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The battle to find a workplace that's wheelchair accessible is a feat in itself, let alone an employer who's going to be cool about employing someone with a disability in a job you actually want to do.

In my own home, where I've been able to create an environment that works for me, I'm hardly disabled at all. I still have an impairment, and there are obviously some very restrictive things about that, but the impact of disability is less.

The thing about living with any disability is that you adapt; you do what works for you.

I'm a full-time wheelchair user. And yet, given the right circumstances, I am able to work.

Let me make this clear: my impairment is such that without a wheelchair, I can't do very much for myself. I can't get out of bed. I can't get myself to the toilet. I certainly can't get myself to work.

I quickly learned that asking if an interview space was wheelchair accessible was a bad idea; it gave a potential employer an immediate bad impression. It was either a black mark against my name, or a straight up discussion of why I wouldn't be able to work there because they had no wheelchair access.

I still find it strange, I suppose, when I say to someone, 'Can you just pass me my leg?' But I don't ever think about my disability.

Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone.

For me, the wheelchair symbolizes disability in a way a cane does not.

I used to think of myself in terms of who I'd be if I didn't have this pesky old disability.