"From Harriet McBryde Johnson's account of her famous debate with Princeton philosopher Peter Singer over her own personhood, to original pieces by up-and-coming authors like Keah Brown and Haben Girma; from blog posts, manifestos, eulogies, testimonies to Congress, and beyond: this anthology gives a glimpse of the vast richness and complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community."

Image description: The book cover of 'Disability Visibility'. The book's tagline reads: "First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century." At the top of the image is a quote from Gaelynn Lea, musician and artist, which reads: "These essays are the heart, the bones, and the blood of Disability Rights."

The cover is cream coloured and decorated with coloured triangles.

I became disabled at university, where the symptoms I had been struggling with for a decade suddenly became much worse, thanks to the stress I was under with my university workload. I became so exhausted I would pass out in the middle of walking around town. I didn’t have the energy to do basic things, such as wash, cook for myself, or clean, and the pain I was in began to severely effect my ability to walk. After around a year of fighting actively for someone to recognise my symptoms as a chronic illness, I managed to get diagnosed.

Since then, I have learned how to manage my illness as best I can. I use mobility aids, such as walking sticks and a wheelchair, when I need to. I try to work with my illness and my body, rather than fight against it, and see it as a huge part of myself. I really dislike when people try to separate me from my illness, as it has led to so many of my formative experiences.

For example, when I first became disabled whilst at university, I started to read up on disability politics and disability ethics. I ended up specialising in this field of ethics, writing my dissertation on it, which was called “Conceptualisations of active citizenship and the ableism they perpetuate: if we take political justice for disabled people seriously, should we endorse theories of active citizenship in their current forms?”

Before I became a fast streamer, I had another life as a folk musician. I used this platform to sing and talk about disability – my second album and the resulting tour focussed heavily on my experiences as a disabled musician. It was a hugely rewarding way of advocating for the disabled and chronically ill community and I have missed it very much since COVID began. If you’re interested in hearing some of my music and reading/listening to some of my advocacy work, I’ve put some links below!

I joined the fast stream partly because the civil service are supposed to be an excellent disability employer. I was struggling to find other jobs and my dad – a civil servant of almost 40 years – encouraged me to apply. I couldn’t believe when I got in! Although the fast stream have been great with some of my accommodations, I have found them very difficult with others, and it’s clear a great deal of change still needs to happen in order for disabled civil servants to have the same level of support and opportunity as their able colleagues are given. This position on the disability committee means so much to me, and I am really looking forward to making meaningful change.

Thanks for reading!

An article about my experience as a disabled musician is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-49911276

My appearance on the BBC Ouch Podcast is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/disability-50857163

My spotify profile is here: