Intro myself.  Emily Yates, 25, accessibility consultant, travel writer for Lonely Planet and presenter for BBC3. Grasping opportunities has always been vital for me, regardless of my disability. Passing me on the street, what would be the first thing you'd notice? Would it be this (hair)? Or this (chair)?  And yet my time of grasping opportunities started when I climbed up to top of this on my hand and knees (sand dune pic) and got into the water with this (shark).  And I don't mind admitting that I found that ridiculously difficult.  But it changed my life.  By doing something out of the ordinary and pushing my limits, I changed my life.

With JoLt, a charity that takes disabled or otherwise disadvantaged young people away to a far-flung location for an expedition of a lifetime, I went to southern Africa (Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa) when I was 16 and, even after all I've done since then, I still think of it as the most significant, enjoyable and life-changing month of my life. Everyone has events that they consider to be milestones in their lives. JoLt is the milestone that has encouraged me to say 'yes' to so many opportunities.  It has made me who I am today.

So let me talk you through those two pictures – the highlights of my trip.

SLIDES:

The Namibian Sand Dunes.

This was only the second day of the expedition, and it was the tester of our strength so far as a group.  Firstly, our trust in one another was put to the test as we buckled up on quad bikes and prepared to have the ride of our lives across the dunes.  After such an adrenaline rush, our biggest challenge of the trip so far was set upon us: we were to climb this huge sand dune – in any way that we could possibly manage...

For some, this was obviously a challenge of a much broader scale.  Those who were physically able used all their strength, compassion and encouragement to will those with a lesser mobility up the dune.  There was crawling, lifting, bum-shuffling, wheelchair hopping, guiding those with a visual impairment.  You name it, we did it.  And guess what? We ALL made it to the top.  The best part was then sliding down on sand boards and bums!  I knew from that moment on that this was to be much more than a trip across southern Africa.  This was a trip that would mould my determination and ambition for the rest of my life.

Shark Diving – Capetown!

This day proved to be a big story, and a mystery!  Until a few hours before we departed, none of us knew that we were to go cage diving with Sharks.  It was going to prove a challenge for even the most confident and fearless of us.  The sea was stunning and the crew on the boats were so friendly and helpful – I almost forgot what I was about to do.  Whilst getting into the cage, I also forgot about the danger of the activity; the sight of the sharks underwater was just so magical.  Then two things happened.  Firstly, a shark decided to eat one of our buoyancy aids, which caused the cage to lean to one side! And secondly, one of the crew jumped into the cage and started tapping me violently.  It turns out that my leg had been hanging out of the cage and dangling in reach of the sharks, and I was unable to feel it! Luckily I came out with both my legs still intact... 

AFTER JOLT.

Sinai 2010.

After JoLt, I had a serious case of the travel bug.  I'd entered sixth form, A Levels were demanding, and I really wanted to get away.  Then I saw a poster for YSES (Yorkshire Schools Exploring Society) expedition to Sinai in the summer of 2010.  For three weeks we'd live in the desert with a Bedouin tribe, our only mode of transport being on camel.  Then, we'd complete our PADI open water scuba diving qualification by diving in the Red Sea.  Wow, I wanted to do this.  I came across two big challenges during the application process.  Firstly, the company had never taken anyone with a disability before, which meant I was to be the only one on the trip, whilst everyone else was able-bodied.  Secondly, the female leader of the trip had decided to withdraw.  To the company, this meant one thing: my mum would have to be the other leader...

I love my mum dearly, but as an 18 year old girl, I'm sure you can understand my unease with this.  But I so badly wanted to go, and I wanted to prove that I could do it and succeed.  So it was decided.  We went.  And it was without doubt, the most difficult, but eye-opening, three weeks of my life.

