25 May 2012 Work experience Sam reviews Target MD for Trailblazers
Target MD is the main magazine for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, and is released four times a year. It contains news stories and details upcoming events for the charity. Each issue of the magazine has a different theme, such as education (Issue 1, 2012), and housing (issue 2). Issue 2 on housing is the issue which I am currently writing about
.
The featured article of this issue chronicles the journey of a Nottinghamshire couple, as they convert their 2-bed bungalow into disability friendly accommodation for their two sons with Duchenne MD. It is an article that is very helpful for people looking to follow their example. Each step in the conversion process is detailed, highlighting the difficulties faced by the couple and how to overcome them.
Target MD is filled with advice on many types of muscular dystrophy. The advice is put forward clearly and concisely, and I would recommend that anyone with these types of disabilities read the articles contained within this magazine. Articles such as the housing article may not appeal to all readers as the article goes into quite a lot of detail. However, this detail is good for people who need help to convert their own houses.
People without a muscle condition themselves can also read Target MD and get a lot out of it. The story of Jon Hastie, who made a documentary about people with Duchenne, is an example of one of those articles that are more interesting for a less disabled person. The story of Jons' quest to make the documentary, from his initial idea to the finished product is an inspirational and very interesting story. Importantly it also has some very good advice within it since it is, after all, a Muscular Dystrophy magazine. This article does a very good job of being informative yet interesting enough to engage the reader.
After the first few features, there comes the news. The news section is a well set out few pages, (better than my local news paper!). This section consists of concise articles delivering updates on the different events and enquiries from around the UK. I, being a person with relatively mild Becker Muscular Dystrophy, read through every article and felt that my attention was held throughout.
The look of the magazine is very attractive. It is quite bright and colourful making it very pleasing to look at. Another one of the nicest things about it is the structure of the articles within it which are quite subtle, yet stylish. I like this subtlety as a lot of magazines try to look exciting and cool, like putting paragraphs at jaunty angles, but only succeed in making them annoying to read.
Overall the magazine is good, with very little room for improvement. It is well put together with interesting and informative articles. It is a genuine pleasure to read Target MD, and it is definitely an excellent asset for the campaign.
Sam McCabe from Prestwick in Ayrshire has spent this week on work experience with Trailblazers at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign office.
If you are interested in work experience opportunities please do get in touch.
You must be logged in to comment. You can join now by registering your details.