Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Introducing Guest Blogger Emma Crees - Just the Way I am

I would like to introduce a new guest blogger. I found the words of this inspirational woman on her own blog 'A Writer In A Wheelchair' and just had to see if she would come across and do some blogging on the DisCo site. So for my readers and followers, we are in luck, Emma Crees is now a marvellous contributer to the content of this blog. Emma has Cerebral Palsy and the great thing I like about her own blog posts is that she doesn't let this define her as a person, but at the same time respects this as part of her (and in fact wouldn't change it if she was given the chance). I feel lucky to be able to get the support from such wonderful bloggers and have them really share their experiences, attitude and methods of dealing with change and their lives. I hope that the readers and followers of this blog can appreciate their words and even relate to them in some way!

Emma Crees

I’ve been asked if I want to guest blog over here occasionally and as someone who loves to both write and blog I couldn’t really say no!


I’m Emma and I’m 28. I live in Oxfordshire, in the UK. I’m a volunteer advice worker, a knitter, a sailor, and a reader. A writer, a sister, a daughter, a friend and a swimmer. An advocate, a mouthy girl, stubborn, tattooed and colourful. And lots of other things.

I’m also a wheelchair user as I’ve got Cerebral Palsy (CP). Those other things are the more important things – I’ve used the tag line on my blog before that I’m “So much more than ‘that girl in the wheelchair’” and that’s true – I definitely am.

But it’s my writings about my disability over on my blog that inspired Alyssa to ask me to blog over here on DisCo. Or at least I’m not sure what it was if it wasn’t that! I would describe my blog – which is called A Writer In A Wheelchair – as a bit of a mixed bag of everything. I talk about what I’ve been up to, things I’ve been thinking about or have done. I talk about having CP and also about having depression (I’ve been on and off of anti-depressants for about 7 years). I have a bit of a running series on there called “You know you’ve got CP…” I write about my attempts to lose weight, my hobbies, my hopes and dreams and anything else that comes to mind.


A lot of it does end up being about my disability. Either totally or just in passing. That’s because life is about disability when you have one. Or at least it is in my opinion. Being disabled doesn’t stop me doing stuff but it does influence the when and the how of doing stuff. Occasionally it also influences the what of what I get up too. But you have to think about if there is access to places you want to go – will I manage to get in, get around, be able to use the loo, or get a drink etc. It actually becomes second nature. Sometimes I do it without thinking. Sometimes I’ve been to a place so many times I no longer need to do it

I don’t think that having CP is a bad thing. It’s all I’ve ever known and I wouldn’t change it. Should I wake up tomorrow morning and be able-bodied or “normal” or whatever you want to call it I really wouldn’t know what to do! In fact I’d turn down a cure if I was offered it. I realise that’s something of a controversial viewpoint but it’s how I feel. And really, there is no such thing as normal. Just average, and average is boring!


Currently the tag line on my blog is “What more does a girl need than the ability to write and some wheels?” and that’s even more true I don’t think I’m suffering in anyway being a wheelchair user. Of course there are things I’d like to have in my life – more money, a paid job perhaps, an all expenses paid holiday somewhere. But the ability to walk? I neither want nor need it. I’m fine just the way I am.

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