Well here it is, my first official blog, straight from the heart and onto the page.
As I’m typing this I can’t help but feel like Carrie Bradshaw (I’m sorry if you’re too young to understand that reference, I’m a cringey millennial, ok?), narrating in my head, looking out of the window as it rains.
As I’m sat inside a work cafe, I scramble to put the words together to start this blog. Where do I start? Well, first of all, today is my first official day as a “free agent”, I no longer work for “the man” and I’m going at it alone… Scary thought. But an exciting one!
Let’s start from the beginning shall we? Well not the beginning-beginning, Friday 19th June 1992, but the beginning of my work career, and how I got to this very day, Wednesday 3rd September 2025.
I have always had a passion for working with people with disabilities. It all started when I was on a family holiday in Turkey. I was about 10 years old and there was a little boy who had Down Syndrome who was playing in the pool. I noticed that he didn’t have anyone playing with him, so I didn’t think twice to go over and start playing pool games with him. He particularly loved to play catch or search for objects at the bottom of the pool. From then on, I realised that inclusion was SO important. I knew that when I was older, that I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to work with people with disabilities.
I started working, covering maternity, in Leonard Cheshire Disability when I just left college and then moved on to working for Autism Initiatives UK. I learned so much from both of these jobs, but the main thing was communication, and how everyone communicates differently. English was always a passion of mine, so to be able to challenge myself with catering to different types of communications, was challenging and invigorating to me. Inclusion was always weaved into the fabric of my every day working life. And man, oh man, when you got a win, no matter how small it may have seemed, well, that… That was just beautiful.
I then started working in education, on supply at first but then full time. It wasn’t the easiest to get into education, there was a lot of rejection, but then someone finally took a chance on me. I remember thinking that I had stuffed the interview. So many things were against me, I was in London when I got a phone call asking if I was still interested in the job (HR hadn’t sent me an interview invite as the system had broken), and the interview was going to be the following day! I accepted the interview under the impression that I wasn’t going to get it anyway.
I turned up, everything was going well until I got asked the question, “Are you flexible?” and of course I had to reply with “I may not be physically flexible, but I am when it comes to work!”. What was I doing?! Everyone knows you don’t show your TRUE self in an interview. You’ve gotta trick ‘em first! Well… That was it, one of the interviewers could not stop laughing. He laughed so much that all of the other questions after that were pretty moot. I walked out of there thinking “That’s it. I’ll never get a job in education now!”. I rang my husband and told him that I didn’t get the job and proceeded to tell him why. He agreed.
Later that day, I got a phone call from Jon (the interviewer who couldn’t stop laughing), and he told me that he wanted to offer me the job. I couldn’t believe it! So much so I even said “Are you sure?” Again… What was I doing? Shut up and accept the job, you fool…
And that was the beginning of a fantastic career within education. But how does this link to working with people with a visual impairment I hear you say. Well, when Jon moved from his post within the Specialist Provision Centre (formally know as the Special Needs Unit), he moved to the Vision Support Service and I followed him. I worked within the Vision Support Service for over 7 years and I absolutely loved my time working there. I made so many amazing friends along the way and made lifelong relationships with some of my students.
I always maintain that this leap was hard because I didn’t leave because I hated the job and I hated the people. It was the complete opposite. But I felt that it was the right time for me to make this move, and to try and make the world a more accessible place for, not only my previous students, but, well… everyone!
Be prepared for more insights and real life adventures of me and my business journey. The good, the bad and the downright ugly.
Over and out,
Tasha 😊