Each year, the Shaw Trust hosts the Disability Power 100. This prestigious event celebrates the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK across 10 categories. All nominees are voted for by a judging panel of their peers making the awards something special. In 2023, I was absolutely blown away to make it into the top 10 in the Community Advocate category.

In November 2024, I was bursting with joy to learn that I had made it into the Disability Power 100 again. The release of the top 100 is always carefully guarded until the day of the awards.

Off I went to London, looking forward to a night celebrating the leadership of the change makers who were nominated. The invitation list was full to brimming with the disability world’s greats, I was humbled and privileged to have even made the list.

I won!

While I’d received an email asking me to prepare a thank you, the way it was worded made me assume every nominee had received the same. I duly crafted a two-minute speech (below). Good job I like being prepared.

Wow, I only went and won the ‘Grassroots and Community Advocate Category’ for my augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) advocacy work.  The winners of each of the Disability Power 100 categories then become the Top 10 influencers.  I wrote my speech in all seriousness, but it actually got some laughs and great applause.  The feedback since has been amazing, so thanks to everyone from the Shaw Trust through to the judges and the other nominees.  Also, thanks to my parents and team, there wasn’t time to mention everyone on the night.  But you can read what I said here.

My thank you speech

Empowering others to achieve their own communication potential has been a dream since I got my first communication aid at the age of 4. It is a passion that has never diminished. Just because someone has no voice does not mean our heads are not full of ideas, dreams and aspirations. But without my communication aid right now, I would be speechless. Not only because my own speech is unintelligible to most people, but because I’m blown away with emotion. Using communication technology, I never take for granted my ability and privilege to share my thoughts, wishes and needs, and that you can understand me.

Celebrities like Stephen Hawking and Rob Burrow have done a great job raising awareness of AAC. But tonight, I’ve fallen into their trap of making it seem easy. By pre-preparing my thank you and simply pressing a button, the words appear like magic.  If I was spontaneously inputting this in the time allocated, I would only get to say.

Thank you to the Shaw Trust and the Disability Power 100 Judges. I’m humbled and honoured to accept this on behalf of all AAC users, our many passionate champions, advocates and allies.

You can read more about the speed of use of AAC and why pre-programming speech makes it look easy to use in my blog post