10 PERKS TO HAVING A DISABILITY!

I think the stigma of a disability has always been such a negative thing. Obviously it doesn't have to be, but today I'm going to be talking all about the advantages of having a disability. Hi everyone, it's Tilly Lockey. Welcome back to my YouTube channel, and as you would have seen by the title and that little intro I just did there, today I'm going to be listing all the advantages that come with being disabled. As I mentioned a little bit in the introduction, People see disability as such a negative thing, and it obviously doesn't have to be. Like, I've got a disability, I'm thriving, I don't want none of your sympathy because I'm doing great on my own. And yeah, I just thought it would be like a positive video just to show you that having a disability does not always suck, because it definitely doesn't. I mean, if some perks come with having a disability, and I have a disability, disability, then I'm gonna use them. So the first one is pretty self-explanatory, probably the one that everybody like automatically came to mind when you saw this video, but it is that we get to skip queues quite a lot, which is incredible because who likes waiting around? Definitely not me. My family is so privileged because they don't even have a disability, but I have a disability and I'm in their family, so whenever we're all together, we totally just get to like skip queues completely, and that's always great. I should really be the favorite child and the favorite sister, but it's okay, it's okay. But it's really, really easy for me to skip queues, you know. It is sometimes essential, obviously, because my— I'm not gonna lie, like, I cannot walk for as long as some people because I've got problems with my leg. It doesn't bend. I'm always kind of dragging it behind me. But if I wanna skip a queue, then I'll just roll on up those sleeves and kinda just wave them about a bit and be like, hi, I'm disabled, let me through. And then as soon as they see that I've got no hands, then they don't even know about the leg problems I have, but I don't know, maybe my hands hurtin' sittin' in that queue for so long. I mean, I'll take it if I can get it. But as soon as they see that you've got any form of difference, literally they'll just let you through. You walk up to a queue and you're like, oh my gosh, This is gonna take a good 4 hours, waste of my life in this queue because there's just so many people, there's not great service, there's not much staff on the go. But honestly, when you've got a disability, flaunt that, babes, because as soon as they notice, then you're straight through that 4-hour queue like VIP entourage behind me, you know what I mean? So that is definitely a perk, and that's a great perk if I do say so myself. Another advantage to having a disability, I think, is because you do obviously stand out. You're a little bit different to the average person. Obviously, this can be seen in a very negative light if you don't constantly want attention, which I do not want attention all the time. But I do feel like sometimes that can offer you a very niche market. I always think there's never many— there's never been enough influencers out there, like, with disabilities. There's not enough people that we can look up to with disabilities. It's always just— I mean, do you know anybody really in the, in the limelight that really stands out when you think of like the Met Gala or a red carpet event? Because to me, of course there are people out there, but there's really not a lot, and there definitely needs to be more. Obviously there's been a lot of recognition now for plus-size bodies. You know, you can have any type of body you like, they're all welcome. And there's a lot of plus-size models, there's a lot of plus-size people out there which really encourage that and like inclusivity and love yourself, your bodies, all that type of thing. And that is incredible, that is great. I would never want that to go away because that is so, so important. And now I think it is time that we, like, people with disabilities get some recognition. It needs to be out there a lot more. As I said, the stigma of it is like, oh, you're disabled, you mustn't do anything with your life, you must be so sad, oh my gosh, your life must literally suck. And that is because people most often see obviously able-bodied people strutting their stuff on a red carpet. They most often see able-bodied people who are successful pop stars, rock stars, in a band, a known actor, like anything like that. It's always able-bodied people, and that is obviously not a problem, but just the fact that people think just automatically having a disability Oh, there's my phone. I'm very popular. I'm actually not popular. There definitely are some disabled people out there who are role models, especially to me as well. I really look up to that community. I love being in that community. But I just feel like there needs to be more recognition out there for what it's actually like living with a disability. Like, it's not sad. But anyway, I went completely off topic. I feel like when you've got a disability, you've kind of got that niche market. Since there's not many people out there— I lost my hands when I got a disease and it nearly killed me. Obviously not many people can wear bionic arms and promote that because most people have hands, if you know what I mean. So it can be a bit of a niche market, and I've got so