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Have you got a story of how you came out? How you got ill or how you got over your disabilities? Think your story might help other people out or just want to share it so we know a bit about you? Well here is the place to do it!
 
You can either have you own mini site on here with a little about you, your story and a pic or if its just a breif story we can pop in on here with the others!
Mail me if you want to join in and share with us what you have been though.
I would also like stories from other peoples points of view, are you a carer who would like to talk about disabilities changing your life? Are you a partner of some one who got ill? How did you cope and what advice would you give to other people in the same situation?
Are you a child looking after an older person? How do you cope?
You welcome to run your ideas past me first but just see what you come up with!  

My Story!!

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Ok, where to start! I guess we can start with now looking back. Things look so different when they are behind you don't they!

So, junior school... i never really fitted in, didn't help that i couldn't really read or write so i was always in trouble! But i just didn't want to do what every one else did. They were all playing 'Kiss chase' and i was sitting under trees!! (that's no reflection on me now... I'd rather sit under the sun in a pub) Mum was up and down every year from nursery talking to my teachers who all thought i needed to see a physiologist! (granted... may be i do now, but i thought i was sound!!) After arguments with schools till the age of 12 mum took me to see an Educational Physiologist (not your avrage 'head' physiologist, some one who is able to diagnose dyslexia and dysphasia.) It was confirmed that i was dyslexic and i couldn't really read.. that's why i was playing up in class and trying to take the attention away from my written work to my behavior. To be honest i was a cunning little fox! It worked, and it still does. Hard to admit to but all though secondary school and even college i was able to take the attention away from my 'less that avrage' written work and on to me as a person.

My secondary school refused to help me with my work.. its turned out i wasn't 'bad enough' to warrant any help! To begin with i wasn't bothered, it was just my mum making a fuss. And i didn't want any help because then i would have to admit that i couldn't really read or write.

By the age of 13 i was having serious head games!! I decided i was Bisexual, cant really remember what i based that on other than feelings. I told, who i thought to be, a few trusted friends. Later i told my boyfriend. Things didn't exactly go to plan! But that may have been dew to the fact i didn't really have a plan!! The boy friend freaked (sorry love, but you did!) and it took a wee while to sort that out. But we did work it out and stayed together. The few trusted friends soon told there friends and they told there friend.. intern most of my year/ the school knew and i ended up telling them all it was lies. I really wanted to tell the truth, but i was so unsure of my self and what people would think of me, it was just 'safer' to lie and get back to some sort of 'normality'.

Throughout secondary school i was over weight and felt constantly stared at and was often the butt of every ones jokes! Small people like that really don't bother me any more, and i look back at the torments as a learning curve rather than feeling angry.

At 14 i was given my predicted grades for my GCSE's, to my surprise i was predicted mainly C's, i finally felt like i could prove to people that i was more than they though, that i would be able to go and do A levels of i wanted to.. i felt pound!! I worked hard for my science and Health and social care GNVQ. At 16 my boyfriend had left school and gone to college, we split up and i took my GCSE's. Study leave was an interesting time! Board out of my brains with no friends to spend my free time with i took to eating and little revision. By the end of year 11 we had decided it should only take English Language not Literature. I didn't sit my French exams either. I revised hard for my science and with my Health and social care completed i felt it was the only other thing i really wanted, C's in science. Unfortunately my work.. or lack of it, didn't pay off and i got 2 D's. I was so gutted, i had got D's in everything and all my feeling of pride went out the window.

I went on to Cambridge Regional College to do Health and social care GNVQ again. I had got a distinction at secondary school in my foundation GNVQ but because i only got D's in the rest of my exams i had to Intermediate rather than going straight on to Advanced. I really enjoyed it, for the first time i not only had good friends, but i knew health and social care backwards!! i did really well, people were coming to me for answers! Can you believe it! The one with the worse spelling and reading and they were coming to me! I also started work, i became a care assistant at a local residential home for elderly people. I loved my job there, working with tons of people who i got on well with, and i didn't have to do much reading or writing!

