Two weeks ago I mentioned the impact that stories have on so many aspects of my life. Everything I shared in that post was brought home to me in a chance conversation I had a few days ago. Here’s what happened. I recently had to go for some routine medical tests. When I arrived at the offices, the receptionist remembered me from a previous visit when I had been accompanied by guide dog Fiji. After exchanging pleasantries, she told me how much better she understood the work being done by guide dogs, how the dogs are trained and that she also had a deeper appreciation of what it was like to be ..read more

I first became fascinated by stories when I was a young girl. I vividly remember spending hours reading my children’s Bible and losing myself in the stories. While I admit that it didn’t leave me with a particular religious zeal, it certainly did have a significant impact on my life. I recently found myself reflecting on how much of my life is dominated by the art of storytelling. As an author, speaker, songwriter, and poet I am constantly sharing stories of different types with my audiences. I use them to illustrate points and add dimensions to my messages. As a podcaster I am privileged to ..read more

I recently had the opportunity of exploring the concept of making the visual world accessible to the blindness community through the use of audio description. It was the subject of a podcast episode with Shakila Maharaj, the managing director of ShazaCin Accessible Media, who is one of the foremost proponents of audio description in South Africa. For those who aren’t aware of audio description, it is an additional audio track that gives information of what most people are able to see. It is used in movies, television, live theatre, ballet, as well as in heritage and art spaces. It is a powerf ..read more

I’ve had the opportunity to be a guest on a number of podcasts this year. In my own show, A Different Way of Seeing, I am able to offer other people a place to share their stories, but I seldom share much about myself. Being a guest on other people’s episodes allows me to dive more deeply into aspects of my life, my thoughts, and my work. It’s also often a lot of fun! One of the shows I appeared on recently was the Successful Self-employed and Disabled Podcast, with host Chris Mitchell from#DefineYourself. During the conversation we spoke about my transition from traditional employment to self ..read more

Being up on stage and sharing my thoughts about inclusion and diversity in the workplace has to be one of my favourite things to do. Which is why I was so excited to find myself standing in front of an audience again as a keynote speaker at a Road Accident Fund disability awareness day recently. And what a fun event it was! For me, there were three great opportunities that came out of this particular event. The first I’ve already mentioned – the chance to speak on a topic that is fundamentally important to me. Second was the amazing connections I made during that event – connections that I ho ..read more

Over the past few weeks I’ve started working on the second edition of Fiji’s book, Paws for Thought: Seeing the World Through the Eyes of a Guide Dog “. I knew I wanted to update the book following Fiji’s passing, to close the circle, so to speak. But I had no idea when I’d feel able to do so. My fear was that I was still too wrapped in the grief of losing my gorgeous baby girl, and that working on the update would be too sad for me. However, when I began, I found what actually happened took me by surprise. Yes, revisiting the book did cause a degree of sadness. But by far the dominant feelin ..read more

Considering my friends, colleagues and social media connections, I recently concluded that there appear to be fewer people with disabilities working in mainstream employment than there are in disability-related organisations. I found myself wondering why this is. from conversations with people, both within and outside the disability community, it appears the reasons may be complex. Generally, it appears that people with disabilities feel unwelcome in mainstream employment, citing examples of inaccessible recruitment, hiring and onboarding processes, and significant challenges due to attitudin ..read more

Two years ago I was combing through my laptop files. I suddenly began to notice the number of non-fiction books I had collected from seminars, summits and workshops. There were even a few written by friends and colleagues from various parts of my business world. Yet, while I was avidly collecting all these books, I never seemed to get around to reading them. Even though each of the books was on a topic that I knew would benefit my business. And I found myself asking why it was that I wasn’t taking the time to read them and learn from them? That started a two year adventure of diving into my l ..read more

As an exciting way to start the year, I am inviting people with disabilities to consider working with me as a coach. I can only accept two more coaching clients at this stage, though, so please reach out for a free 30-minute discovery call soon if you’re interested in finding out more. Perhaps you may not have experienced coaching before. You may be uncertain of what coaching is and how it could benefit you. So, here’s a little more detail about the work I do. I have worked with coaches in my own business several times in the past few years. I asked a coaching colleague to help me think throu ..read more

As a podcast host I love having the opportunity to pose questions and listen as people share their lived experiences. I consider it to be an honour that people are willing to trust me with their truth on my show and try to always be mindful of the gift that is each person’s story. It is less often that I am the one sitting in the hot seat facing the questions. But it’s something I hope will change this year, and have already taken steps to make that happen. In just this month I have been a guest on three different podcasts, which allows me to introduce myself to completely new audiences. Even ..read more