What being seen as influential means to me

I’ve never considered myself to be influential or inspirational, I’m pretty much your average girl in her 20s – I love music, going out with friends and family, I enjoy shopping, keeping up with the latest trends, but I just happen to be blind.

 

Some of you may remember that I was included in the 2018 Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 List which named 100 of the UK’s most influential disabled people, it was such an honour to be included alongside so many fantastic disabled people, some of which that I look up to and admire.

 

Well…somehow, I have made it onto the 2019 list, to have been named one of the top 100 most influential disabled people for the second year running still feels very surreal and I can’t quite believe it! It never even crossed my mind that I would be included in the list two years running.

 

The Disability Power 100 list shines a spotlight on 100 disabled people doing amazing things in all areas – fashion, business, education, entertainment, media, politics and sport just to name a few. Every disabled person included in the list is trying to raise awareness and create future change in one way or another. Most importantly, it’s starting important discussions about what it’s like to be disabled in today’s contemporary society, and it’s starting conversations. It’s also breaking down barriers and empowering the younger generation to go out there and strive to succeed. I think all of these are very important, especially in terms of changing perceptions and striving for change so it is an honour to be included on the Disability Power list 100 again this year. It is even more of an honour to be seen as influential.

 

Tuesday 8th October was the launch of the 2019 Disability Power List 100!

Once it was live on the website at 4pm, I eagerly wanted to see who else was included on the list.

Looking through the list, the talent was clear to see. I’m listed in the ‘media and publication’ section, I’m included alongside some truly incredible people that I admire including Jordan Bone and my good friend Lucy Edwards, as well as Author Matt Haig (that was definitely a pinch myself moment).

A part of me felt like I wasn’t doing enough to be included on that list but I’m trying my best to raise awareness, educate others, I’m sharing my experiences and striving for change. The list is a great celebration of the hard work that disabled people are doing.

 

All of it got me thinking, what does being seen as influential mean to me?

 

It is something that I can’t quite sum up into coherent sentences, it’s something that I’d have never imagined when I started my blog 4 years ago. It’s most definitely one of my proudest achievements and a title that I hope I do justice.

 

There are aspects of being influential that I think are very important and I hope I live up to those expectations, so I thought I’d discuss them.

 

Empowering the next generation

Having a disabled person to look up to and admire can make a world of difference, we all need someone that we can relate to, someone that knows how we’re feeling on the bad days, knows what it’s like to celebrate victories, even the small ones, and someone that just gets it.

I’ve always tried to help people in any way I can, especially disabled people, I’ve done various volunteering roles that included mentoring in one way or another because I want to encourage those people to strive for their goals and aspirations and not let their disability get in the way of doing so.

 

Disabled people face many barriers, we often find ourselves jumping over hurdles in life to get access to the most basic things, and we constantly have to fight for one thing or another, so it can be reassuring to know that someone else has been in the same position and it can be encouraging to know that you’re not fighting it alone.

 

Non-disabled people are often quick to tell us what we can’t do or amazed when we prove them wrong, so we need to encourage young disabled people to ignore those perceptions and show them what they can do. We need the younger generation to know that they can achieve, no matter what anyone says to them.

They will grow up to be doctors, teachers, musicians, campaigners, leaders, or whatever they want to be, but they are the future and we all need to remember that.

If I can show just one young disabled person that they can achieve and that their disability doesn’t have to be a barrier then I feel like I’ve helped in some way.

 

Inspiring others

Some disabled people including myself don’t particularly like being called inspirational. This is because simple things such as having a job or going out and doing every day activities are seen as inspirational to non-disabled people when they really aren’t that at all.

I do think that inspiration does have its place in a way though, but we need to think what it really means and whether we are truly inspired, it shouldn’t be something that people say for the sake of it, it has a deeper meaning than that. When I was growing up, I didn’t have any disabled role models that I could look up to, so I want to inspire other disabled people to strive for success and live a normal and fulfilling life.

We all need motivation at times.

Everyone is different, we all have our own goals, our own aspirations and none of us are the same but you can achieve anything with a bit of hard work, determination and dedication.

