A Day in the Life: Sarah's Journey

It is rude to stare but not to treat Paralympians equal.   Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash The Paralympics is over for another three years; we have had one of the most successful Paralympics ever with numerous Paralympic and world records that have been destroyed, all after two years of not competing in competitions. The athletes of the Olympics also participated under the same conditions. Still, there is one main difference, in my opinion, which makes this Paralympics even more special than ever before, and that is everything else they have had to deal with over the past two years. We have seen some emotional scenes with athletes who achieved against all odds, not letting their disability stop them from achieving their dreams. Living through the Pandemic has disproportionately affected disabled people of all abilities and backgrounds. Paralympians are no exception; not only have Paralympians had the same restrictions as the Olympians, for example, no competitive play, but they ...

It is essential to think about what the phrase 'barriers to education' means before talking about my own education experience.  barriers can be attitudinal, organisational or practical  Although it is important to remember that sometimes there is no way to do this due to the nature of the disability and the experienced problems. As a result, each individual should be treated differently and their needs addressed in the same way. The barriers to learning faced by students with disabilities are many and complex and differ from student to student and often daily. So, for this article, I will be only writing about my own experiences and understand that this may be very different to what others may have experienced. When looking at access, you need to think about all aspects, not just physical; these include: Access means physical access as well as access to the curriculum Awareness of the needs of disabled people and the barriers they may experience Acceptance that y...

Writing helps me to share my views as well as become an outlet for me on an emotional and psychological level. I am a woman with a physical disability and as a person with a disability, it can often be a challenge to have a voice in society. Writing gives me a voice that allows me to share my experiences that will hopefully in turn help others. I found it almost impossible to write for a while, but now realise this is exactly when I should have been writing the most. I am going to try and explain some of the reasons I stopped writing and then discuss why I now realise I should have continued to write all along. October 2015 my life started down a road that there was no stopping and turning around on. I had been unhappy in my marriage for some time, as the years progressed it became evident that we wanted different things. I had always said that I didn't want children, not because of my disability but just because I enjoyed my freedom, wanted to see the world and didn't see a ch...

When I was born I was diagnosed with Spina Bifida. After surviving the 3 weeks that my parents were told I wouldn't, my parents began to realise they had a fighter for a daughter.  I have also been informed that at this time my parents were asked whether they wanted to put me up for adoption. My parents expressed how horrified they were by this question and never had to question whether keeping me was the right thing to do. This brought them strength to carry on and do their best by me. Due to my ill health, the hole in my back was not closed up immediately, as a result, this led to Hydrocephalus also developing. The first 5 years of my life were challenging for the whole family not just for me. I have an older brother who also had to learn to grow up quite quickly and who also had his own health problems. My parents recall a time when I was in one hospital and my brother was in another. This led to the family being split in two for a period of time.  My shunt bein...

After a number of life-changing experiences, I was given a new outlook on life. Life is for living so make the most of it whilst you've got it. So over the years that followed that is how I have tried to live my life. One aspect of this was taking up a new hobby, I had wanted to try Scuba Diving for several years after a try dive on a holiday in Tenerife. Little did I know at the time that the experience I had was nothing compared to the experience I was going to have.  During the year where my life changed forever, I stayed with friends for a while, they themselves have disabilities and they introduced me to the Scuba Trust. This is a charity focussed on providing support and instruction to individuals who want to learn to dive but have a disability. I soon got hooked and decided that I was going to work towards my PADI Open Water qualification. For anyone unfamiliar with this, there are certain skills that you have to practice and achieve in the pool before even being allowed in...

The issue of Access is often a contentious one, if you talk to someone with a disability then there is always problems with not enough being done, yet if you talk to people in authority there are always excuses as to why more can not be done. I appreciate that there are times when it is not possible for there to be access to something be it the physical limitations of the person themselves (e.g. rock climbing) or through buildings being so old that they can't be adjusted enough to be fully accessible. Although this is the case, organisations will often hide behind 'reasonable adjustment', expecting disabled people to just accept that as much is being done as possible. As mentioned above, I appreciate there are some limitations with buildings that are really old and that I will not be able to get everywhere that I may want to, but I still feel that often more can be done than is currently being done so. Companies should want to do as much as they can to include everyone (at ...

The UK is one of the richest countries in the world; we live in a society where we have freedom of speech, where we are “free” to travel where we like when we like. Many people in 21 st Century Britain commute on the train and nearly everyone at some point will have travelled by train. The ease, the simplicity of hopping on a train whilst it takes you to your destination when you hop off again enjoy your destination for as long as you like before deciding which train to take home. That is, of course, unless you are disabled when the situation is very different.  This blog post will focus on First Capital Connect as that is who I use most frequently but it could easily apply to any other rail company as the situation is the same across the rail network.  What they tell you about special assistance They rail companies (in this instance First Capital Connect) tell you to ring their special assistance booking line 24 hours in advance and you will be guaranteed...