How many times a day do you discount yourself because of something that can’t be changed? During one of my conversations at Christmas, my cousin asked a question where I automatically ruled myself out due to myasthenia.
We were speaking about journalism and my cousin asked if I had ever or would ever try to do news presenting on TV. While there are many reasons that I haven’t in the past and won’t in the future, I automatically jumped to ‘I can’t because of my wonky eye’. I want to believe that it isn’t true – that anyone who wants to be a broadcast journalist, or any equivalent where they will be in the public eye, with the right training can. I’ve never done any broadcast journalism and have never been interested in doing any. But when you look at who is currently presenting news on TV there is a lack of diversity when it comes to disability. The lack of role models is a problem.
Without positive examples, I wonder how many other people believe that they would not be able to do a similar role? There is work needed to ensure that people with a disability are given more exposure in the public eye so that there are role models for the next generation.
