This time last year, my new year’s resolution was to get my memoir, “Does it wet the bed?”, published. It was an ambitious goal as the manuscript was barely finished. But with lots of hard work and determination,  I fulfilled my resolution . . . for once!

This year, I have two writing projects which I want to pursue, though I am not going to promise that either will be finished, as I have other work projects in mind.

Firstly, I plan to write a “Disability Etiquette Guide”, to help people gain a better understanding of the issues surrounding disability. I know from experience, lots of people find disability awkward; they don’t know how to approach disabled people and worry about doing or saying the “wrong” thing.  The aim of the guide will be to put people’s minds are rest and to honesty answer the questions that they have.  The guide will cover communicating with disabled people, how and when to offer assistance, the correct language as well as the language to avoid and best practice in a number of situations.

This is my basic plan for the book but I’d really like suggestions from you as to what you would like to see included.  If you have a few minutes and would like to help me, please consider the following questions and contact me with your thoughts:

  • What would you most like to know about disability?
  • What concerns you about interacting with disabled people?
  • What do you think are the common misconceptions about disabled people?

 

I’d really love to hear your thoughts and will do my best to cover all the points I receive.

Secondly, I plan to start a Children’s Book to help teachers and parents to explain disability.  I recently spoke to a mum who was unsure about how to answer her son’s questions about me – she wanted to give him the answers he needed but was worried about offending me. I hope I was able to offer her some reassurance as I explained the best things to say and it cemented my desire to write a book which will help parents to answer those tricky questions with confidence. I haven’t quite decided on the format or style, but if you’re a parent and have any thoughts, please get in touch.

With other training projects and my new role as Trustee of CP Sport, 2016 is set to be a very busy year