'I've been turned away from shops and even sacked because I'm in a wheelchair'

Member of Scope's All-Wales CP Network, Samantha Maxwell, 33, has opened up about her experience of living with cerebral palsy to Wales Online.
By Steve Bagnall, Breaking News editor, and Ellie Gosley, Senior Reporter

A Welsh woman who overcame severe depression by writing her life story has revealed she was once dismissed from her job simply because she used a wheelchair. Samantha Maxwell, who has cerebral palsy, says she was "discounted" from so many opportunities in her teenage and young adult years due to her disability.

"I've been turned away from shops, employers refused to consider me for jobs, and in one case I was sacked because certain managers did not want someone in a wheelchair representing them," she said.

Samantha now hopes her story will challenge attitudes towards disability, while also making it accessible to those with visual impairments and people who struggle with printed books. Her campaign has received a significant boost from the Pendine Park care organisation, which has donated £325 towards the production of an audiobook version of her autobiography, CP Isn't Me.

The author, from Wrexham, says she spent years feeling defined by her disability rather than her character and capabilities.

She hopes the audiobook will inspire people to look beyond the wheelchair and recognise the individual behind it.

Samantha is now fighting back, not solely for herself, but on behalf of people of all ages and backgrounds who face the difficulties of living with a disability. The book was taken on by Wrexham publisher Allan Longshadow, of motiv8.me Press.

It is now available through major bookstores including Waterstones, through online sources, and via the charity Scope.

She said: "At first it was just for me, as a form of therapy, I suppose, but soon I found I enjoyed writing and the improvement in my mental health was transformative. I felt a thousand times better than I ever had."

Her mother, Christine, urged Samantha to develop her writings into a book, which evolved into a thought-provoking autobiography, earning glowing five-star reviews online.

Samantha said: "It was about my own fight to challenge the stigmas of living with a disability, allowing my personality to escape the boundaries society had imposed on me as a result of my cerebral palsy (CP).

"I wanted to tell my story of growing up with CP but also express how there is much more to me than CP. Writing was a way to explain the huge challenges anyone with a disability faces in getting the world to see them for who they are rather than being pigeon-holed by their condition."

Samantha has expressed gratitude towards Pendine Park for backing her appeal, personally thanking managers and staff during a visit to the care organisation's Bryn Bella care home in Wrexham. She explained: "I did not know anything about Pendine Park until my mum was chatting with a friend of hers, Jackie Brand, who is a nurse here.

"It was Jackie who suggested I apply for help from Pendine Arts and Community Trust (PACT). I was bowled over when the trust offered to donate £325 to my cause. It is so uplifting to have that kind of support. I cannot express my appreciation enough."

The trust was established by Pendine Park's proprietors Mario and Gill Kreft to back cultural, educational, and community projects throughout the area.

Pendine Consultant Artist in Residence, Sarah Edwards, met Samantha for the first time during her trip to Bryn Bella. She was deeply impressed by how Samantha has navigated her own personal challenges and by her unwavering resolve to challenge the stigmas surrounding disability.

She commented: "It has been a real pleasure to meet Samantha. We are delighted to sponsor her for the sum of £325 through the Pendine Arts and Community Trust (PACT) to help her raise funds to create an audio version of her first book. We feel it will be a wonderful resource for caregivers and the wider social care sector.

"We also wish her the very best for the continued development and progress of Accessible Wrexham, for all her future endeavours and to even more incredible achievements."

Following Samantha's gift of copies of her three books to Sarah, Sarah revealed she would be sharing the stories with Pendine Park residents. She continued: "I know a number will identify with Samantha's narrative and the battles that she has gone through to achieve deserved recognition."

Samantha has since authored two additional books – Disabling Ableism and Silenced – and is currently working on a fourth, which she describes as taking a somewhat different direction as it will be a children's storybook.

She explained: "My first passion was design. I graduated with a degree in Graphic Design from Wrexham University, and that's where my original ambitions lay.

"But I struggled for so long to find employment, and acceptance, fighting to survive in a world that so often misunderstands disability. The result is I have found myself on an entirely different path to anything like the one which I once envisaged."

Alongside her literary work, Samantha has also established herself as a highly-regarded disability advocate and has been named an ambassador for Wrecsam2029, championing accessibility and inclusion as central elements of the city's UK City of Culture bid.

She also serves as a Project Leader with Accessible Wrexham, an organisation established to compile and provide an archive of information and practical guidance for residents and visitors with disabilities in Wrexham and the surrounding region. Creating an audio edition of her debut book CP Isn't Me represents the next major milestone in her campaign to highlight disability matters.