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I'm a creative writer with a particular interest in the intersection of life writing with lived experience of disability and mental health. 

Alongside my academic career, I have worked as a freelance journalist for several years, writing articles and features for national publications including the Guardian, Mslexia, Happiful, PosAbility, and others.

Institute of English

Title

Memoir as Counter Narrative: Using creative nonfiction to explore visual impairment and mental illness and challenge dominant models of disability

Abstract

This practice research project will produce a memoir exploring my lived experience of mental ill health and visual impairment. It will be an original contribution to, and an intervention in, debates surrounding disability and the taboos surrounding the articulation of mental health issues. It will use creative non-fiction to produce a counter narrative that challenges the inadequacy of dominant models of disability.

Professor Simon Perril