{"id":2261,"date":"2019-01-24T11:37:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T11:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/from-being-disabled-to-working-in-disability-research\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:37:10","slug":"from-being-disabled-to-working-in-disability-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/from-being-disabled-to-working-in-disability-research","title":{"rendered":"From being disabled to working in disability research"},"content":{"rendered":"

From a disabled person, to an economist working in disability research.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I am disabled, aren\u2019t I? Actually, it\u2019s quite complicated to get my head around. I certainly used to be disabled. I was partially paralyzed for most of my childhood. I was infected with poliomyelitis (polio) when I was just one year old. The disease attacked the muscles in my left leg and destroyed most of my hamstring and quadriceps. Luckily for me, I recovered some of my physical ability after surgery, which I had when I was 11 years old. However, I couldn\u2019t run, nor do any sports like my peers. Even after my surgery, I was constantly called \u2018disabled\u2019\u00a0and that, for me, came with quite some limited thinking about what I could and couldn\u2019t do.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I lived with the idea that I was disabled, until I came to the UK to pursue a Master’s course. Being in a new environment, and for the first time in my life living independently, I learned that I was not disabled in the way I thought I was. I started walking every day for hours to get across the campus. Norwich is such a small town that I was able to walk every small path. But walking for a long time to build my strength, actually used to knock me down on my knees.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I learned to listen to my body, listen to the pain and the fear inside my head. I started challenging myself more gradually, by walking and then running for 1 or 2 minutes. Running was something\u00a0which, before, I had never dared to think about.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Coming back home after a year in Norwich, my parents were surprised how much I had changed. For the first time, I felt more confident about myself. As well as getting further treatment, I went to the gym and started doing weight-training. I fell so many times, and hurt myself, and cried while doing exercises.\u00a0But all of those tears just made me feel more determined and remember that I am not limited by what has happened to me. It was not my ability that limited me, it was what other people thought about me.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then, I got a\u00a0scholarship from the University of Sheffield to do my PhD in the economics of welfare, with a focus on disability. I faced the dilemma of either staying in Vietnam to continue receiving treatment, or leaving to start my PhD. I decided to stand on my legs and go for my dream.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Did\u00a0I need\u00a0help of a different kind? Or just\u00a0someone to listen to me?<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I started my PhD journey just about a year ago. I quickly got\u00a0busy and I did not have\u00a0as much time to train my left leg as I did before because I worked very long hours. I now realize that doing this was a mistake, but I stayed in the office until after 11 PM almost every day in my first year and went to the gym even after midnight. I couldn\u2019t let go of the idea that I had to do all this or I was letting my disability win. There was a time when I walked back from the gym after 1 AM\u00a0in pain, and cried on my own, not just because of the pain but also the loneliness, and felt hopeless, from fatigue and over-work.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I now realize that I was suffering from depression, and was putting far too much pressure on myself. Half way through my first year I knew I needed to make a change. That was when I decided to join the PhD peer-mentoring scheme.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I met my mentor, Nathalie, through that programme. By listening to her stories and experiences, I found solutions for my own problems of balance, doubts, and finding time to train. My mentor kept encouraging me to fight and fight, but in a more structured, strategic way. She told me that I would never know whether I could do something until I tried, and encouraged me to try different ideas, strategies, and helped me change my thinking.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I started putting ankle weights on my legs to walk to work, taking the\u00a0stairs instead of the lift or just jogging around my office when I was\u00a0too busy for the gym. I trained little, but\u00a0often, and integrated my work and my training together. I am gradually coming to feel better and better every day, which is actually helping me\u00a0focus better at work and also be more effective with my time.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I have realized that perceiving\u00a0myself as unable\u00a0to do things, stops me from actually achieving anything. This applies not only to my physical impairment but also to my PhD work. Doing a PhD is such a difficult process in which we will fail many times, but we should never stop trying new things. The key to success is to work smarter and in a balanced way, not simply to push longer or harder.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This is a guest post by Anna Ta, a PhD Researcher in Economics, and a member of the Disabled & Ill Researchers\u2019 Network.\u00a0<\/i>This story was published on November 6, 2018, on the Think Ahead Blog<\/a> (available here<\/a>) and has been republished here with her permission.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a disabled person, to an economist working in disability research. I am disabled, aren\u2019t I? Actually, it\u2019s quite complicated to get my head around. I certainly used to be disabled. I was partially paralyzed for most of my childhood. I was infected with poliomyelitis (polio) when I was just one year old. The disease […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":955,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2414],"tags":[2454],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-researcher-stories","tag-researcher-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom being disabled to working in disability research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this powerful story, Anna Ta, a PhD Researcher in Economics, talks about her journey from being a disabled person to working in disability research.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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