#diversity

It's Time to Give People with Disabilities the Fair Chance to Work and Succeed!

It’s a general assumption:“People with disabilities don’t work”. I would like to react on that. By working I mean to earn income to provide for yourself (and your family). It’s not easy to live with a disability, either when your born with it or get disabled later in life. Everyone is able to be use-full, to participate, to work but it's about the circumstances. Smart but disabled It helps if you have had proper education and the access to do so. But even then, people with di

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Unlock the Doors to Equality: Diversity, Inclusion and Equity - A Necessity, Not a Choice.

Calling for diversity and link it to justice and equality is a good thing. But there is more to it. Diversity, inclusion and equity are not just an issue of ‘communication and PR’. It’s part of the composition, structure and culture of a company. Awareness and acting towards change are necessary. Diversity is about changing perceptions which lead to actual cultural change. It’s not simply solved by just hiring one person of color or one person with a disability. People need t

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Labeled and Unlabeled: Diversity and Inclusion: Is One Possible Without the Other?

Every person is unique. And that's your greatest strength. I never fitted in, so I know what being labelled as 'different' feels like. I was always the 'boring or quiet girl' or 'foreign'. Now I am the 'disabled woman'. We all put labels on things, and we are being labelled everywhere we go. It's just how it works. Some of us a more 'boxable' than others but we all bring something to the table. I believe there is good in all of us and that we can all contribute in our own way

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Finding Love and Acceptance in a Wheelchair: A Journey of Self-Discovery

I remember after a month, still laying in the hospital bed I told my father I thought I would be forever alone. He said 'If I would meet a beautiful woman in a wheelchair, I would still date her.' Time went by, failed dates and moments of frustration, didn't made me give up but also didn't give me much hope to find someone who would like me enough to see past the fact that I am a wheelchair user. Love happens, It's not something you can find or force. Since I am sharing my st

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Making Your Environment More Accessible - Small effort, big difference.

So maybe you have a relative, a friend, a colleague or a neighbor that goes through life using a wheelchair. Or maybe you've once broke your leg and had to use a wheelchair for a few weeks. In that case you might have noticed it isn't easy rolling around. How can you change something in your own environment to be more accessible? Most of the time the adjustments are not as big people think they need to be. Maybe you are a business owner and you can adapt the entrance with a s

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The airplane experience

A year ago I travelled for the first time by airplane since being in a wheelchair. The first time it was a short flight of 2 hours and I was alone. In the last few months I am glad to add two more flight experiences to my list. The difference I noticed is (now being on wheels) the detailed planning/preparation and the less baggage that I can carry when traveling solo. A week ago I returned from my longest flight so far, being 9 hours on board on an airplane. I could not have

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You Are what you Like

Doesn't it seem like everybody is wanting to be like someone else these days. And mostly just famous because of status or money. Open Instagram and you will find all these (young) people posing in front of the same thing, with the same outfit, with the same filter and with the same text. Plastic surgery seems to be normal nowadays and every YouTube star seems retouching or reconstructing their face. Ofcourse there are a few exceptions but mostly it just one copying the other

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Desexualized

I’m a wheelchair user now. Not by choice. Accidents happen. I got used to using the wheels, but my environment didn’t. Accessibility needs to be improved and, accepting people that are less-abled and treating them equal, needs an even bigger upgrade. One of the things I noticed is that as a woman in a wheelchair you don’t get cat called. I used to experience that a lot before, back when I could still walk. But now it’s a totally different world. I think people see the disable

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Adapted Clothing?

Clothes, we all need it to protect our bodies but we also use it to communicate who we are, it's part of out identity. When you have a spinal cord injury there is even more to it. When you can stand for a minute or if you can't move at all, that will effect your wardrobe choices. Personally I wore a lot of jeans before was paralyzed. Now I never wear denim jeans. Jeans have a lot of seems, pinholes, pockets. It's too much risks on decubitus (skin damage) and the struggle, tak

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The Bright Side Of being disabled

There must be some positive side to this all. Yes, of course! I believe there is. Being disabled is not always bad. Here is why. Number 1: Most obvious. Yes, the parking privilege. It's nice to park close to the door and have enough space to get the wheelchair in and out of the car. Number 2: Receiving help from the government to get assistance in household tasks and in some cases you may receive financial support because being disabled brings a lot of extra costs. Number 3:

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