30 Day Blog Challenge Day 5: Feeling Grateful

Tomorrow is my 33rd birthday, and I spoke to my parents on FaceTime and then my gran phoned up. My gran has had a tough year. She ended up in hospital very dehydrated and with a urine infection. She was in hospital for a few weeks back in the summer and then it was decided by her and the drs she should go to a nursing home to get better care as she is a widow since my grandad died 11 years ago now. She and I had a long chat. She's 90 now. I'm very grateful to everyone who sent me a birthday and/or Christmas wish, card or gift ahead of time. 

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 4: Surprise Birthday Gifts

Yesterday, I got the first of my birthday gifts through the post, and it was from my parents . I love fashion and beauty, so I think this is a nice present. It is a lip balm by the Somerset Toiletry Company, a bracelet and a heart-shaped plaque by a company called East of India who I have never heard of before. I went on their website, and had seen that they have lots of similar plaques with different messages on them. I really like quotes and reading, so this seems the perfect gift for me. I still have three huge parcels to come. I can't wait to see what else I get. No matter how old I get, I still love receiving presents for my birthday, and even better if they are a few days early!

1. Plaque by East of India

2. Bracelet by Suzy Blue

3. Vanilla Praline Lipbalm by Somerset Toiletry Company (comes in tis own cute gift bag). The lipbalm has a gorgeous flavour too. 

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 3: Planning For Christmas (Or Any Event) Is Not Easy

Christmas is a happy time of year for everyone, and that involves planning weeks, sometimes months, in advance.
This year, I have been invited to spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day with Alfredo's sister Sara, and her boyfriend, and Alfredo's nephew will be there too. The thing is, throughout my life I have been conscious of the fact that if I want to go anywhere, it involves a lot of planning. Not just what to take, but how to get there, what time to leave, as well as planning the quickest way as well to get there. I have never been to Sarah's house, near Toledo, Castilla - La Mancha (to the south of Madrid).
  Alfredo tells me that it is mostly accessible , apart from a large step to get into the apartment. My electric wheelchair can go up a step 10 cm high. Her boyfriend's house apparently has a tiny bathroom, but is also quite accessible . I have always felt apprehensive before I go to new places as to how accessible they will be in reality, and whether the person's description of the place will be accurate when I actually get there. This is important for me, not only to be able to get my wheelchair into places, but because it also influences whether I have a good time while I'm there or not. Boxing Day is Sara's birthday, and I would like to spend it with her as we get on really well. She is a trained physiotherapist , and has assessed me. It is so useful to have someone like this in Alfredo's family! Another thing that we have to consider is how we are actually going to get there, as I can't drive and Alfredo has to get his license renewed. Sara's boyfriend Rafa has a van he uses for his work, but are not sure whether it will be wheelchair accessible. That would be the easiest way for us to get there, because it is over an hour away, and the buses that go there are inaccessible coaches. A taxi would be extortionate . I am left feeling awkward about this, and hope that we can work something out. But, on many occasions I have to  sometimes decided that I just can't go . Alfredo and I will have our Christmas dinner before he/we go. Let's see what happens!

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 2: Our Christmas Tree is Up

Today was a special day, and varied too. Our tree is now up and I love it this year. I wrote the first chapter and a half of another story. This one is about a girl who ends up in a wheelchair after falling through the ice whilst she was ice skating on the surface of the lake in her garden. I love writing! 

Happy Christmas and Happy 2015

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 1: A Busy Few Days

Back in October this year, I took part in the 30 day blog challenge, and yesterday I decided that I would sign up for it again.

This is my first post.

It's been a busy few days – yesterday, Alfredo and I were preparing for Christmas. He took me to the hairdressers to get my hair cut so that it looks nice for Monday which is my 33rd birthday, and also for Christmas and the New Year in general. I bought some Christmas cards yesterday and sent them today. I will be sending a mixture of actual physical cards, and e-cards this year. We got some more Christmas cards in the post today (thank you Sam and Richard, and mum and dad!) There are some parcels with my birthday and Christmas presents on the way, so I'm waiting for those as well. I haven't been able to buy Christmas presents for people this year, like other years, as I have been saving for a new electric wheelchair, seeing as the one I have is on its last legs. I would if I could though . I left working on my novel today in favour of going through wheelchair  websites and comparing pros and cons of different ones so that I can decide which one I'm going to get.

I'm also hoping to get some reading in today. I'm reading my 103rd book of the year! I have a book blog at www.myreadingparadise.wordpress.com, so I will review it there. I'll post the review here too for those of you who don't have Wordpress :) I hope your day os going great, amd I am looking forward to being part of 30 days of blogging again! 

My Thoughts About The International Day of People With Disability

Since I have known about the International Day of people with disabilities, I have written a blog post every year on that day. As a person who was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy and Hydrocephalus, I have never known what it was like to live without my disabilities. In my experience, I was born three months prematurely, and had a severe brain bleed on both sides of my brain which caused my disabilities, and my parents were told that I'd not be able to do anything.

I have, and can do many things: I'm bilingual (English and Spanish) I have written four novels, I am in a relationship and civil partnership and engaged to the love of my life. I have a university degree in geography, and a Cambridge University certificate for English as a second language teaching to adults.

