Positivity: Models of Diversity
I have recently noticed that people have been admiring my change of attitude. Whether it's friends, family, even strangers online, people have noticed how much more positive I've been as of late. Now, I feel like I should add a disclaimer here; I still have bad days, even weeks, I have moments when I'm so overwhelmed I think 'how can I do this for possibly the rest of my life'. But how I deal with these moments has changed, my attitude to my current situation has changed, and my attitude as a whole has changed. It's taken me a long time to get to this point, and I wanted to share what things have really made a difference. Another disclaimer: this is not me telling you to hurry up with your grieving process, stop being angry and sad about your current situation because it sucks; whatever you're going through probably sucks so much but this is a gentle reminder that it will get better, trust me, but you should take your time, everyone grieves in their own ways.
Besides my boyfriend, my friends, just getting used to this new life and attending some pain management classes, I would say the best thing that's changed my attitude is one word: passion.
I have found some things I'm so passionate about and if I hadn't become disabled I wouldn't be getting that feeling again that you get from talking or doing something you're passionate about, I wouldn't be blogging for a start! And one of the main things I came across that has really gotten me pumped for a long time now is Models of Diversity. Being mostly house bound I spend pretty much every waking minute on the internet, I am constantly scrolling through Instagram, and I was looking at images that would of inspired the old me before I became unwell, back when I was a different person but I wasn't aware that I was now different, and I'd keep looking at these images of beautiful girls doing awesome things with their lives, particularly things I couldn't physically do any more and it used to make me so depressed, and I don't use that word lightly. I wasn't even aware I was missing a crucial thing through social media, and that was representation. I had no idea that was the main thing making me feel so low and alone. I found loads of lovely people online through instagram and tumblr, all people with similar illnesses and disabilities, but I still felt like it wasn't enough, it wasn't in the mainstream media and it made me feel like we were being kept a secret, we just have to exist out of people's way and that's it.
Models of Diversity spoke to me on so many levels. Firstly, their director Chelsey Jay has a chronic illness, so I instantly felt like I could relate to her passion of wanting more for herself despite her illness. I found out about this campaign through Barry M's instagram, they shared a picture of these four beautiful girls, all disabled, and they were asking people to look at what they were all about and donate to their Go Fund Me page, set up so they could go on a UK tour to get people to sign their petition, and once I'd read their page I felt instantly uplifted. Their whole goal is to get disabled models into the main stream media, particularly into the fashion industry. MoD's website states that:
Another couple of things which has made me feel more positive is the charity Scope's Youtube channel, where they have short videos about awkwardness that arises from being disabled, some of them are so comical and they've helped me feel like I'm not alone when it comes to weird social situations. Another Youtube channel called AttitudeLive did some videos called 'The Truth about Disability' and their 3 part series includes a group of people with different disabilities talking about lots of topics. I've found them very interesting to watch, and again, they use humour to help you deal with horrible situations, or just utterly comical situations that might of happened one time or another.
Models of Diversity have reached their fund raising goal and they're going on tour to get the remaining signatures they need to take their petition to Number 10 Downing Street, I'll list the dates below. This post has been a very long one so if you've made it this far than thank you! It means the world to me to be able to share things I am passionate about.
I'll be going down to the Brighton date so I hope to see a lot of people there! If none of these areas are near you, than please sign their petition here!
Besides my boyfriend, my friends, just getting used to this new life and attending some pain management classes, I would say the best thing that's changed my attitude is one word: passion.
I have found some things I'm so passionate about and if I hadn't become disabled I wouldn't be getting that feeling again that you get from talking or doing something you're passionate about, I wouldn't be blogging for a start! And one of the main things I came across that has really gotten me pumped for a long time now is Models of Diversity. Being mostly house bound I spend pretty much every waking minute on the internet, I am constantly scrolling through Instagram, and I was looking at images that would of inspired the old me before I became unwell, back when I was a different person but I wasn't aware that I was now different, and I'd keep looking at these images of beautiful girls doing awesome things with their lives, particularly things I couldn't physically do any more and it used to make me so depressed, and I don't use that word lightly. I wasn't even aware I was missing a crucial thing through social media, and that was representation. I had no idea that was the main thing making me feel so low and alone. I found loads of lovely people online through instagram and tumblr, all people with similar illnesses and disabilities, but I still felt like it wasn't enough, it wasn't in the mainstream media and it made me feel like we were being kept a secret, we just have to exist out of people's way and that's it.
Models of Diversity spoke to me on so many levels. Firstly, their director Chelsey Jay has a chronic illness, so I instantly felt like I could relate to her passion of wanting more for herself despite her illness. I found out about this campaign through Barry M's instagram, they shared a picture of these four beautiful girls, all disabled, and they were asking people to look at what they were all about and donate to their Go Fund Me page, set up so they could go on a UK tour to get people to sign their petition, and once I'd read their page I felt instantly uplifted. Their whole goal is to get disabled models into the main stream media, particularly into the fashion industry. MoD's website states that:
"Our Disability in Fashion CampaignAnd I think the mention of "no special treatment, just the same treatment for able/disabled alike" really stood out to me. Being a wheelchair user outside my home, there are obviously certain times where I'll need different treatment in every day life, but it's people's attitude to disability as a whole which get me down. Sometimes I think if disability was viewed differently, I wouldn't of spent so long thinking my life was over, it's going to be completely different and everything will be bad. Everything will be different but not necessary all for the worse, it's all about how you want to see it. Some really good things have happened because I became unwell, and I don't think they would of happened if I hadn't become disabled. And now I want even more good things to happen because I became disabled, and that for me is what Models of Diversity is aiming to do. I hope that made sense!
- We strive for Models with Disabilities to be embraced within and not excluded from the fashion industry.
- No special treatment, just the same treatment for able/disabled alike.
- We want to see Disabled People represented with Disabled Models.
- No gimmicks, tokenism or novelty camapaigns"
Another couple of things which has made me feel more positive is the charity Scope's Youtube channel, where they have short videos about awkwardness that arises from being disabled, some of them are so comical and they've helped me feel like I'm not alone when it comes to weird social situations. Another Youtube channel called AttitudeLive did some videos called 'The Truth about Disability' and their 3 part series includes a group of people with different disabilities talking about lots of topics. I've found them very interesting to watch, and again, they use humour to help you deal with horrible situations, or just utterly comical situations that might of happened one time or another.
Models of Diversity have reached their fund raising goal and they're going on tour to get the remaining signatures they need to take their petition to Number 10 Downing Street, I'll list the dates below. This post has been a very long one so if you've made it this far than thank you! It means the world to me to be able to share things I am passionate about.
I'll be going down to the Brighton date so I hope to see a lot of people there! If none of these areas are near you, than please sign their petition here!
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