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For a battery to work, it needs the positive charge and the negative charge. A battery cannot work without the positive and it cannot work without the negative. That’s how I have come to view having Usher Syndrome. I have this condition – yes, it upsets me, it gets me down, after all I am human. But my quality of life is so much the better for it. Before I knew about my condition, I was a girl who just went to work and then partied at the weekends. Since I found out, I have had the best life and there is more to come. I will cross my bridges without fear, with optimism and with the willingness to accept that everything serves its purpose, including the mistakes, failures and hurts. By accepting who I am, accepting my disability, my quality of life remains intact. If I deny these things, it would be hard for me to find purpose in my life. For now, I still don’t know what my purpose is in life, but I do know that every day serves a purpose – be that helping a friend in need or doing charity work. For me to have this approach involved a lot of personal work. It involved changing my attitude to everything. I choose to speak and think in positive ways about the negative things. By changing my ways, I work with my visual and hearing limitations, rather than feel limited by them.

What I am trying to say to you today is although Usher syndrome is devastating and life changing, don’t let it stop you achieving your dreams. You can be stronger and more confident than other people and capable of achieving much more than anyone else. I do not want to be called ‘oh that poor girl who is going blind’. I want to be seen as an achiever and inspire people that life is not made for you, life is what you make of it.

My message to myself and everyone has always been – “when you look at a person with a disability. Don’t see the disability – try to see the person. ”