Rebecca Armstrong is an associate coach and facilitator on Result's DELTA program with the UK Cabinet Office. She works with organisations at Director and Board level to create inclusive cultures and strategies. Rebecca is also a qualified Psychotherapist working with adults, couples and children.

My journey with disability began 14 years ago, although at the time I had no idea that a routine work trip would become the moment that changed my life forever.

During a flight to the USA, I started to feel numb down one side of my body. At first, it was something I hoped would pass. But after visits to my GP, MRI scans, and appointments with Neurologists, I found myself sitting in a room on 23rd January 2013 and hearing the words that would become part of my story:

“You have Multiple Sclerosis.”

I remember sitting there as the Neurologist showed me my MRI scan. The doctor pointed out the white lesions scattered across the images. They looked so small. Almost insignificant. Just tiny marks on a screen.

Yet those little marks represented something that would change everything.

In that moment, my understanding of my future shifted. The life I had imagined suddenly came with uncertainty, questions, and fears I hadn’t expected to face.

But looking back now, I can also see something else.My life changed that day, but in many ways, it changed for the better.

That doesn’t mean I would choose MS. I wouldn’t. If there was a magic wand that could make it disappear tomorrow, I would absolutely be first in the queue. MS is not something I asked for, and it is certainly not something I would wish on anyone else. But I do embrace the person I have become because of it.

My feelings towards my disability are rooted in gratitude. Not gratitude for the illness itself, but gratitude for the ways it has shaped me. MS has changed my priorities, deepened my empathy, and opened doors to experiences and relationships I may never have encountered otherwise. It led me on a path to retrain as a Psychotherapist. It has given me the opportunity to contribute through my voluntary work as a Trustee of MS-UK and as the UK Lead Volunteer for Scouts.

It has introduced me to extraordinary people, incredible communities, and individuals whose strength, resilience, and determination continue to inspire me.

It has taught me that vulnerability and strength are not opposites. They can exist side by side. Would I have chosen this path? No.

Would I choose the person I’ve become? Without hesitation.

Since my diagnosis, I have also had the privilege of becoming a parent to three amazing children. That journey has not always been easy, and like many disabled parents, I have faced comments and questions about whether it is “fair” to have children when you have a disability. It is something I feel strongly about.

Disabled people should not have to justify their right to build families, to love, to nurture, or to dream about the future. The assumption that disability automatically means someone cannot provide a happy and fulfilling childhood is not only outdated, it overlooks the many strengths disabled people bring.

If growing up with a disabled parent helps my children understand the world with more compassion, empathy, and acceptance, then that is something I feel deeply grateful for. That same desire to create a more inclusive world has shaped so much of what I do beyond my family too.

But I also want to be honest.

MS is hard: There are days when fatigue wins, there are days when my body refuses to cooperate with what my mind wants to do, there are days when I grieve the things I have lost, or when I worry about what the future might look like.

Disability Pride does not ask me to ignore those realities. It does not require me to pretend everything is easy. Instead, it reminds me that those challenges do not diminish my value. For me, Disability Pride means no longer apologising for taking up space. It means asking for reasonable adjustments without feeling guilty, it means recognising that accessibility is not about giving disabled people an advantage, it is about removing barriers that were never necessary in the first place.

It means celebrating disabled people because they are whole, valuable, and complete human beings exactly as they are.

Disability Pride is about changing the way we see disability.

It is about moving away from a world where disabled people are viewed only through the lens of what they cannot do, and towards one where disabled lives are recognised for everything they are.

So this Disability Pride Month, I am celebrating a community that refuses to be defined by stereotypes.

I am honouring every disabled person who quietly changes the world every single day; through parenting, leading, volunteering, creating, working, campaigning, studying, advocating, supporting others, or simply showing up on the days when showing up feels incredibly hard. Because disability is not a tragedy to overcome.

Disabled lives are full lives.

Lives filled with love, ambition, contribution, creativity, humour, purpose, and meaning.

Lives that deserve opportunity.

Lives that deserve respect.

Lives that deserve to be seen.

And if my own journey has taught me anything, it is this: Disability is part of my story. It shaped me.

It challenged me.

It changed me.

But it never became the limit of what I could be.

Read more about Rebecca here.

We are what we do and we love what we do.