Paper Wings messages
Blindness is a Spectrum
When I was first diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative, inherited retinal disease, I truly believed that I would wake up one day and see nothing at all, swallowed by…
Coping with change
Working in disabilities, fully independent, sharing looking after my autistic granddaughter to help my bi-polar daughter and being a very social person – my life was just the way it…
Look Twice
At the time of receiving my diagnosis of vision impairment I was a 30-year-old adult I had already established a life including a relationship, friendships, and career path. What I…
Yes we can!
I can still recall the feeling when doctors confirmed my parent’s worst fear. That my unsteady walking and lack of hand grip wasn’t just laziness or a phase but a…
Sport was my rehab
For the two and half years following my accident I experienced so many confusing emotions, I was frustrated, I was angry, I was lost, I didn’t know where to go.…
It is okay
Sometimes it is okay to be not be okay, you don’t have to hide how you feel.
Don’t hide who you are
I wish someone had told me as a child that it was okay to be different, that there is no need to hide your difficulties, and most importantly to be…
Dear 17 Year Old Me
I am writing to you as a 62 year old woman; yes a senior member of society! Even though you are at the age to leave school and begin your…
Enough
You ARE enough You WILL get across all of what you need to know There is help and guidance There is help to find help and guidance There are experts,…
Don’t forget you
If I could tell you anything at all about raising a child with a disability I would say, “you’ve got this, you are going to be okay and it will…
Autism is hard at first
The world can be really hard when you have autism, it’s too bright, too loud, and people will often talk to you. IF any of these things sound like a…
Letter to my younger self
Well hello! I know you are expecting words of wisdom but I doubt that will happen so perhaps let’s look at the experience gained over many years. I know that…
I’m just me
I did what some said I never would. Born 7 weeks premature after a very traumatic birth, I was lucky to live as it was. As I grew, I was…