Heather began advocating for disability rights through her blog, nosuperhero.co.uk, to provide an honest and open look at disability through her own lived experience. Her writing aims to raise awareness of disability and the ways it interacts with other aspects of a person’s life, in amongst her other passions of gin, guinea pigs, books and recipes.
Using her own experiences of cerebral palsy, Scheuermann’s Kyphosis – a form of spinal curvature – and fatigue, Heather writes about the many ways disability influences other elements of her life. She uses Twitter and her blog to share experiences of anxiety and depression, and discusses her experiences frankly to give readers both insight and solidarity.
She explains: “I think we often forget that disability does not discriminate: it doesn’t care who you are or where you’re from. Now is the time we celebrated the disabled experience for the rich, positive, diverse experience that it is, and it is only through educating – and in turn empowering others – that we can begin to do so.”
Heather’s nuanced guest article for Scope during Mental Health Awareness Week looked at how comparisons between physical and mental health (while intending to increase understanding of mental health) might have some unintended consequences. As an inclusion ambassador for inclusive minds she recently spoke at the Children’s Media Conference about media accessibility and its importance as part of the Changemaker strand, sponsored by BAFTA.
As well as writing candidly on her blog and social media channels, Heather is a fantastic public speaker and a talented academic. She recently graduated from studying an MRes degree, with a thesis exploring how disability is portrayed in contemporary literatures.
She presented a public seminar on her thesis, and has recently worked with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals on its diversity review of the Carnegie Medal selection process.
Find out more about Heather here: https://nosuperhero.co.uk/
