My disability isn’t my only passion

Disability and vision impairment are two topics that I talk about all the time on my blog, in fact, all of my posts are disability related in some way, it’s also the reason I started blogging in the first place. I’m very open and honest about my disability, I don’t sugar-coat anything I talk about, I’m as real and honest as I can be.

 

Being a disability advocate, blogger and campaigner is a personal choice and something that I’m very passionate about, I take great pride in what I do. I choose to share my experiences of living with a vision impairment in the hope that it will help others, I do it because I want to raise awareness to try and make positive changes for the future. No one told me that I should start a blog, it’s something that I decided to do because I enjoy writing, I have a passion for helping others and it all just went from there, no one told me that I had to write about disability but I chose for that to be the main focus of my blog. Disability is something that I’m passionate about, but it isn’t my only passion.

 

I realise that the title probably doesn’t make sense. Being an advocate and blogger means that I have put myself out there, I’ve chosen to speak about my disability and share aspects of my life that some people choose to keep private.

If you follow me on social media, you will notice that disability isn’t the only thing that I talk about, especially on Twitter, and that’s exactly the same offline.

For years, I didn’t talk about my disability on my social media, this was probably because I wasn’t fully comfortable with it and I wasn’t very open about it, but things changed as I got older.

2015 was the year that everything changed.

I started my blog in 2015 and shared it on my social media, not really thinking anyone would read my ramblings or even pay any attention to my disability. As my blog grew, so did my passion for educating others on vision impairment and disability, tackling the common misconceptions surrounding these topics and I wanted to raise as much awareness as possible, and all of that still stands today, I’m passionate about what I do and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

 

My disability isn’t my only passion.

Some people constantly talk about their disability, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m not one of those people, it’s something that I can’t talk about 24/7, that’s not me. Don’t get me wrong, I love talking about everything disability related, but it isn’t the only thing that I want to talk about, and I sometimes need a break from discussing it.

 

My vision impairment is part of who I am, but it’s not the only thing that makes me the person I am. It defines me in many ways but it isn’t the only thing that makes up my identity.

I’m a daughter, a friend, an Assistive Technology Advisor and a blogger just to name a few.

I love going to concerts, don’t go a day without listening to music, I go out with my friends like your average girl in her 20s and enjoy shopping. I go tandem cycling, can swim and can play the flute. I have an interest in technology and love finding out about the latest gadgets and I enjoy writing. I get way too emotional about Jessie J, Shawn Mendes and Ed Sheeran and probably talk about them way too much. I’m passionate about helping others in any way I can, whether this is through my blog, through volunteering or another way, it’s such a great feeling knowing that you have helped someone in one way or another. Whilst some of my interests may involve my disability, my passions aren’t because of my disability. If I was sighted then I genuinely think I’d have the same or similar interests that I have now. My disability influences certain aspects of my life but it isn’t the reason why I enjoy certain things such as music or hanging out with my friends.

 

My disability is often the first thing that people notice about me when they first meet me (walking around with a long cane it’s hard not to), some people get to know me for the person I am, whilst others judge me on preconceived ideas and don’t look beyond my disability.

 

For a long time, I was caught up in the notions surrounding the saying ‘don’t let your disability define you’, but I think it’s important to remember that my disability will always define me in some ways, but in other ways, not so much. My vision impairment has a rather big impact on my life but that doesn’t mean to say that it is my only interest and it isn’t the only thing I’m passionate about.

 

I think it’s very important to find a balance between talking about my disability and my other interests. Sometimes I’d rather talk about the latest Netflix series, the outfit I’m wearing, what I did at the weekend or the drama that’s happening on EastEnders.

 

If you looked through my social media, you would find a mixture of things, my blog posts, disability related posts, but you’ll also find tweets about my favourite bands and artists or important news topics.

It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a fangirl (ok rather a lot of a fangirl), so when I started to make online friends, they didn’t know that I was blind because it was a topic that never came up, we connected because of our interests, not because of a disability. It took me a while to tell my online friends about my vision impairment because I had no idea how they would react, I often thought that they would react the same way as many of my school peers did which was think that it wasn’t cool to be friends with the blind girl but I soon realised that that wasn’t the case.

I’ve gone from not talking about my disability at all to talking openly about it both online and offline and you know what? It feels good.

However, one thing has stayed the same, my disability isn’t my only passion. Although I talk about disability a lot more both online and offline now, I’m still the same, I’ve just learned the balance between talking about my disability and the other things I’m passionate about. I think having a balance is key in order to keep a good mental health, but also ensuring that you surround yourself with things that you’re interested in and passionate about, not just things that you feel you have to consume because of your disability or because it’s what others are doing.

I want to show other sides to me and share my other interests, not just my disability.

