One of my goals is to encourage people to give blood as often as possible. It’s a simple process, but once that can be life saving for those suffering with sickle cell anaemia – up to three lives are saved per unit of blood and it only takes 15 minutes for the donor. There have been times when I needed about 60 units of blood a year. Blood donors saved my life, so spreading that message is extremely important to me. I also want to try to educate people on disability prejudice, by adding terms such as ‘disablism’ and ‘ableism’ into our regular vocabulary. When you give people language, you give them the power to stand up for themselves.
Other than giving blood, people can also support petitions for disabled people. That enables change to be made within Parliament to assist with the challenges of everyday life. Thirdly, I encourage people to educate themselves on disabled experiences through reading. The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor and Disability Visibility by Alice Wong are two I would recommend. Lastly, following disabled content creators on social media is an act of both advocacy and education. My favourite creators are Maya Moore and One Handed Overdressed.
Being a TEDx speaker is important to me because it provides a platform to further my work. It was from there that I started speaking to ITV and BBC Africa, as well as being recognised as a Next Generation Changemaker by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It’s opened doors for me that I would never have expected, changing the trajectory of my life for the better.
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