As a disabled person I have to think and plan far more than anyone else. If I want to catch a bus I have to consider whether the ramp works, whether there will be someone in the one space who doesn't want to move. It can be a constant worry.
Interpretation
Navigating daily life as a disabled person requires careful planning and consideration of accessibility.
Tanni Grey-Thompson's quote encapsulates the extra mental effort and anxiety that disabled individuals often face when engaging with public spaces and services. Unlike those without disabilities, they must constantly evaluate the availability and functionality of accommodations, which can lead to a significant burden in their daily lives.
In practice
During a speech on inclusivity, I might mention this quote to showcase the unique challenges faced by disabled individuals.
Perhaps we need to redefine our idea of role models; they're not always elite athletes whose success might seem too distant or unachievable. Sometimes it's our friend who just smashed her first 10k, or our Zumba teacher who is enthusiastic, encouraging and real.
I wouldn't have had a sporting career if it hadn't been for the volunteers who agreed to coach me, as a teenager, growing up in south Wales, at a time when others were telling me that wheelchair racing wasn't really athletics.
Disability sport came about largely because of exclusion, because mainstream sport didn't want disabled people to be part of it.
Anyone in public life who comes out, comes out primarily for themselves, and their life is immediately improved. That's what happened to me.
Sometimes, you get tired of fighting. I think you just sort of come to this realization that yes, that you will get tired, but that doesn't mean that you can give up the fight.
Have you ever been hurt and the place tries to heal a bit, and you just pull the scar off of it over and over again.
Women, we might as well be dogs baying the moon as petitioners without the right to vote!
I think another aspect of being a young adult with cancer is that most of your friends, hopefully, you know, have never had to experience life-threatening illnesses themselves.
There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.
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