How my visual impairment helped me find my love of writing

When I was younger, if someone would have told me that I’d start a blog, have the chance to write for publications and really enjoy writing, I don’t think I would have believed them.

I enjoyed writing short stories with my friends and composing little songs, but it never really went beyond that.

I was never your A* student in English lessons at school, I certainly wasn’t top of the class, it was a subject that I enjoyed but that was it.

 

I’ve always been a bit of a book worm so I guess that helped me fall in love with writing a little bit more.

 

As I got older, I connected with the online disabled community which lead me to start reading blogs. Most of these blogs were beauty, fashion and lifestyle focused. Whilst I enjoyed reading them, I felt like I needed something that I could really relate to, and that’s when I came across a handful of disabled bloggers.

It ignited a spark within me.

I’ve always had a passion for helping others, and I wanted to extend that passion, so I took some time and pondered about creating my own little space on this weird and wonderful thing called the internet. I didn’t have to start a blog, I could have done any form of writing, but there was something about blogging that really intrigued me, so that’s when Life of a Blind Girl was created.

I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, that’s evident in my first few blog posts, but nevertheless, I decided to give it a go. At the end of the day, I had nothing to lose, so why not try it?

 

But what would I talk about?

Straight away I knew that I wanted it to be disability related. I wanted to share my experiences of living in a world that wasn’t exactly designed for us that can’t see, tackle the barriers and misconceptions that myself and others are constantly up against, educate sighted people on disability and vision impairment, but most of all, I wanted to help other disabled people. I could have done with reading blog posts by disabled people when I was younger for a bit of advice, guidance and reassurance.

Looking back, none of it would have happened if it wasn’t for my visual impairment.

 

How my visual impairment helped me find my love of writing

If I didn’t have a visual impairment, what would this blog be? It definitely wouldn’t be called ‘Life of a Blind Girl’ and its main focus wouldn’t be disability.

That’s weird to think about isn’t it?

My visual impairment has had an impact on my writing and it’s something I don’t really stop and think about. If I didn’t have a visual impairment what would I be writing about, would I have started a blog, would I have gone down another creative path? Those are all unanswered questions, as much as curiosity fills my mind, I’m ok with not knowing the answers.

 

My visual impairment has helped me find my creativity and my determination to strive for change, it has also given me a voice to tackle misconceptions and break down barriers.

Would I do any of that if I didn’t have a vision impairment? Of course I wouldn’t.

 

My vision impairment lead to my love of writing, but it also gave me a voice. I started blogging not knowing what I was doing and whether anyone would read my ramblings, but I built it up over time. My confidence grew and I realised that my disability gave me an ability.

 

Writing  has given me a purpose I never knew I really needed. Throughout my time in education, I felt different, I was a quiet, shy little girl who really didn’t believe in herself or her abilities.

Learning to accept and love my disability and my differences happened over time, but there are a few things that have helped me get there – family, friends, music and of course writing.

Writing gives me even more of a reason to love my visual impairment and embrace the things that make me different.

 

The more I tapped away on the keyboard and put words on the page, the more my love for writing grew,. The fear and feeling of not really knowing what I was doing evaporated and I realised that I was gradually getting to grips with this thing called blogging. I found my own writing style, my purpose and my creativity but most importantly, I found my love of writing.

My love of writing was fuelled by my passions of raising awareness and helping others and it has turned into something that I couldn’t imagine my life without. Blogging started out as just a hobby, but it is so much more than that now, it’s a huge part of my life, who knows where this path might lead me to in the future?

 

One of my goals is to build my writing portfolio. I’m extremely lucky to have the opportunity to write for some fantastic publications to raise awareness, share my experiences, educate society and help others and I’m determined to do even more of that. I feel like writing has given me a purpose, a voice and a platform.

Finding my passion for writing and starting my blog has made me want to branch out even further within the writing world, . I’d like to try other forms of writing and talk about disability in ways I haven’t before. I’d love to write my own book one day, it may never happen but who knows…we all have dreams and aspirations don’t we?

 

I feel like I found my love of writing at a time I really needed it, I was in my first year of University, I was in the midst of figuring out University life, trying to make friends and slowly growing in confidence and independence. I was learning to love and accept my visual impairment. Prior to this I had completed my A-levels which was a rather tough two years to say the least, I felt like I didn’t fit in and definitely didn’t thrive in that environment. When I started University and tried to have a positive mindset and build up new found confidence and determination, I believe that writing helped me build that up even further.

Writing has had such an impact on my life, probably more than I realise sometimes.

 

Why I chose to write about disability

Although my visual impairment was the spark behind my love of writing, I could have gone down any path and wrote about any topic, it of course didn’t have to be disability related. Once I started blogging, I knew that I had made the right choice and that genre of writing was most definitely for me.

 

The moment I started my blog, I knew I wanted its main focus to be disability related and there’s various reasons for that.

Talking about my disability online means that I’m very honest and open, I don’t shy away from keeping things real because I think that’s important.

My visual impairment helped me find my passion for writing, but it was also the driving force behind this blog.

The main reason I started my blog was to raise awareness of vision impairment and disability, and it is my main platform of doing exactly that.

I’ve been blind since birth so I’ve got a rather good understanding of the trials and tribulations of growing up with sight loss, I’ve realised that people have preconceived ideas, so I wanted to tackle these.

Using my blog as a way of doing this made me more passionate about raising awareness and made me even more determined to make my content the best it could be, it still does today.

 

Leading on from this, writing about my disability allows me to shed a light on having a visual impairment from my own personal perspective. When I started to read blogs, there were only a handful of disabled bloggers sharing their experiences. Most of the articles on the internet were written from more of a professional perspective, whilst this is great, it wasn’t the first-hand experience I could have done with reading when I was growing up.

Many of the connotations surrounding vision impairment and disability can often be negative. Whilst having a vision impairment or other disability may have its challenges, the positives outweigh the negatives for myself and many other disabled people.

 

I’ve been passionate about helping others since I was young, from volunteering for local and national charities, to teaching braille and carrying out mentoring roles, I’ve tried to help other disabled people and to encourage them to realise their full potential. I want to show others that having a disability doesn’t stop you from achieving the things you want to, and I want to share some of the knowledge and wisdom I’ve learned along the way. I’ve always wanted my writing to help other disabled people, and also for them to know that they’re not alone.

All of that gave me motivation to write about my experiences and to help others realise that having a disability doesn’t have to hold you back in life. Our disability may present us with barriers but there are also many positives, more than we realise sometimes.

 

All of these reasons made me love writing about my disability even more and it’s at the heart of what I do.

 

Although my disability is the main focus of my blog, it isn’t my only passion and I try to talk about other things with an added twist of disability, making it a little bit different. My disability has had a huge influence in my passion for writing and the things I write about, and I will never forget that.

 

My vision impairment has lead to my love of writing which has given me a purpose and a ton of opportunities over the last 5 years that I never would have expected.

 

I have no idea what lead me to starting Life of a Blind Girl one day back in January 2015 but I’m so glad I did.

Finding my love of writing and starting my blog has helped me find my creative outlet, its a way of sharing my experiences, an opportunity to connect with others, and the chance to gain new skills. It gives me constant determination and motivation to raise awareness and strive for change. I definitely won’t be stopping any time soon!

 

Has your disability helped you find a love of something? If so then I’d love to hear your story, let me know in the comments.

 

Holly x