 

Having a responsibility

Being influential means that I have a responsibility to raise awareness, educate society and most importantly, help others in the same or similar situation. I hope that my blog posts are informative and offer advice on all aspects of vision impairment and disability, I do hope that people find them helpful in some way. I also try to share my hints and tips with others and I try to pass my knowledge and experiences on.

 

I also feel like being influential means that I have a responsibility to educate others on disability and vision impairment, to tackle the stereotypes and misconceptions and to raise awareness.

I think I have a responsibility to help create change and campaign on issues relating to topics that are important to the disabled community.

 

A duty to dispel myths and change perceptions

There is an abundance of misconceptions surrounding disability and vision impairment, so I try to use my experiences and platform to raise awareness of these and tackle the notions surrounding these topics. I try to change people’s perceptions through my blog and on social media in the hope to create change in society. I’m proud to be part of a community that tackles people’s perceptions and assumptions.

 

Putting the ‘able’ in disabled

Disability is often seen to be something negative, something that deprives us of ability, but along with many other disabled people, I hope that I’m demonstrating that we have goals, we have ambitions, we have talents and we can live an active and fulfilling life, showing that our disability enables us rather than disables us.

I also hope that it can help others coming to terms with their disability, helping them to see it as something positive, rather than something negative.

 

Using my platform effectively

I try to use my platform to raise awareness, tackle stigmas, educate others and help disabled people in any way I can. I also try to use my blog and social media platforms for campaigning and engaging with the disability and vision impairment community. By using my platforms effectively, I do hope that I can possibly have a small impact on creating change.

I’m proud of my blog and the way in which I use my social media platforms, so I want to make the most out of my little corner on the internet. People are often quick to talk about the negative aspects of social media but if it is used in the right way then I think it can be very effective. If it wasn’t for social media then I wouldn’t be part of the online disabled community, I wouldn’t be able to engage and connect with others and I wouldn’t be able to reach people to offer some of advice and support.

 

Being a positive role model to others

As I have previously mentioned, I didn’t have any disabled role models to look up to when I was younger, there weren’t any disabled people that I could relate to. Bloggers and creators weren’t really a thing when I was growing up, not until my late teens anyway, the media was more focused on disabled people doing extraordinary things, whilst I think this is amazing, it wasn’t the sort of things that I wanted to do, I didn’t have any aspirations of doing that sort of thing.

There were various aspects of my vision impairment journey that I think I could have done with having tips from someone else that had been on the same journey such as learning to love the cane, University, employment and general aspects of living as a blind person in a sighted world. If I can pass my tips and experiences onto others and make a difference in some way, then I will be very happy.

I want to be a positive role model to others, I want them to know that having a disability doesn’t stop them from achieving the things they want to, it doesn’t stop them from succeeding or prevent them from doing the things they enjoy.

I think having a positive role model and someone that you can relate to makes such a huge difference.

 

Starting important discussions

This is key in order for people to learn and widen their knowledge, it also helps to raise awareness. It helps to highlight the issues that disabled people face in the hope to create change.

By starting discussions, it encourages others to do the same. People sometimes ask me how I’m so open about my vision impairment and they tell me that I have encouraged them to be more open and honest about their own disability.

Starting discussions means that we can talk about topics that are important, we can make our voices heard and share information that will help others.

 

Those are just a few of the things that being seen as influential mean to me. It is something that I can’t really sum up into words as I am truly honoured and humbled to be seen in this way.

I share my experiences of living with a vision impairment, try to raise awareness of sight loss and disability, educate others and help other disabled people in any way I can because I’m passionate about vision impairment and disability, so to be seen as influential truly means the world to me.

To be seen as influential fills me with such pride, it is a real honour, but it is people’s support and belief that has given me the confidence to share my story and experiences.

 

None of this would have been possible without your constant support. Thank you for reading my posts, for every like, comment and share, thank you for every message and social media mention and for supporting me and my blog, I can’t explain how much it means.

 

I hope that I can give this title of being seen as influential justice and help to create change.

 

What does being seen as influential mean to you? Let me know in the comments.

 

Holly x