September’s cover story
We caught up with ex-Ambassador Karen – a few things have changed! Karen said in 2019 that her hopes were that “get2gether continues to grow! I hope that members get to take part in things they want to and that the Ambassador’s role continues and that more and more disabled people get the chance to have paid employment.” Let’s see how 2019’s dreams compare to 2023’s reality!
K: “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a lot of you in person and life has certainly changed a lot as a former ambassador for get2gether! I have seen the role grow significantly and see how people have developed and really took ownership of get2gether and how it works which is fantastic.
Personally being ambassador was such an incredible journey for myself – it allowed me my first paid job and gave me the confidence to believe I could live the life I want. As a result I am now a parent to my beautiful daughter Penny.”
Live Your Life is starting up again in September. Can you tell us about when you took part?
Doing the LYL course helped me handle stress and setbacks better and gave me the time and space to share with others things that were on my mind. Space to change your mind is important. I’d really recommend the course!
Congratulations and welcome to the world baby Penny! How have the last few months of being a parent been?
“There are too many highlights in to mention, right now we are trying to enjoy each day and taking our little one and all her quirky milestones. It’s honestly the best feeling in the world when your little one gives you a smile.”
How is being a parent?
K “As you can imagine there are a lot of challenges and perceived challenges from society around being disabled parents and myself and my partner Ryan certainly had nervousness around this. However we are a fantastically strong couple who communicated some of our worries before we embarked on this journey.
Being a parent is always difficult and has its challenges no matter if you’re disabled or not.
We soon realised that having a strong support network of friends, people who look out for you and sometimes people who stand with you in the challenging times is what gets you through. And coffee, coffee helps.”
What does the future look like?
Overall if somebody was to tell me 5 years ago I was going to have a child I wouldn’t have believed them. What I take away from that now is, don’t ever rule yourself out! Yes it can be challenging, yes it can be scary but yes it can also be the best decision you ever make. Like any major life decision, talk to those who care about you.
Live your Life starts on Tuesday 5th September – for more information, please contact Clare on clare@get2gether.org.uk!