21/08/2026
With only a month to go until the , I’ve been reflecting on what it means to be shortlisted as the UK Role Model for Disability.
I didn’t set out to win awards or to gain the recognition that I now have.
My new chapter was born out of a moment of absolute agony.
A moment where the world beneath me fell away and all I could see was darkness.
Yet it has, as it turns out, been the most important moment of my life.
It was the moment that I realised that I could leave the world just that little bit better than when I entered it.
It has taken me to incredible places and to tables where people like me had never sat.
It allows me to witness feats of unbelievable courage and love in the most ordinary of places.
I have been able to make a difference to those people you will never see in the media.
Every day people fighting for a better place whilst just trying to get through hardships the outside world rarely notices.
They are the people who get up every day even when it hurts. They are the people who cry but do it anyway and they are those who piece by piece are making the world a better place for even the most vulnerable.
In a world full of isolation and division, it has given me the courage to raise my voice and be heard where previously there was silence.
We can be the voice of those who do not have one.
We can be the difference.