many of the opportunities that I have now, probably all of them to be honest, because of my disability. So it definitely offers you some opportunities that you would never have gotten before God knows what I would be doing right now if I hadn't lost my hands. That's something that I think about a lot, like what would I be doing? I mean, right now I'm homeschooled, I am a motivational speaker, I am doing modeling— there's 3— to like just change stereotypes and everything. And I would probably not be doing any of that right now. Well, I would be at school for a start. There'd be no reason for me to be homeschooled. I wouldn't have had all the travel experiences I've had, I probably wouldn't have this YouTube channel. If I did have a YouTube channel, it'd be like Minecraft or something because that's what I was into when I was like 7. Um, I feel like I've gotten a lot of the opportunities which I would never take back for the absolute world. I love every single thing I do, and it's all kind of happened and stemmed from the fact that I do have a disability. Number 3, it kind of relates to the one that I've just spoken about, the second one about having a niche market. But it can be very niche sometimes. It can be very cool sometimes because I did stage school for 5 years and I was in an agency for quite a long time, like doing anything acting related or anything like that. And you'd be surprised at how many, like, calls you get through just because you're disabled. Because if a film company want a disabled person for that role, then that narrows down so much competition, I cannot even tell you. And it's great for somebody who's got a disability because obviously there's less competition, and you just go in there, they're looking for somebody with a disability, so you can just go in, try your best. You're not gonna have barely as many people who are like fighting for that role. So yeah, that's pretty cool. You're definitely more likely to get a job as a disability, I think, in an acting movie when you've got that audition and you went for that audition. You're more likely to be be like picked out because there are less people, and especially less like actors out there with a disability. So yeah, that's pretty cool. This next one you probably all thought about right away as well, but that is having a disability badge, a blue badge. Honestly, they're great. I mean, even if you just, you just don't fancy walking that day— I do have leg problems, as I said, which can get in the way, so that is the reason that I have a disability badge. Sometimes it does need to be a little bit more accessible. Simple as that. But I mean, I qualify for this badge, so I'm gonna use it, okay? The blue badges are really great when you're just feeling lazy like me quite a lot. I'm quite lazy, I'm not gonna lie. Um, and you just— I mean, yeah, it could have been at the gym before, you could have been doing PE at school, like you've strained your leg muscle, plus your leg doesn't bend. So if you want, you can use the disability badge. And I bet if anybody drives a car who's watching this right now, I bet you've experienced it so many times where the car park is full to the brim and the only spaces available are those yellow disabled bay spaces. And to be honest, that's the highlight of my day when I walk in there and I'm like, oh yeah, all these cars going round and round in circles because they can't— they don't have a disability badge, so they can't just slide into one of them spaces, but it is the highlight of my day. And all the cars, you can just feel the eyes burn through your skull when you're just pulling in all sassy into that car park space. Then you strut out with your peg leg like, yes! Anyway, moving on. Sorry, I went on a rant for that one. This next one, it can kind of be seen in a negative light as well. Like, I do not enjoy this all the time. But you do get things like kind of given to you because you are under the stigma of being disabled and people think like, oh, you need all this special equipment and everything like that. But I did have my own toilet in school. To be honest, I didn't often use it because I don't like being like separated from everybody in the school, and I went to the toilet like I just went to the toilet like everybody else. Like, it's really— somebody actually asked like how I go to the toilet and everything, and literally it's no different to somebody with hands. Basically, I'm not going to go in like too much detail, but I do not have a toilet that is like automatic or something, like it doesn't wash you for you or anything like that. I literally use toilet roll just like anybody else and use my arm because I can reach. That's basically it. That's all you need to know. It's really nothing exciting, and that does not offend me in the slightest. People ask that question because it's understandable. You would think, how can I go without a wipe? Boom. So yeah, that's how I do that. So when I went to public school, I was offered so many things, and that I was basically given the key, and there was only 2 keys to this toilet in the whole school, so I felt pretty special, that I just kept in my bag all the time. And I was basically allowed to use this toilet. And if anybody's been to a UK school in the bathroom is actually disgusting. The hygiene of those places are not good. So I was really quite privileged to have my own, like, basically private cubicle that I could use