During the year i came out as gay when i met some one called Becky. Things never really took off between us, but i just knew from then that i was gay. The first person i told was such a good friend of mine, he was amazing! Bless him! He called me and told me that if i ever needed him he would always be there and that my secret was safe with him until i wanted 'out'! It wasn't long till i came out to every one and bar one loud mouth every one was sooooper lovely!

I came out at work and most people were ok, there were a few out to make problems and threatening to kill me... but you take it with a pinch of salt don't you! I made some really good friends at work. With most of them being older than me they were a little more open minded towards it all.

When i finished my Intermediate GNVQ i stayed on to do Advanced Health and social care. It was getting a bit harder and all the new faces were a bit daunting! But i quickly made good friends and got my head down! Again i came out to all of them and with 2 other gay people in the class it became a bit of a joke! Having moved up to the advanced level i decided it would be best not to work so much as with my reading and writing making everything harder i would need to focus more. I got a contract for Saturday morning and sunder afternoon and when i needed more money i just worked extra hours.

During my first year at work i saved as much money as possible towards driving lessons, and in May 2000 i started my driving lessons!! It was a great 18 months, i had learnt how to drive, i had sooo much money i didn't know what to do with my self! I was finding college easy and had a great group of friend for the first time. I was happy being out and started gay clubbing! I came out to my family and friends and basically had the time of my life!!

In May 2001 i started to get bad back problems. I had suffered with back pain before after falling down stairs but this was a bit different. At first i blamed it on period pains but it kept getting worse. I started getting numb patches on my legs and i have having problems passing water. I went to the doctor as i feared i might have a disk problems but i was told to drink more!! I felt angry as going numb isn't normal!! So i went back and i was sent to A&E for an investigation from a neurosurgeon. They booked me in for an MRI scan that Wednesday and let me go home that night. Then started 6 months of investigations resulting in a week in hospital. I had 4 MRI scans, gave blood every 5 mins, VEP tests and a huge number of different doctors poking me!! After getting worse and worse between the May and the October when i went in to hospital by the time i have a diagnosis of ME i was a nervous wreck and completely shattered! The amount of 'conditions' flying about during my stay in hospital and all the investigations before hand i was relieved to be told i had ME despite it being a very disabling condition. Tumors of the brain/ spine/ ovary, MS, CJD, Censer and a hole host of other conditions.

After being told i had ME i was sent home to lay on the sofa... where i did for about 2 months. By Christmas i was picking up and managed to drive Christmas day to my dads so mum could have a drink. Christmas went buy rather uneventful and i carried on improving into late Febuary. I was making it out once or twice a week, i could shower and get dressed every day on my own and i could see friends too! Unfortunately i got carried away and didn't want to see the warning signs coming. I was spending weeks in bed in pain then feeling better and going out to do it all over again. By early/mid April i crashed completely, i was stuck in bed for well over 2 months and didn't have the energy to do anything other than sleep and cry! During May is was ME awarness week and i was in the paper. It was quite scary to read about my 'situation' in the local paper and people who saw it seemed to be quite shocked. When i go out now i hate it when i see people i know... florescence, 2 girls who live up the road from me.. they slagged me off and talked down to me and school, we smile occasionally when we see each other. But the other day i was at a Jubilee party and they saw me in my wheel chair. Straight away they were my best friends!! It really drives me mad but i just take a deep breath and count to ten (then i give em a right hook ;-) ... )

At the moment I am slowly picking up again, i manage to get out of bed most days and if i keep activity to a minimum i can keep my pain levels under control. I have found my 'low patch' harder to come out of this time, with pain levels being constant and being ill for longer periods of time rather than being fine one day and bed bound the next. I think really its a good sign as it indicates that my ME is settling down... now starts the long struggle to getting back to some form of 'normality'

Through out my year whirl wind illness i have lost and gained so many things. To start off with i gained friends.. people who 'pretended' to care about me. But they, along with people i thought were good friends, soon lost interest when i was still telling them nothing was being done. People stopped calling me after they got board of me telling them i was to ill to do anything and they stopped coming round because i wasn't always well enough to see them. I have gained friends though being ill, and to be honest I am glad i got ill or i never would have met Codie, a very close friend of mine. Being ill has been a huge learning curve for me. I have learned how to listen to my self, to believe that i am right even if other people think I am wrong, that friends are the most amazing people you can have round you and that there is more to life than money and fast cars!! I value things for different reason now and i can feel love stronger than ever.

