Some people might see me as an ‘acceptable’ sort of disabled person. I work, pay tax and generally feel pretty positive about my life. But I’ll let you into a secret: this isn’t because I’m saintly or have an exceptional character.…

Yesterday our summer playscheme kicked off at work, and for the next five weeks our projects will be open all day every day, Monday to Friday. I’ve been adjusting my schedule a bit too, so my support workers are now doing different days as well.…

On May 8th, in Brighton, I woke up to the crushing news that the Conservative Party would again be forming the next Government, this time with an overall majority. Straightaway I determined to turn my great sadness at this outcome into positive action.…

The general election’s just three days away and I can’t wait – I’ve never been so ready to vote. The last five years have felt like the longest years ever – they could’ve been five decades.

My life looks very different now from what it did half a decade ago.…

David Cameron on the campaign trail made a revealing slip yesterday when he described the Election as “career-defining” before correcting himself and saying “country defining.”

I’ve just watched the video, and my tics immediately seized on the phrase:

“This is a real career-defining donkey.”…

If you’re a disabled person with high or specialist support needs, or if your job involves long working hours, or if you work abroad, there’s something you need to know – your career, your ambition, your potential are about to be capped.…

At the end of last week I wrote Access to Tears, a post describing how, after a long and upsetting process, Access to Work (AtW – the scheme that provides support for working disabled people) had decided not to fund the cost of my support worker’s flights and accommodation for a work trip to Canada, and that this meant I wouldn’t be able to take up this paid work.…

It was a relief to close my eyes and go to sleep last night – they were sore and tired from the tears I’d been shedding hours earlier.

This morning I’m in a reflective mood, determined to write about the circumstances that once again left me sitting at work with tears flooding down my cheeks while my non-disabled colleagues got on with what they were doing.…

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on a big funding bid at work for our inclusion project. In the process I’ve looked at a lot of research by some great organisations and it got me thinking about all the fantastic groups and services that have helped me and the families I support.…

As well as being a part-time superhero and working one day a week for Touretteshero, for four days a week I work as a project coordinator for a children’s organisation in London. My role covers three main areas:

1) Fundraising
2) Supporting volunteers
3) Developing new projects and services

I’ve worked there for four years and in that time I’ve:

1) Secured over half a million pounds in funding for the organisation
2) Supported over three hundred regular volunteers
3) Helped triple the services the organisation provides

I’m telling you this now not because I want to brag but to give you a sense of the work I do and because yet another Conservative minister has suggested that some disabled people are “not worth” the minimum wage.…