took part in numerous courses. As part of this, he attended a course run by Candoco, the world-famous integrated dance company. From this course, Alan developed a deep love for dance. He started to offer dance workshops and disability awareness training on a voluntary basis, for expenses only, because of the benefits trap.

However, in March 2004, with support from Access to Work, he was able to give up his rights to most of his disability benefits and become self-employed, trading as "Mouse on the Move" and offering Inclusive Dance Workshops and Disability Awareness Training throughout the UK. I addition, Alan has written his own poetry, including the very powerful "This Chair is not me" [http://www.mouseonthemove.co.uk/documents/THIS%20CHAIR%20IS%20NOT%20ME.html] , and his own computer-generated music, which he writes for use with his dance performances.

In January 2005, Alan was approached by a Casting Director on behalf of BBC3 seeking two actors who used wheelchairs and spoke with northern accents to take part in a new comedy pilot. Alan explained that he uses an electronic communication aid which speaks with a North American accent! In spite of this, he was asked to come over to Manchester to audition for the part of Syd. He did not get this part but instead an extra character was written in, called Graham. The pilot was so well received that it led to a six-part series called "I'm With Stupid", which started to air in September 2006.

Alan's business continues to go from strength to strength and he thoroughly enjoyed his part in the BBC3 programme. His big dream now is to set up an Integrated Dance Studio on Wirral, Merseyside.

External links

*imdb|1878388
* [http://www.mouseonthemove.co.uk/ 'Mouse on the move' Alan's homepage]