‘Why are you using that ?’ A stranger said, pointing to my cane.

‘I’m disabled and sometimes need mobility support,’ I replied.

That should have been the end of the conversation, instead, they scoffed, gave me a disgusted look and walked away. That told me everything I needed to know about their opinion of disabled people.

When such vitriol towards disabled people exists, it’s easy to see why it’s so hard for some people to accept the label – I know I certainly did.

For more than a decade, I never used the word ‘disabled’ about myself. I was ashamed of it, I feared it even.

But now, at 31, I finally feel genuine pride in my identity – in fact, it’s a defining part of who I am as a person – and I want others to feel the same.

I wasn’t always disabled: for the first 14 years of

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