Diversity Digest is a weekly reflection written by staff from different areas of our school

At the recent Thailand Festival of Education, one of the standout keynotes was delivered by actress, playwright, author and comedian Francesca Martinez (best known for her childhood role in the UK classic Grange Hill).

Born with cerebral palsy, or ‘wobbly’ as she describes herself, Francesca used humour and insight to challenge society’s obsession with conformity and invited us all to join her “wobbly revolution”: a world where we stop pretending to be the same, stop apologizing for being different and start seeing difference as life itself.

She highlighted how absurd society makes it to be different, reminding us that human diversity is both natural and necessary, yet our systems often treat it as something to be fixed or feared. Isn’t that what we want for our students: to grow up free in who they are, without that constant need to check if they’re “doing it right.”

Francesca urged us to reframe how we see ourselves and others, to recognise that no student is normal, and that education and inclusion are journeys rather than destinations. As she powerfully put it, “We need wobbly systems because we all need to be ourselves.”

She left us with a final reminder, that courage isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s simply the quiet decision to be yourself, again and again.