I plan to change things in my life, all for the better. I want to give more back to friends, offer support to mixed up people so they don't have to be lost in there own world for any longer than need be. And most of all i want to help people see how much emotions are worth.

I look to the future with excitement now, i look forward to being able to share things with people i care about, to get back to work and put in what ever i took out!

I hope my story makes since, if you have any questions, please mail me!!

I am happier now than i have ever been, that's down to Fran, new found friends and a calmer head!! ;-)

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Kim's story

I only became disabled when I had a very bad car accident in October 2001. Before then I was an ordinary 27 year old girl with a daring personality, overweight, shy & felt secure with the fact she was gay, hadnt had much luck with partners. Do you know the sort?
Well anyway I had the car accident that not only tried very hard to kill me, but it has changed my life forever. I only broke both of my lower legs, my right hip, right femur, my right side of my pelvis, my right acitabulum, crushed my right sciatic nerve from my hip to my ankle, I broke my right forearm, crushed my right elbow, ruptured my spleen, tore my aortic valve away from my heart, crushed my right eyeball socket, broke my right cheek bone, broke my nose, crashed a lung & had a tracheotomy fitted I also had a few bangs to the head & thats about it. Like I say Im really lucky to be here at all, & since my accident I really appreciate the smaller things in life - I really wonder why?
Anyway I wouldnt have made it half as far as I have without the loving, caring parents & brother that I have. I really am the luckiest person alive that I know of.
Beside that point & back to my story Once I regained consciousness & my brain had stopped turning to mush, I was given the worst odds. I was told I had a 10% chance of ever standing, let alone walking. I was told I might be never able to use my right arm. I was told that if I lived I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life & there was 90% chance of brain death - Great odds hey!
Well since that day I have gained back a large extent of use in my right arm, I have been able to stand & walk, I have gained back both my breathing skills & my normal voice. I have also accomplished a great many abilities I never thought I would have again & Im far happier than I ever was even with my limitations.
I cant say life is bad considering. Life is no way what I would have expected of it. But I am able to do a great many things mum reminds I could not once.
Some of the good things are, I totter about the house with my zimmer frame & now only use the wheel chair when we go outside. I now am able to wash myself all apart from my right foot & my back. Im not able to wash my own hair yet. I do have some memory problems & Im not as able as I was once. I also havent lost my sense of humour & Ive also lost 6 stone in weight.
Please value the things we each have, as there are many people in this world that are a lot worse off than you or me could ever be.

Frans story

Ok, I dont really have a story, well I do but it's kinda dull, Nothing terrible has happened to me, because I've always had CP, I do not suffer with CP (I got a email the other day saying 'hi, i'm Ryan, i'm 21 and suffer with CP). I love my CP (how many times can you get CP into a paragraph) yeah it can get annoying not being able to do a few things, but when i think about it, with out CP I wouldn't have the fab life I have. I wouldn't be a GB swimmer, I wouldn't know most of my fab mates, and worst of all I wouldn't know my baby, Jo!  
So, I often say my life  is dull, but I know it hasn't been
I was born in Sunderland, and moved to Malawi, Africa when I was three uuntil I was eight........ It was pretty cool, although I'm sad as i never kept in contact with anyone  
I moved to Cambridge almost straight after we came back to the UK.  My dad still worked abroad and then left us a few years later.... btw if u r interested, He looks like the picture of the man on the stickers that come with TDK recordable VHSs........ so true.
I now live with my  mum and one of my brothers ( )
I swim for Great britain, and have done since the Europeans in sweeden last August.  I recently qualified for the World Championships in Argentina in December.
I wont bore you any more! SORRY!