 

Sometimes I just want to be normal

I’ve learned to accept my disability, I’m comfortable with it and very open and honest about my vision impairment, but I still have bad days, when I wish I had a bit of useful vision or could see the world like everyone else. Everyone has bad days, regardless of whether you have a disability or not.

 

I go out with my friends for a meal or a few drinks, go on days out with my family, go to the cinema, watch the latest TV shows on Netflix, read a good book and do the things that my sighted friends do because I want to live a normal, fulfilling and independent life where my disability doesn’t dictate everything I do. For the most part this is what I do because it’s the way I’ve been brought up, it’s part of my personality, and I wouldn’t have things any other way.

Sometimes I wish I could hide my disability, I wish I didn’t have to make adjustments at work, constantly ask for things to be made accessible or fight for the most basic rights.

I sometimes wish I didn’t have to plan every journey I take and book assistance at least 24 hours in advance, I wish I could go to concerts just like that without having to ask someone to go with me or book assistance and ensure that everything is in place, I’d love to not go through the stressful ordeal of booking accessible tickets and be able to go to as many shows as I wanted without any care in the world and travel when and where I wanted.

 

There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t talk about my disability whether it’s on social media, on my blog, at work, when I’m out and about using my cane, or when I have to fight for equal access. Most of the time it’s absolutely fine but there are times when I wish I was normal and didn’t have to do all of that.

 

I talk openly about my disability because I hope that people can relate to what I’m talking about, I share my experiences because I want people to know that having a disability doesn’t have to be a barrier to living an enjoyable life and doing the things you want to do.

I love receiving messages from my readers saying that my posts have helped them in some way. I feel even more motivated to do what I do when charities ask me to get involved in campaigns in order to raise awareness on disability or vision impairment. Blogging has given me so many opportunities including working with the RNIB on various campaigns, becoming an ambassador for the Wilberforce Trust, and speaking openly about my disability on the radio and in the wider media. I do these things because I want to raise awareness of the issues disabled people face and hopefully help others. I’m a disability blogger but my disability isn’t my only interest.

 

I don’t want to constantly talk about my disability

Having a disability doesn’t mean that I want to talk about it all the time, for some people they do, but it’s not for everyone.

I’m a disability advocate, I’m trying to raise awareness, help others, educate society and striving for change. I never thought that I’d be a disability advocate but here I am. I feel guilty in a way for talking about this topic, some people are probably rolling their eyes at me right now, but I feel like I need to talk about it.

 

Having a disability doesn’t mean that you have a duty to talk about it all the time, it doesn’t automatically mean that we can’t discuss anything else, it doesn’t mean that we feel comfortable or want to talk about our disability all of the time, I know I don’t anyway.

 

A lot of people don’t understand disability so we often have to explain various aspects which is completely fine, but we also have to try and tackle misconceptions and preconceived ideas and it can be exhausting. When I come home from a busy day at work, I don’t always want to educate people on vision impairment and disability, I would sometimes rather take time for myself.

 

People also assume that you automatically want to talk about your disability, asking questions such as ‘have you been blind since birth?’ And ‘how much can you see?’

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t ask questions because I’ll always encourage people to ask rather than making assumptions, but remember that you don’t have to only ask us about our disability, ask us how we are, ask us if we saw a specific tv show or like a band, just treat us like you would any other person.

I find myself answering people’s questions or addressing their misconceptions even when I don’t want to talk about my disability because I have a passion for helping others and raising awareness, somehow this creeps through and I find myself answering people’s questions without a second thought.

Not everyone is as open as I am, and some people feel very uncomfortable talking about their disability, and that’s absolutely fine.

 

Sometimes I want to forget about my disability for a little while and concentrate on other things – my family, having a laugh with my friends, Jessie J, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, music, and buying a new make-up product.

I love doing what I do but my disability isn’t my only passion and that’s ok.

 

Maybe you feel the same about a certain aspect of your life such as your degree, your job or even something that seems so simple to you. The things we often find ourselves talking about the most aren’t always the most interesting things about us and they certainly aren’t our only passion.

There is so much more to me than my disability and I’d like to express my love for them and discuss those things rather than my disability.

I discuss an aspect of my life that people often don’t feel comfortable talking about in the hope that it will help others, but my disability isn’t the only thing that makes up my identity and it isn’t my only passion.

 

Are your other passions overlooked because of one small aspect of your life? I think that we all feel like there is one small aspect of our life that doesn’t make up our identity but it is often the one thing that people focus on. There are so many people doing amazing things to raise awareness and hopefully one day the world will be accessible, we won’t feel like we have to constantly tackle misconceptions, disability can be something that’s normalised and our other passions won’t be overlooked.

Holly x