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Determination against being told ‘no’: A career in conservation

By Grace O’Dea

For anyone in the animal conservation and welfare sector with a disability, I am writing to let you know that it can be done. If you believe in something and have the determination to follow it through, all I can say is, go for it! Working for a career you truly want is never easy and having a long-term health condition or a disability (as I do) can make things difficult at times, but it has been my own determination, the support from my parents and university lecturers and my genuine interest in animals and the natural world that has allowed me to achieve a career that I have wanted since I was young.

I have a disability called Cerebral Palsy. This does come with its own challenges, however I was diagnosed at a few months old and I therefore, have known no different. In fact, my disability has only gotten easier to manage over time. I am a very strong woman and I have always been encouraged by my parents to go for a career that I want. Personally, I have found the stigma around people with disabilities who want to work with animals a lot harder to deal with than the actual practical animal care work itself. It wasn’t until I was in my late-teens that I was told ‘no’ in regards to me wanting to work practically with animals. I was (wrongly) told that I did not have the upper body strength to do so. This was said by someone, who at the time was professionally superior to me. Of course, as an impressionable teenager this did somewhat affect me, however my natural attitude has always been to carry on. So that’s what I’ve done and what I will always do.

One of the challenges that having a disability presents, is being viewed as ‘different’ by your peers, and therefore this has been the route cause of some anxiety that I deal with on a day-to-day basis. I find public speaking particularly difficult. I have worried in the past that people are judging my disability rather than focusing on what I am speaking about. I was given speech therapy as a child to help me to develop clearer speech (as well as physiotherapy to help with my physical symptoms). This anxiety around public speaking did present itself when I was at university. I remember that I was giving a presentation as part of an assignment and I volunteered to go first. I was so worried about people judging me that as soon as I started speaking, I ran out of the classroom crying.

To date, I have had many jobs in the animal welfare and conservation industry. I have worked on many farms carrying out all of the practical duties required. I have carried out practical work experience at a zoo, been a volunteer at a wildlife rescue and I am now a Conservation-Education Host at the Oceanarium in Bournemouth, where I teach people about animal behaviour and welfare as well as how to protect the natural world. Now, public speaking is the main part of my job where I educate people about animals and conservation issues. I was even invited to be the Guest Speaker at my former college and university, Kingston Maurward, for their graduation this year. I have done it, and although there should never have had to be anyone to prove wrong in the first place, I am succeeding on a daily basis.

I am thriving in the sector and if I have any words of advice for someone in a similar position as to the one that I was in, it would be to know your worth, know that you have strengths that can be used for the career that you want to pursue and that someone telling you that they don’t think you can do something is not the deciding factor for the rest of your life.

I sometimes think that the stigma around people with disabilities having a job with animals or in the land-based industry can make people doubt themselves and potentially stop those people following through with a career that they really want to pursue. Other people felt that I didn’t have a future in this sector and here I am, with a real job in the industry, writing a blog entry which will hopefully inspire others.

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Whatever the industry, disabled people are told no a lot, writes Alice Hargreaves, CEO of SIC, a social enterprise that aims to close the disability employment gap.

The disability employment gap has grown, meaning even more disabled people are unemployed than their non-disabled peers. Employees and employers alike don’t know enough about schemes such as Access to Work, designed to provide real in-person work opportunities that can be completely game-changing in sectors such as ecology and sustainability. If someone needs an all-terrain wheelchair, a new desk, or some technology to help them, Access to Work is where an employer (or someone self-employed) can get the majority of those costs covered.

If you’re disabled and entering the workplace for the first time, our guide to where to find support (available here) could be a great place to start. If you’re an employer or educator who needs more information, we have tonnes of resources on our website.

Grace’s determination is remarkable – and we need to lift the voices of those who’ve turned a no into a yes so that others can follow in their footsteps and succeed!

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