What Motivates Us?

A Lived Experience Lens

I acquired my disability 14 years ago through an undiagnosed virus that permanently damaged my autonomic nervous system and my vascular nerves. As a result, my heart has to work harder to circulate blood. I live with the heartbeat of a runner when standing, and the heartbeat of someone standing when I am sitting down. This means I use more energy to do everyday things and manage a host of symptoms that are invisible to others. This condition also revealed a dormant genetic condition that had previously been masked by my very active and sporting lifestyle, it was these in combination disabled me.

Pacing is now central to my day to day life. This requires deep self awareness, strong decision making skills, the ability to pivot when needed, and a resilience to things being different to how you may have expected or planned.

In 2015, came Stage 3 breast cancer, found 7 weeks prior to my wedding day. Thankfully, I have now been in remission for nine years, but it left me with a few additional chronic conditions to manage too. More recently, I received a late diagnosis of AuDHD, giving me yet another lens on how people think, live, and work differently.

My lived experience is not the centre of my work, but it informs my practice, my values, and my unwavering belief that disabled people are talented, resourceful, and capable even within systems not designed for us.

Driven To Succeed

My life’s motto has always been to dream big and work hard to achieve it. I was the first in my family to go to university, and even before that I completed a first year university subject during my final year of public high school in Australia. A teacher put me forward for the enhancement programme because they believed I had the capability to succeed at that level. I was the only publicly educated student doing so in my area.

That early belief in my potential, combined with my drive, led to a successful career in the highly competitive media industry. I worked as a News and Current Affairs Talk Radio Producer in Australia and later as a Picture Editor at the Financial Times in London.

Irrespective of my health conditions, dreaming big and working hard remains core to who I am, both personally and professionally. What has changed is how I work. I have learned how to adapt, develop new strategies, and make informed decisions that support long term success rather than short term burnout. That insight now sits at the heart of my work with The Disability Force, supporting people facing similar challenges at both individual and systemic levels.

Fuelled by a passion for strategy

At the moment, The Disability Force is just me, however the vision is much larger. My aim is to scale a body of work that reframes disability as a human and social phenomenon rather than a deficit.

Through coaching, training, research, and the Disability Force Quadrant Model, I want to help individuals and leaders see disability clearly and work with it responsibly.

If my approach and perspective resonate with you, I would love to support your Disability and Inclusion coaching needs or your organisational strategy journey.