Not short of something to say: March 2014

Contact details

As well as being a freelance writer I am also a qualified counsellor and I work for a low cost counselling service in Exeter and for the NHS Gender Clinic also in Exeter.

Simultaneously, I work as a Disability Member of the First Tier Tribunal, Social Entitlement Chamber sitting on disability benefit tribunals on an ad hoc basis.

As a writer I specialise in writing about disability and health.

My articles have been published in the Guardian, Times, OUCH! [BBC disability website], Disability Now, Broadcast, Lifestyle [Motability magazine], The Practising Midwife, 'Junior, Pregnancy & Baby', Writers' News, Able, Getting There [Transport for London magazine], Junior, Community Care, DPPi [Disability, Pregnancy & Parenthood International]. I have also had articles commissioned by Daily Mail.

For more information about me and for examples of my writing please see below.

If you would like me to write an article for your publication, about any aspect of disability, please do get in touch:

emma@emmabowler.co.uk

Monday, March 24, 2014

The power of the 'Can Do' Attitude...

I've come to the conclusion that it is essential for children to find something they CAN do and want to 'get into'. When they find that thing it not only boosts their confidence and happiness while they are doing it but those positive effects permeate into other areas of their life too.

This is particularly important for a disabled child because so often they are comparing themselves [or are compared] to their peers and focusing on all the things they can't do.

So I was particularly pleased when my son Archie, who also has Kniest, recently won the 2013 ‘On the Move’ national competition for photographers with disabilities which is jointly organised by Mobility Choice, the charity responsible for delivering The Mobility Roadshow, and the Disabled Photographers’ Society (DPS).

He was so chuffed and last week even made it into the local paper so that won him some additional kudos at school too:

On becoming a writer

After over 10 years as a BBC TV programme maker working on disability, documentary, entertainment and children's programmes I left to have 2 children.

Having decided that the full on lifestyle of programme making and being a parent wasn't for me I decided to utilise the skills, experience and knowledge gleaned from my BBC career to became a freelance writer.

Because of my personal experience of disability I chose to specialise by writing about all aspects of disability – from parenting to sport, clothes shopping to legislation, what’s in the news to specific aspects of particular impairments.

All too often the media portrayal of disabled people and disability issues doesn’t quite hit the mark, the tone is off, the language is wrong; the overall effect leaves the public none the wiser.

As a disabled writer my aim is to be positive, informative and accurate, that doesn’t have to mean dry and boring – a bit of humour can go a long way!