Let’s talk about success and disability

When you think about success and disability, what’s the first thing that springs to mind? Do you put the two hand-in-hand or think they’re separate?

There is a common notion surrounding success and disability that disabled people can’t achieve the same things as non-disabled people because of our disability, well this isn’t true at all. I’m going to put things straight: disabled people can succeed. Ok, so it may take us longer to do certain tasks and we may need adaptions in order for us to do things just like non-disabled people, but this isn’t something negative or something to be ashamed of, we’re just making tasks accessible so that we can complete them to the same standard as everyone else

 

I talk about my achievements on my blog, I’m open and honest with you all, I don’t do any of this to show off, I do it because I want to help others and tackle the common misconceptions surrounding sight loss and disability, I think success and disability is a topic that needs to be discussed.

 

Is there a link between success and disability?

Disabled people work just as hard as non-disabled people, in fact, it could be argued that we have to work even harder because we often face access barriers or have to find alternative ways of completing tasks. Having alternative methods for completing tasks doesn’t mean that we do them differently to non-disabled people, we just do them in a different way. The world is not fully accessible, society doesn’t always see disability for what it is, but this doesn’t mean that we can’t achieve and succeed.

 

There is sometimes a common stigma that disabled people succeed and achieve their goals because of pity and that we achieve because ‘we’re disabled’, let me tell you, this is not the case at all. We achieve our goals in spite of our disabilities, not because of them. Did I get good grades, get a degree and get my job because of my disability? No I didn’t. People didn’t think ‘oh I feel sorry for her, so I’ll let her achieve whatever she wants’, I achieved all of this because I put the work in and was determined. Having a disability has nothing to do with our achievements and it doesn’t define them either.

 

Granted, my vision impairment has given me many unique skills such as being a confident braillist, a cane user and the ability to use a wide range of assistive technology, all of these skills help me in my life and may well be detrimental for my future, but they aren’t the only reasons I achieve my goals. They present me with many unique skills which do look good, but it’s all about how I use these skills in order to succeed and how I use them effectively.

Yes, my disability has given me skills, but my achievements aren’t because of my vision impairment and I certainly haven’t achieved them solely on the basis that I’m blind, that’s far from it. Having a disability doesn’t automatically mean that a person will achieve whatever they want to, we have to work hard, just like everyone else.

 

Whilst our disability may be the reason we have some specialist skills, our success isn’t based on our disability and we don’t achieve things because of it.

 

Exceeding expectations

Public attitudes surrounding disability can often be negative, these stigmas are so far from reality but can put doubt and questions in disabled people’s minds, but we shouldn’t let these wrongly perceived ideas define our capabilities and stop us from succeeding.

 

I’ve been blind all my life due to a condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity, I’ve met many people that didn’t think I could succeed because I’m blind. I’ve been through some challenging chapters, there’s been times where I’ve wanted to give up but I don’t deserve to be condemned to a life where people believe I’m incapable and can’t succeed just because I have a disability, and neither does anyone else.

Things haven’t always been easy, in school my Teaching Assistants weren’t often given work in time for them to put it into an accessible format so that I could do the work like everyone else, we always adapted in the best ways we could, but we shouldn’t have had to do that. Myself and my parents had to fight for basic provisions and this is still the case today. People didn’t think that I would get the grades, but guess what? I worked extremely hard and proved people wrong. I got a good set of GCSE’s, did better than I thought in my A-levels and I got the grades to go to my first choice University, I then graduated University with a BA Honours degree in Children, Young People and Families and now work as an Assistive Technology Advisor. Some might say that I exceeded expectations, but others might not. I’ve proved that by working hard, having the right mindset and being determined, you can achieve what you want to, whether you have a disability or not.

 

Having a disability is not an obstacle for success

We need to teach the younger generation that having a disability does not mean that they can’t get good grades, can’t go onto college/University or get their dream job because they can. Having a disability can come with its limitations but doesn’t everything? It’s about how you look beyond them and realise your capabilities. Stereotypes, stigmas and people’s attitudes and wrongly perceived ideas may try to throw a person off their path, but this doesn’t mean to say that disabled people can’t achieve. It’s all about embracing how we achieve our goals, we may need adaptions, but this isn’t something to be ashamed of.

Why do society have such negative attitudes surrounding success and disability? Why do non-disabled people think that we can’t achieve what we want to, and expect less of us because of our disability. We should be pushed to achieve our goals and encouraged to do so.

 

It’s often our disability that isn’t a barrier, it’s people’s perceptions on disability and success that are the problem. Attitudes and perceptions are creating even more barriers for disabled people in all aspects of life, and it’s about time that we changed those.

According to disability charity Scope, disabled people are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than non-disabled people. Obviously, people’s attitudes aren’t the only thing that has an impact on unemployment rates and other aspects of life for disabled people, but attitudes certainly play a part. Accessibility and opportunities also play a role, but changing attitudes on disability can help.

Research by the RNIB found that one of the biggest and most common barriers that blind and vision impaired people face is people’s lack of knowledge and understanding on sight loss and their outdated attitudes on blind and vision impaired people. The research also found that 50% of the general public think that people with a vision impairment would struggle to hold down a job. These statistics show that attitudes and outdated stereotypes are often some of the biggest barriers that disabled people face, which can lead to other consequences such as affecting a disabled person’s education or employment opportunities. Personally, I think that the misconceptions and outdated ideologies can be more of a barrier than our disabilities or impairments themselves.

 

People have told me that I may not get to where I want to be in life because of my vision impairment, although these comments can be demoralising, they motivated me to work hard and prove people wrong.

I realised that I had a choice – to let my disability define me and dictate my life, or to strive to get to where I want to be, block out the wrongly preconceived ideas and prove those people wrong, I think we all know that I chose the latter. I surround myself with people that encourage me, motivate me and push me to work hard, those people see my capabilities, not my limitations. I will not surround myself with people that think I can’t succeed because of my vision impairment or those that think I can’t live the life I want to, I will never conform to those ideas because that’s not me, and it doesn’t have to be you either.

 

I’m a blogger, an Assistive Technology Advisor, a University graduate and so many more things that I’m proud to be.

People have told me that my blog has become a huge success, but when I started blogging, I never thought that these sort of opportunities would come my way. I’m lucky enough to have taken part in various campaigns for organisations such as the RNIB and Scope, be listed as one of the top 100 most influential disabled people in the UK in the Shaw Trust 2018 Disability Power 100 list and be featured in a newspaper.

However, I don’t think I’m successful, I’m just living my life and working hard.

Do these things make me successful? I’ll let you decide…

 

Success is different for everyone; some people want to be in the spotlight whilst others are quietly achieving amazing things in the background, but it doesn’t make them any less successful.

 

If you feel like the odds are against you, I want you to know that it is possible to defy them, when you achieve those goals, it’ll be an incredible feeling!

Why let people’s attitudes stop you from succeeding,

Go out there, strive to succeed, live life the way you want to and never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something because of your disability.

Remember that you can succeed and achieve your goals, don’t let anything hold you back.

 

What are your thoughts on success and disability? Let me know in the comments.

Holly x