by myself. And it was actually a whole other room as well. And the reason I didn't really use it that often was, one, because I, I mean, I told them this, like, I can use normal toilets. Like, it's I don't need anything special, I don't need anything like that. But since you're under that disability stigma, then they just give it to you anyway. So I mean, I had access to it, but the main reason I never really used it is kind of because literally on the viewing day, they showed me this toilet that I was allowed to use if I wanted to. And you basically like put your key, like wave it above this, you know, technology thing. It like kind of sensed the code or something on the key, and then it basically opened the door But I cannot express to you how slow this door opened and closed. It was so loud as well. It would literally go like— for a good 10 minutes before you could actually get into the bathroom. So that was the main reason I didn't use it. But it was just like, this door, I was not about to use. It was so, so squeaky. Like, in the middle of the halls when everybody's rushing to the next lesson and then be like me in my toilet and then like press the button and then it moves so slowly and opens. Probably knocks some people out like on the way to class as well because it was quite a big door. And then me just come hobbling out like, you're right guys, sorry, sorry about that, I'll just, just get back to class. Um, not about that life. I don't know if this next one's like all around, maybe just for me, like I just enjoy, um, proving myself that I can do things. But one of the benefits in my eyes is that you're constantly like shocking people at what you can do, surprising people. My favorite thing to do when like any filming companies come around to my house or anything like that, people meet me for the first time and they're like, oh, so I bet you, you can't write then, can you? And then I'm like, pass me the pen. And then I've got this beautiful beautiful handwriting. I'm like, yeah, actually I can. This is my book, um, level A star, you know. I love just being able to prove people wrong, basically. Oh my gosh, she mustn't be able to do anything. She mustn't be able to like draw, she mustn't be able to write. And have you known, I'm quite a beast at art. I was in my art class and I was like sat directly in the middle of the table, which I quite enjoyed, and it was like draw an eye, and I was like Oh my gosh, I don't— I'm such a bad drawer. I'm such a bad drawer. And then I drew this eye and it was like jaw-dropping. Everyone was like— and I was like— Yeah, but I think that might just be me. This next one again can be seen in a very negative light. It has been seen by me in a negative light a lot of times as well, but you can sometimes use it to your advantage. And that is again people jumping to the conclusion that I can't do something. Story time, guys. As you can imagine, schools have supply teachers, right? Your school teacher's out, there's a teacher that's in for the very, very first time, and they're like, obviously they've never met me before, they've probably never worked with somebody with no hands before, so they jump to the conclusion, "Oh, she can't write. Oh, how am I supposed to do this?" She just was teaching everybody, realized I had no hands, and just straight up said to me, 'Oh, so do you do the same as the rest of the class, or like, what do you do? Do you just read?' And let me tell you, it took some guts for me to just be like, 'Yeah, I do the same as everybody else. Yeah, I actually can write.' Because in that moment, honestly, I waited to answer a question for such a long time because I was sat there going Should I say that I can't write and just like read a book or lesson? I can't even remember if it was me, to be honest, who said to her, yeah, I actually can write, I just do the work like everybody else. I think it might have been somebody else that was like, she does the work. They were not prepared for me to get away with this stunt. Don't lie, kids, don't lie, because it would have ended badly anyway because the, like, the teacher who works with our classroom quite a lot. Assistant teacher, she was like kept coming in and out, so she would have seen anyway and been like, Tilly, why aren't you working? I'd be like, oh, um, miss, I can't write. What are you talking about, miss? I can't write. And then she would obviously tell the actual teacher and be like, she can write. So the moral of the story is do not lie, children. Just do not— do your work, okay? That's all I'm saying. I don't want to get in trouble for this. Do your work. Do your work. I've lost count on whatever number we were on, but The next one is that you have the ability to inspire people. I'm a motivational speaker, and if it wasn't for my disability, I— it would be quite hard to motivate people because I'd just be like your average gal not doing too much, you know. So I basically have the ability to inspire people, which is something that I love so much. As soon as somebody sees somebody with a disability like in the street, or as soon as people find out that you're disabled, you are immediately classed as such inspirational people because people couldn't bear living their own life as a disabled person, so they just think, "Wow, she's going about her life, she's like thriving, she's not letting it stop her," and it instantly really inspires people. I'm quite a deep thinker. I'm