Hi,

I'm an 18 year old from Eastbourne with spastic cerebral palsy, which ultimately means I have always needed and will always need a wheelchair. Having been all I've known, living with a disability revolves largely around focusing on the positives, and throughout my life I've always strived for independence and my dreams. I learnt to drive 5 days after I was old enough, I got myself a job at my local Tesco's to be able to support myself financially, and I travelled over to Bexhill to go to college as they were the closest college available who did the course I was most interested in, and I've just left here with A*A*A at A-level and am now on to university.

Despite all of these personal successes in my life, it is always tinged with the hardship of a life with disability. No matter how much I try to focus on the positives, the negatives are always there. I had to learn to drive early because even a trip to the local shops on my own would result in bloody thumbs and the need for a strong cup of tea and a nap when I got home after struggling with any bags. My A-level results allowed me to adjust my offer from Warwick university to UCL to study Classical Civilisation (Ancient History) there instead, but I had to turn down this opportunity after being told on the phone by disability services that my life there would be a struggle. Even still, university life won't be easy for me, and this is something I am strongly aware of, and something that worries me as I go on in my life.

I try not to let my disability hold me back, and I ultimately have dreams of carrying on my degree in Classical Civilisation to something further. I was taken to Rome for my 18th birthday, and this trip opened my eyes to two things, the first being my love for the ancient world. As much as I wanted to see, however, there is no way I would have been able to traverse Rome on my own, and even with the support of three other people it was a massive struggle.

The Nino Balance Wheelchair proposes a solution to this problem of independence. Below is an excerpt from their site.

I had the privelege of trying something similar at my local park for an hour with Nick Webborn, the chair of the British Paralympic Association, and I can safely say that I have never felt such freedom, especially after trying the Nino itself at my home. It's difficult to convey the struggles of life with a disability, and whilst my story isn't unique or deserving of pity, I simply can't raise the funds on my own to buy one of these, and all government run services have simply turned me away. I still work at Tesco and am saving funds, but the Nino is a distant hope at this rate, and in the present I have a worry about my university life, which begins in October.

It feels wrong to ask for the help of others in this, especially as focus in my life has always been on independence, but I just can't get this alone. I'm hoping to raise the money for a Nino in order to allow me freedom and independence in my life, which I can then use at university to achieve what I want to. I continue to struggle with depression and anxiety and take medication for this as I have done for a while, but after achieving A*A*A at A-level, I know that I have potential, and nothing would hit me harder than being held back because of my disability.

Thank you for reading