10 years later: disabled student to disabled employee

Tomorrow, I’ll have been writing this blog for 10 years…

My blog, life as a cerebral palsy student, was set up during my GCSE’s. As the name suggests, I wrote about my experiences as a disabled student. Yet I could not have predicted how much my blog would influence my employment opportunities 10 years later.

I graduated university in 2019 with a first class honours degree in psychology and child development. I blogged throughout my time at university and was starting to do some public speaking work. After graduating, I rebranded to the blog you now see today.

I spoke a little about my transition to work yet I’ve certainly learnt a lot now I’ve been in employment for 4 years. Part of the reason I’ve not written about it much, is down to the fact that it’s been smooth sailing. I got a job offer just before finishing university and have stayed with that organisation since. I fully appreciate the privilege of this, especially as a disabled person.

My employment journey so far

After volunteering with Scope for about 5 years, I worked as an intern on their online forum for 3 months. This was during the summer between my 2nd and 3rd year at university. I was very fortunate that a full-time position became available just before I finished university. I continued to work on the forum for about a year and a half.

Then moved to the content team at Scope and was hired as a content designer. This started as 6 month secondment and was changed into a permanent contract. I’ve now been a content designer for 2 and a half years and have learnt so much. I’ve found a role that truly encompassed my love for writing, talking about disability and creating disability-related advice. Yet it’s thanks to my blog that I had the experience needed to be a content designer.

Since graduating university, I’ve also continued to write my blog and do freelance work like writing, filming and public speaking.

Reasonable adjustments

One of the main things that has made a difference, is the ability to work from home. I’ve always worked from home so I suppose I know no different. Yet I think working from home really helps manage pain and fatigue. While the social aspect of an office would be a refreshing change, the daily commute would really impact my work.

I also have equipment from Disabled Student Allowance (DSA), my employer and Access to Work. These include:

• large touch screen monitor
• laptop
• laptop stand
• JAWS (Job Access With Speech) screenreader
• magnification software
• custom-made office chair

While I have been working for Scope, I’ve also experimented with different working patterns. This has included working:

• full-time (5 days a week 9am-5pm)
• condensed hours (4 days a week 8am-6pm)
• reduced hours (4 days a week 9am-5pm)
• Flexibly (taking more breaks if needed but the same hours each week)

What have I learnt?

Looking back, I very much had a boom and bust cycle as a student. It allowed me to complete assignments in the time needed. It also fitted with the wave of deadlines and quieter periods you often experience at university. I enjoyed being a student and studying psychology, but I certainly was burnt out by the end. The cycles of university deadlines might have fitted the boom and bust cycle, but it did not prepare me for employment.

Having completed my degree, I assumed full-time work would be sustainable for me. I might not have been partying every night, but I’d done blogging and freelance work alongside education since the age of 15. Yet it would be naive of me to ignore other factors. Writing my blog began as a hobby. While others might have binged watched TV shows, I might have been writing or coming up with ideas.

In a way, school holidays and reading weeks at university became my recovery time. I appreciate that these breaks also allowed me to have fun. Every child looks forward to 6 weeks off at summer! Yet I hadn’t realised how much I physically needed that downtime.

Despite the initial focus of my blog being on education, I knew it was something I wanted to continue as I moved into employment. By this time, life as a cerebral palsy student was more than a blog about accessible education. I’d begun writing about sight-loss, something I experienced at the start of university, and covered a range of disability topics.

Working part-time is not failing

I started my role at Scope working 5 days a week. While this worked, I’d be so fatigued by the weekend. I assumed this was just my body adjusting to a new schedule, but things only got worse. It seemed to be getting harder, not easier, and was affecting my productivity.

Then it was suggested that I could work condensed hours. This meant working 4 longer days, but it gave me a whole day to relax, socialise or write. Again, this worked to begin with. I was able to enjoy work and have enough energy to do other things. I still had to pace myself and be conscious of energy levels, but it worked.

When I changed roles it required a higher cognitive load. I quickly began to realise that it wasn’t sustainable. I hoped this was due to learning lots of new things, but unfortunately this continued. At this point I moved to working 4 days a week. While I do appreciate the privilege that comes with being able to work 4 days a week and having an employer who happily made this adjustment, I felt like I’d failed.

Of course this is not the case. Working 4 days a week has been the best thing I ever did.

Where am I at now?

I think I have the balance just right. Don’t get me wrong, fatigue is still something I have to manage. Although I am able to work and enjoy time socialising. One big thing to happen over the past few years is freelance work.

I feel like I could write a whole blog post about the freelance work I’ve been up to in recent years. It’s mainly just grown organically over the last few years. It’s still is a ‘pinch me’ moment when I get paid to talk about disability! My favourite has to be going into schools. There is something so lovely about being able to teach the next generation about disability. Hopefully it means society will be more understanding in the future.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this adventure, and to those who have stood by me every wobbly step of the way.

I cannot put into words how life changing the last 10 years have been. All because I decided to press publish on my first blog post on 25th March 2013. I have no idea what my life would look like if I didn’t have this blog.

It’s given me everything; enjoyment, friendship, employment, and most importantly, self-acceptance.

~ Chloe x