Gavin Clarke
Motivational speaker, podcast host and fledgling disability campaigner
Digital and Tech
‘Don’t tell them’ was the first piece of advice I was given as a young fresh faced employee. I didn’t, for almost two decades, talk openly about my mental illness, neurodiversity and physical disability at work. I look back on that and feel a little dirty, it’s something I talk to my mentees about, chat about on podcasts and discuss during speaking engagements – ‘the best work-you is the whole-you’.
It brings me so much joy now to talk about my congenital conditions and the impacts that has had on my life, the changes to mobility as I’ve aged and the adaptation to using a wheelchair and thriving as a result of it. My first podcast achieved the highlight of being consistently in the highlight reel of Apple Podcasts in the Mental Health category, with an array of fantastic guests many with disabilities sharing how they were thriving.
I’m also privileged to have been involved in the Disability Power bursary schemes and disability focused workplace ERGs adding a voice for congenital conditions and for mental health. Next up is a new disability focussed podcast and completing my MSc Psychology with the hope of helping disabled people access mental health care more easily whilst managing the day job and enjoying family life.
I’ll leave you with this: society may disable me, but I thrive because of my disability – not in spite of it.
“It’s a privilege to be included in the Disability Power 100, it goes to the heart of why our collective voices matter – because we add our unique experiences to the world. It’s taken me almost 4 decades but I’ve finally realised that my power comes from my unique experiences of living as a person with disabilities – now watch me thrive.”
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Disability Power 100 2023 profile information has been self-submitted by the profile subject. Shaw Trust understands and respects that disability and impairment descriptors and language use varies from person to person. Shaw Trust assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or discrepancies in the content of this, or any other, profile page.
Image credit: Stu Gray Photography
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