Talking about Disabilities

If You Can't See It, It Doesn't Mean It's Not There!

I have no shame in coming out and saying that I have a disability. My disability is Joint Hypermobility Syndrome. This basically means my joints move beyond the normal range of movement (basically severely double jointed). Some symptoms that come with Joint Hypermobility is pain on a daily basis, clumsiness and my joints can dislocate but thankfully this hasn't happened yet! (click here to see my post about living with Joint Hypermobility)

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Unfortunately for me, all my hospital appointments and scans started when I was in year 12 whilst taking my A-levels. I was studying Media, Sociology, Art and Design Technology which became a struggle as I was doing a lot of writing for sociology and drawing and 'DIY' for both Art and Design Technology. So as you can imagine some teachers thought I would struggle and I proved them wrong and made it to university studying Football Business and Media.

This isn't a post that'll just be me going on and on about myself, but here is the reason for sharing my story.

Firstly, I will start by saying if you have a disability you can't let it hold you back. Don't let your disability be the reason for not trying new things and sounds cheesy but following your dreams. I was afraid I wouldn't make it to university due to my disability but I just had to change a few things to get there like the course I was doing and it's been the best decision of my life. Don't let your disability control you, control it instead.

Statistics I found show that in England, there are 9.4 million disabled population which is 18% of the population. 17% of people are born with their disabilities along with 1 in 20 children and 1 in 5 working adults.

Whereas some other statistics I found which disappoint and anger me are:

• 38% of people believe disabled people are a burden on society
• 27% of people believe disabled people are treated differently and this is because lack of knowledge around the topic of disabilities
• 180 disability hate crimes are committed everyday which results in victims losing their confidence

Most importantly 52% of people believe disabilities are physical. This statistic really shocked me, which makes me question what if somebody's disability isn't obvious to you? Like disabilities you cannot see which is why I used mine as an example.

It's important to recognise that just because you can't see someone's disability doesn't mean it isn't there.

If you'd like to share your story please comment below or email me on agirlwithablog16@gmail.com I would love to hear from everyone and anyone! Thanks so much for reading.

Sam x

#YOULOOKDISGUSTING

After watching this video I knew it was something I wanted to share with you guys. This video which is of Em Ford or also known as My Pale Skin on YouTube is about comments she has received on social media platforms after posting photos of herself without make up on.





In my personal opinion this video highlights important issues that exist today in social media and issues surrounding body image. I have already written about body image here back in September 2015 but not in relation to make up. The You Look Disgusting film shows on a personal level comments received, some of the comments are very horrible to read and in my opinion completely ridiculous and uncalled for.

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Negative comments on a post or even behind our backs is unfortunately something we all have to face in our lives. No matter how many times it happens, it doesn't make it any easier. Sometimes we need to look at how we treat people, in order to make sure we don't hurt other people's feelings.

The strength of Em Ford to post a video like this is incredible, I know it's strength that I know, right now I don't personally have. It's so important we have young people like Em Ford with strength like this to prove to everyone the issues surrounding social media within the comment sections.

You can brush off comments during the time but it doesn't stop you thinking about them a few hours later. We live in a society where everyone needs to have the perfect body, perfect hair and perfect skin to feel pretty or beautiful. Though we all know everyone is different and nobody should feel ashamed in the way they look.


This video shows her reacting to teens who are reacting to her film You Look Disgusting.


Everyone is different. And that's a good thing always be yourself and nobody else.

Let me know your opinions below in the comments! I'd love to hear from you also so email me at
agirlwithablog16@gmail.com if you ever want to chat.

Sam x