This is the second in a series of 4 posts about employing my own team. Having had personal assistants in my life for 7 years when I went to university I thought the transition to living away was going to be relatively easy.  Unfortunately, starting university with a team of...

My first personal assistant was employed using direct payments from Social Services when I was 12 years old. In hindsight the decision on who to employ was actually quite easy, although it felt both daunting and exciting at the time. Whilst at primary school (up to age 11) Kate had...

Is it right or fair that a woman should be chosen to represent her nation over a male who has a better competitive track record? Boccia is a mixed gender sport, and definitely in England there are more male players than females. In 2018 the IPC and BISFed decided every...

For all communication I prefer my communication partner, if they can, to be on my level, it can be hard to be looking up to lip read (I have a hearing impairment) and then reaching down to use my IT or other communication resources. As an electronic communication aid user...

I employ a team of personal assistants who support me 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.  Each team member works with me on a 1-1 basis, and at times I need 2 assistants particularly for travel and sport. The relationship between me and each assistant is a...

For me ‘the time it takes is the time it takes’.  What I mean by this is that I cannot dress any more quickly and I cannot eat any more quickly. This means I use a concept called reverse engineering life. Short cuts are out Most people can take shortcuts...

Boccia is a Paralympic sport, and like all sports governed by strict rules.  It is a target game played indoors by individuals and pairs or teams, accuracy and tactics matter when there is a match to be won. Athletes are classified into groups to ensure there is a level playing...