• How do I cope with difficult people in my life during festive events? Dear Grace Q & A

    Dear Grace Q & A: How do I cope with difficult people in my life, during festive events?

    Dear Grace Q & A: How do I cope with difficult people in my life, during festive times?  Like relations at family events who ask invasive questions about my health/weight/relationships.  Or colleagues at the office party where there are social expectations to socialise in a certain, ablest, neurotypical way. Or when people start getting drunk and someone says something ablest and all the non-disabled people just look away from me (the only disabled person in the room).  I’m dreading it, help!  Dear Dreading-It,  Thank you for being brave enough to share your question in this column, I am sure you are not alone in dreading the holiday season when it…

  • Dear Grace Q & A: How do I succeed in school while sick?

    Dear Grace Q & A: How do I succeed in school while sick?

    Thank you for such a great question, I have been at school for several years now (advance training in psychotherapeutic counselling) while living with illness, so I hope I can answer you with some insight and experience.  Here are 3 ideas for how to succeed in school when sick:  1: Make your needs known, ask for help Many institutions can – and have to – offer reasonable adjustments or accommodations for disabled students.  Try contacting your school’s disability office to see what’s available. There may be a disability rep in your student union, or a disabled student’s group you can get in touch with. If in doubt, asking one of…

  • Dear Grace Q & A: How do I cope when my world (& social media feed) is filled with violence?

    Dear Grace Q & A: How do I cope when my world (& social media feed) is filled with violence? My dear, I really hear you, it’s so tough. The news from Aleppo is chilling and desperate, the challenge of Trump and the fear of his premiership is present and real and there are attacks, tragedies and losses happening – reported and unreported – all over our world. N.B: I’m aware this is a question about global violence issues, if your personal world is violent, please contact the police and your nearest crisis centre to help you. Please be safe.  It hurts, I get that. It hurts so much. It…

  • Dear Grace Q & A: How do I keep my spirits up when I’m hurting?

      Dear Grace Q & A: How do I keep my spirits up long term, when living with emotional and physical pain? I really hear how difficult it is to cope emotionally when you are hurting for a long time and I hope these 5 points help you manage the pain and still find some peace: 1. Build Resilience Resilience supports us to cope with uncertainty. Resilience is something we can choose to build. The factors which make up resilience have been identified by psychologists. We can learn resilience as surely as we can learn how to use Instagram or make a cup of tea.

  • Dear Grace Q & A: Building a Life with Disability

    Question: “What can people do, who don’t feel they can start their own business or aren’t able to work in their circumstances? What kind of projects could they get involved with? What kind of things can they build their life around, if they currently lack focus? What kinds of hobbies can ill and disabled people take up?” Answer: The real answer, of course, is to find your passion and then make it accessible. Just as you’d build a life without a disability. What do you want to do? What do you love? If you don’t know what you love, can you explore? But I do have a list of accessible options and…