quite a deep thinker, and very recently, obviously I get like the compliment, "You are really inspiring, you're incredibly inspiring, you're such an inspiration, such a great role model," all the time, which I really, really appreciate. Like, that's the best compliment I could ever get. But it was like 3 AM shower thoughts, you know what I mean? I was thinking, what really is the meaning of inspiring? Like, do you mean inspiring as in I still have a will to live after I've had such a traumatic thing happen to me? Like, are you saying you're inspiring because if you were in my situation, you wouldn't know how to do anything? Is that like kind of reflecting? It's like a compliment. But can also be interpreted, if you really think about it, in a different way. But I was like completely wiped that out my head because at the end of the day, inspiring means I look at you and I think, wow, I really want to do something. I'm really motivated now. I'm really inspired to go and make the most out of my life. And to be honest, I cannot complain. I love to have that effect on people. I love people to come over to my YouTube channel like I don't really care if it's my disability and my will to live that inspires you. I really couldn't care less. As long as it's like a service to you and it's helping you go about your life, realize that you have things to be grateful for, then that's great. And I do feel like that's an advantage. I'm not in any way, shape, or form like saying, oh my God, I hate it when people say you're so inspiring, like give me a different compliment from that because I don't like it because I have this thing about it, it makes me insecure. Like, I, I think really deeply about it and it has a negative effect on me rather than a compliment, because it definitely doesn't. I really appreciate that. And people who have said, you're really, really inspiring, that makes my day because that's what I'm trying to achieve. So shower me with, you're such an inspiration, down below. I do class that as a, as an advantage, and I love it when people call me inspiring. So yeah. Number 9, I think we're on, is that I'm gonna really enjoy this in October because it is that I get extra time in my GCSEs. Being homeschooled, that does not go away. Ow! Oh my gosh, punched myself on the face by accident. That really hurt. It was like a sharp thing. Hero arms are a safety hazard, everyone. No, I'm joking, it's great. Um, anyway, yeah, I'm gonna be really, really happy about this in October when I'm sitting my GCSEs. Just because I'm homeschooled, my ability to have extra time in an exam does not go away. I am a bit slower, so obviously in maths, trying to use a compass with no hands— I can do it somehow, I don't know. It does take me a little bit longer to like use a compass or draw a graph or use a protractor or anything like that. So I do get extra time in my GCSEs, which is really, really great. And the last one, I think this is number 10. If I only got to number 9, then I'm gonna be really, really angry at myself when I'm editing this. But I believe this is number 10. Number 10 is gonna be pretty short and sweet. I mean, this is kind of only for an amputee, not really just everybody who has a disability in general, but I get to wear bionic arms. Hello! I get to wear bionic arms that light up. I get to like switch them up. They are like an extra fashion accessory that not many people can wear. To me personally, as well as a medical device, so this one is really helpful and it also looks pretty cool. Yeah, it's really, really cool being able to dress your arm up. Not many people can say that they've got lights in their arms, and it's not like this one, it's not just this one, because I have had like LED lights in my literal arm before, which was really, really cool. Unfortunately, these cases do not fit my arms now because I had them when I was really little, but I am on Open Bionics' back trying to get lights in these arms because, um, they made my first pair of bionic arms and they had the LED and everything, and they just said we are never doing that again. That was so difficult, like trying to line all the wires up within an arm to like light up in a certain way. That was really like a big challenge for them, but I'm still gonna beg them to do it for everybody. So yeah, it's pretty cool that they can light up. And even if you don't have the LED, like this is cool, this change colors. Like that one's pretty cute, that one's pretty nice. Like they change colors. It's really loud now. They change colors, and that's really, really cool. I love wearing my bionic arms. I haven't always loved wearing bionic arms or prosthetics, but I love wearing these bionic arms in particular. But yeah, they are my 10 advantages to being disabled, having a disability, being an amputee, I guess. I really hope you enjoyed this video. I love to be able to like shed that positive light on such a negative stigma everybody has. Please, if you're subscribe to my channel, stop thinking that it's such a sad thing. I am not sad. I'm good. So many people with disabilities are literally good. So please do not think it's such a— like, we must have such a sad life because we really, really don't. But I really hope you enjoyed this video. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe. I hope you learned something from it. And yeah, I'll see you all next time. Bye! Gonna get my— get my other fingers back up. Come on, bye!