I think that it is the day when people recognise disabilities, way as a group in society have fight  more for everything. I am also looking forward to the International Day of acceptance, which is run by 3E's wheelchair heart. I have two keep checking their first Facebook page because they told me that they don't know whether going to run the event in January next year. I was in the 25 best entries last January. What would be better though, would be to have society much more accepting people with disabilities the whole year round, and not just one day a month or week. People say that society is more accepting and the built environment are better adapted, but I beg to differ with that because I have had a lot of access is used throughout my life. People also need to be educated about how they talk to and relate to disabled people. A lot of us are cleverer than they think! I , for one, absolutely hate it when I am in a shop with my partner and they talk to him instead of me. When people what I want to eat/drink/do when they're idea of what I would like to do is not what I want to petrol. People always assume about what I "do with my day" –' I do a lot, I work on my box, and helped to do my exercises, or reading or go out. So people without disabilities do notunderstand people with them . Society has a long way to go. 

Happy International Day Of People With Disabilities

Today, we celebrate the International Day of People with Disability.  I want to tell you about me and how my disability was caused. 

My name is Katherine Hayward, I'm 32 and I was born with Spastic Quadriplegia Cerebral Palsy, hydrocephalus and severe eyesight difficulties, which have led to me being registered blind. I rely on an electric wheelchair to get around. I was born in Kingston-upon-Thames, UK together with my identical twin sister Natalie, who passed 
away 9 days after we were born. I have a tribute page to her at 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-to-Natalie-my-twin-sister/269861423116657?ref=ts&fref=ts. 

Natalie's and my birth was a real surprise to my parents as my mum , Anne , went into spontaneous labour , 3 months early. Natalie was born and the doctors were about to pack their equipment away when they noticed my mum was still in labour, and I was inside her, all the while being deprived of oxygen to the brain. I wasn't breathing when I was born at all and had to be revived and intubated , and immediately taken to the NICU. The same was true for Natalie. We were both on a ventilator in the NICU from the time we were born. At 6 hours old, we were transferred by emergency ambulance from Kingston Hospital , which was where we were born, to Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital as they had better NICU facilities as at Kingston they only had enough space to take care of one of us. At 3 days old, on Christmas day 1982, we both had heart attacks and had to be revived and we had an emergency baptism by the priest, as well the NICU doctors and nurses as they thought we would die at any moment. 
We pulled through...... and fought on.
Natalie fought on for 6 more days until she had heart and kidney failure , and passed away on New Year's Eve 1982. I had jaundice, recurrent conjunctivitis , heart and lung problems and suffered several bouts of pneumonia. 
I had a grade 4 brain hemorrhage on both sides of my head. The doctors did a CT scan and saw I had Spina bifida occulta and hydrocephalus . Then they saw I wasn't moving my body and diagnosed me with Spastic Quadriplegia Cerebral Palsy. I had blood transfusions, and at 2 weeks old, they performed a risky surgery to insert a Rickham Reservoir which drained the CSF . I was really I'll during the surgery and it had to be abandoned. It was then decided to insert my first Ventriculo- peritoneal (VP) shunt, a drainage device which drains the CSF away from my brain down to my abdomen where it can be better absorbed . Between the ages of birth and 11 years old, I had 4 surgeries to replace infected, broken or damaged shunts. I had numerous revision appointments with my neurologist. I would wake in the night or early hours of the morning vomiting , and have severe headaches. I got glasses when I was 2, as until then I couldn't see anything. My glasses don't correct my vision completely , and just allow me to see what I can , despite their complicated and high prescription . I have no lateral vision, and can only see what's right in front of me. I have tunnel vision , a bilateral squint , hemianopsia and am registered legally blind. 
My wheelchair is a lifeline to me. 


More About My Life 

In 1984, my sister Nicola Jane Hayward was born. 
I love horses, and cats (in my lifetime, I've known 3, Suki, Pippa, and Tala- Tala is now 11 years old and the others passed away). I'm a great believer animals are great therapy for anybody, especially disabled people. 

I studied Spanish and geography at Swansea University for a year from 2000 to 2001, and in October I transferred from Swansea to Reading University, where I studied Bsc Human Geography, and graduated in 2004 . In September 2004 to December 2004, I decided to to study a CELTA (Cambridge certificate for English language teaching to adults) at Oxford and Cherwell further education College in Oxford, as I had always wanted to teach English to people who didn't speak it as their first language. This became reality when in 2005 I had an interview at the British Council in London for a job post as a Language Assistant at a school.my first choice location was Madrid and I ended up getting the job, which I began in October 2005. Nine months later, I got a job through Berlitz language school at a summer camp in Cuenca, Castilla-la Mancha for three weeks. I have not been able to find another job since then and have lots of fond memories as I met a lot of great people. I met my partner Alfredo in January 2006. On this page and through my blog, I talk about my experiences living with my complex disabilities. My main aim is to show people what my day to day life is like living with my disabilities, and raise much more understanding and awareness of them. I also attempt to raise awareness of other conditions. 
Questions about my disabilities are welcome, as are your comments.

Here's a picture for today which I wrote on