The desert, although not the most wheelchair friendly place, soon became my friend, along with a commode that we'd fashioned out of a plastic school chair.  Riding on camels was one of my proudest accomplishments to date, as just getting on and off them was a challenge in itself! The people I was travelling with did everything in their power to help me, and my mum was wonderful – I realise now I probably couldn't have done it without her.  Riding in the desert was such a beautiful experience, and it was also great knowing that others were constantly learning from me and how I did things.  The scuba diving reduced me to tears every night for the duration of the 5 day course – I was just so exhausted from keeping up with everyone else.  But I loved it, and was determined. I did it, and can now proudly say I am an Open Water Scuba Diver!  The trip was wonderful, breathtaking, and horrible all in one.  This was where I learnt that I would have to fight in order to achieve certain things.

Australia 2011-2012

After a year of having a ridiculous amount of fun at Queen Mary, University of London, I applied to take part in an International Exchange Programme that the uni runs.  I was accepted into the University of Melbourne, and would spend the next year, the second year of my degree, living and studying in Australia.  Wow, this really was independence at its greatest!  I was over the moon when I found out, and I knew that I'd manage fine, even though it was a little scary.  I stayed in a residential college of 160 students in Melbourne, and quickly befriended another girl in a wheelchair, Alex.  She was Australian, so very quickly introduced me to everyone, and being the only girl in a chair was therefore never an issue for me. 

I want to share with you the story of my friendship with Alex.  Alex has cerebral palsy, like me, and although she's ridiculously outgoing and bubbly, she'd never really felt truly independent; her friends always pushed her on a night out, and when things weren't going right, her parents would come and sort it out for her.  This is where we differed, and she told me one day that she was really envious of my positive attitude to my disability.  I told her all about my travels, and it turned out that she'd never really been out of Melbourne, and would love to have the chance to visit Sydney.  Within two weeks, we were on a plane there.  It was just us two, so our bags had to be carried by us, we had to push ourselves, and navigate around the access of Sydney.  And we LOVED it.  Because of that trip, Alex then came over to the UK to spend Christmas with me in 2012.  Because of the attitude that I developed from the opportunities I grasped, I've helped to change the attitude of someone else.

Quickly go through scuba diving in Great Barrier Reef, travel around Aus etc.

London 2012.

Applied to be a gamesmaker as a fresher in London.  Went to Australia, heard nothing.  Came back, got position in wheelchair fencing team.  On way down to london on train, phonecall from media office, would I do a press conference about being a gamesmaker? Lo and behold, Lord Coe was doing this press conference too.  Met him, had a photo, started my shifts, loved it.  Looked after athletes, my role was to make sure they were prepared to go out onto field of play and I got to head up a procession out onto the field, and then hold medals that they'd won! Such a great experience with some lovely people.  Then, Seb mentioned me in Closing Ceremony Speech!

MetroRio

I was invited by the British Consulate in 2013 to visit Rio de Janeiro as it started to prepare for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  There, I gave a presentation about my life and travels to a board of government officials, and there was a man there, laughing at all my rubbish jokes at the correct time, so I knew his English was pretty good.  He then sat on his phone, leaving me thinking that my presentation was almost as bad as my jokes! At the end of the presentation, he stood up and apologised for not listening fully, but explained that he was the accessibility manager for Rio’s underground metro system and he had been on the phone to the president of the company and wanted to invite me to work there as an accessibility consultant! So, off I went!  At the end of March 2014, I moved to Rio to work as a freelance accessibility consultant for MetroRio.  I was  there until early 2015, adapting existing accessibility for all underground stations, especially the ones involved in the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Games!

Lonely Planet.

All of this travelling has made me swot up quite a lot on accessible tourism, and I’ve come to realise that, just as a business is only as good as its staff, accessible venues and accommodations are only as good as the information they provide to disabled travellers.  I realised that very little accessible information was being published regarding Rio, so got in touch with Lonely Planet to ask whether or not they were interested in producing an accessible guide to the city in the run up to the Games.  They were, so off I went to Rio again! These slides show some of the results.

Concluding remarks.