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We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Hi! I’m new! :)

JordanRose

Hello everybody! Don't know if this is the right place to introduce myself but here goes...

I'm Jordan, a student from Manchester. I am studying 'Language. Literacy and Communication' and would like to work with disabled people once I've graduated- how, I'm not completely sure as yet- I'm hoping to get some advice and guidance on this on the forum

I volunteered in a special school a couple of years ago and can honestly say I loved every minute of it- that experience confirmed who I wanted to work with! I've also worked with teenagers with learning difficulties at a Christmas party, and have experienced disability within my family. I have cousins with CP and a great-auntie who has Down's- they are all such amazing people, and I do anything I can to help them and allow them to enjoy their lives.

I think it's so important to raise awareness about disability, as it is something which is too often ignored. I look forward to getting to know people and hear about your experiences. I feel I will learn a huge amount on here, and can hopefully offer some of my experiences, too.

Thank you for reading!

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Comments

Katherine Hayward

Hi, just read your posting.
I´m in agreement that you should raise as much awareness as possible about disability and I think its great youvé volunteered to do that kind of work. I didn´t go to a special school bt know ppl who did and had support workers at school and uni myself so really valued the work they did, am still in touch with those from my infant and junior schools today. I really think you have come to the right place.
I have quadraparesis cp, hydrocephalus with a shunt and partial eyesight and am a powerchair user. My drs advised my parents i should go to a special school but in the end i went to mainstream and it wasn´t a piece of cake either!
I suffered alot of bullying and was denied access to my infant school as the headteacher thought I´d not be able to learn. I was happier at secondary school and then went to Uni.
I encountered alot of ignorance at school and uni and when looking for work and am the only disabled person in my family and don´t see eye to eye with my parents sometimes but I´ve always fought for what I wanted in life. I lost my twin sister when we were both 9 days old and that has always impacted on my life´s decisions as I feel Im living for her too. I don´t know what other things you want to know. Would like to keep in touch.
Katherine

JordanRose

Thanks for your interest, Katherine (or do you prefer Kat?)

It's a difficult one to assess sometimes isn't it? There's so many debates surrounding Mainstream and Special schools- I've done assignments about it at uni, as it's something that really interests me. I think it's important, on one hand, to integrate disabled children as much as possible, but on the other hand, some children simply won't achieve in mainstream, and unfortunately, bullying is all too common!

I was a peer mentor at high school, and really bonded with a girl who had serious sight problems, and she opened up to me one day, saying how people made fun of her, and that she felt really lonely. She then said that she was happy to find me, as I understood her- it broke my heart! Sorry to hear that you had to suffer, too!

I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed high school, though and that you perservered and went to uni- good on you, for not letting people stop you! It's good that you were able to show people that actually, disabled people are also intelligent, it's a shame that not everybody sees that! It sounds like your sister really pushes you to do these things, even if it's due to such an awful situation. My cousins are twin sisters, and were born at 24 weeks, and were very much hit and miss when they were born. Luckily, they both survived (much to the doctors' surprise!). Their CP is very similar to yours, and I've seen how difficult it can be for them, but most of the time, they're happy chappies- and that, to me, is the most important thing in the world!

Thanks again for replying, It'll be nice to keep in touch with you, too! Glad to hear you've done so much with you life already

And sorry about the length of this reply- oops! :S

Hopefully talk again soon!
Jordan x

Katherine Hayward

Hi, Its fine for you to call me Kat. I was hit and miss when I was born as me and my twin sister almost died at 3 days. Not sure what else you want to know. I´m in a relarionship now, that´s something i didn´t think id achieve as every guy i met at uni turned away when they noticed my disability. Unfortunately, I agree that the uk and many other countries have a long way to go when it comes to treating disabled people as equals. I have a friend who´s cp has mostly affected her sight and balance and she often tells me about the reactions she gets from people such as "what do you mean you can´t read the menu, are you blind"? when the truth is she IS registered blind.
My eyesight probs are partial sight and as my glasses have thin frames people don´t think theres anything wrong, but when i explain they just don´t know what to say! I hope that in time people can change and think before commenting.
Yep, I guess I have done alot with my life so far, I think the best you can do is just do what you want with your life whether you need help from people or not. I´ve had alot of support from my parter who i met in 2006 and we are still together, and engaged. He´s shown me that fortunately there ARE people who think differently. I´ve had my fair share of indifference and ignorance, either at school or from some doctors and am still fighting against the drs´views.

Anything else let me know
Kat

JordanRose

Congratulations on your engagement- brilliant stuff!

It's good to hear that you just live life to the full, despite your disability, and I'm very happy that there are people out there that see past somebody's disability, like your lovely husband to be!

Like you say, there's still some way to go, but it's brilliant that there's not so much stigma associated with disability any more, and that rights are becoming more and more prominent. Maybe one day, we'll live in a place where relgion, race, age, disability etc. are not so focused upon, and people will simply be regarded as people, with the same rights and possibilities. We can live in hope!

Good to hear about your life, and how much you've done. Congratulations again, regarding the engagement- that made my day!