Tag Archives: Disability

The gift

© Rosie Farrell The couch has become my refuge. I live from hospital appointment to hospital appointment – traveling hours to access healthcare thanks to our broken system. My paint brushes taunt me but I know there’s no energy to pick them up, to push through and do the thing I love most. It’s beenContinueContinue reading “The gift”

Tread slowly

© Rosie Farrell The words won’t stick. They slide off the page as soon as they land. I’m left wondering what it is I want to say – what it is I need to say. And because I’m not sure, I stop writing and I stop trying to write. For a long time they pooledContinueContinue reading “Tread slowly”

Outshining the pain

You are the first thing I think of in the morning because you are the thing that wakes me in the middle of the night. Pushing through that gap between dusk and dawn. Spotting a weakness in my armour you steal your way in so I always start my day thinking of you, rushing toContinueContinue reading “Outshining the pain”

Fashion is my armour

In an upcoming MS & Me blog for MS Ireland, I talk about what fashion means to me and my identity. You can read the full blog post here. As any of us with a disability know, the fashion and retail industry are paved with issues, from a total lack of accessible clothing to notContinueContinue reading “Fashion is my armour”

You’ve got the power

Every muscle in my body was screaming. Every little negative voice had creeped in. “I can’t do this,” I cried to Niall, my fiancée, as we struggled up the last hill of the 2015 Dublin half marathon. “Yes you can,” he shouted, reminding me of all I’d been through in the last few months -ContinueContinue reading “You’ve got the power”

The haunting

There she goes… The tightly-bound threads are loosening, unravelling. I’m unravelling. Little by little I’m making less sense of this disease and more sense of the scale of its destruction. I’m angry, sad and hurt. It hurts to look back and think of just how much it’s robbed from me, to watch my ghost laceContinueContinue reading “The haunting”

Why am I not equal?

I’ve learnt that my biggest issue with using a wheelchair is not that I see myself as disabled, it’s that the outside world is designed in such an inaccessible way that it highlights my disability and sets up barriers for inclusion at every turn. Simply put, by using a wheelchair, you are not considered or treated as equal by society.