Liz Carr

Whilst many brides have dreamt about their wedding dress since childhood, I've had nightmares about having to wear children's clothes on my big day.

Some women brag about still being able to fit into their wedding dress. Well, I can still fit into my Brownie uniform.

As a teen, I never went on holiday, because all my summers were spent in hospital. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the hospital in question was in Slough.

Yes, there was one thing that I missed not being able to do - walk on a beach. I've always had this romantic image of walking along a beach, the sea lapping at my ankles, hand in hand with my lover, both of us smiling and wearing white flowing clothing as the sun sets in the background.

My medical case notes describe me as: 'skeletally deformed with severe contractures and stunted growth.' I prefer to think of myself as petite and slim, with an unconventionally fascinating body.

After months of preparation, on November 1st 2010, I became a married woman. I say married but since we're both female, the legal term is civil partnership, often abbreviated to CP. As a crip, whenever I hear 'CP,' however, I think Cerebral Palsy.

I stopped doing physio once I left home at eighteen and have been a sedentary fitness-phobe ever since.

Your state of health, mental or physical, has no bearing on your dignity.

For parents, graduation is one of the proudest moments of their lives. For many parents of disabled children, it is an achievement they never thought would happen for their offspring. For disabled students, however, graduation can be one of the most humiliating events we'll experience.

I remember my school days with mixed emotions; I was so grateful to be given a mainstream education, and yet at times I felt incredibly segregated.

Religion, certainly in the U.K., used to hold our fears and our discussions about death. That's where we saw death, in church or in funerals, and that helped us and provided us with a way through. I say this as an atheist.

I hate amusement arcades. When I was a little wheelie on holiday with my family in Wales, this was one of our safe havens on rainy days. Dad would ration out the two pences and send me and my brother off into a world of flashing lights, electronic beeps and underage gambling.