AN IRVINE woman diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth has now set up her own service to help others with disabilities.

Danielle Farrel, who has been in a wheelchair since childhood, recently launched Your Options Understood (YOU) as a way of offering advice to those with disabilities as well as parents and carers.

She received backing from the Princes Trust and Business Gateway in Ayr and is now hoping to expand her services to South Ayrshire.

YOU offers independent advice in terms of living with a disability in areas such as self directed support where Danielle shares her own experiences of life with a disability.

Danielle, 30, said: “I was coming to the end of my PhD at university last year. I was having a conversation with someone who said to me ‘you are the one person who could help others with disabilities’.

“I thought if I did not try I would not know so I contacted the Business Gateway who put me in touch with the Princes Trust and awarded me a £250 grant.

“The service differs from others because I have a disability. We are able to offer a first-hand experience and advice. I have been in a wheelchair since I was born.”

Danielle did an undergraduate course at UWS Ayr’s campus and worked as a research assistant there too before going onto study her masters at the UWS in Paisley.

She went to the Princes Trust in April last year and again in August before starting her business.

“I feel that people want to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about and can relate because they have had their own experiences,” Danielle explained.

“Sometimes parents might get a diagnosis for a child but I want to show them a different perspective of this diagnosis.

“It doesn’t have to be bad. I am proof of that. It is only my legs that don’t work.”

Danielle attended primary school in Kilbirnie then Ashcraig special needs secondary school in Glasgow.

She added: “They prepared me for the real world and gave me the opportunity to go to college once a week in sixth year. Ashcraig was the next step for me as they sent me on my journey.”

Danielle is currently working from home but is hoping to expand soon.
To find out more visit youroptionsunderstood.co.uk/about-us/4589490798.