The thing is, when I went into thie stream of work, I didn’t know I was neurodivergent. I suspected I was autistic, but my experience (I thought) was more because I had supported and raised a neurodiverse child. Little did I realise – I had both ADHD and ASD.
I started my business in October 2020 after having the 3rd surgery in a long line of surgeries to rebuild my pelvis due to a birth defect found at age 27.
In the beginning, I was still figuring out what I liked so I did it all, and I realised that actually I LOVED all of it. Some things lit my brain up more than others, and so I focused on that. A huge “OMG I LOVE THIS” moment was helping others to achieve things for themselves, but a huge block for many people who wanted my services was that they were new businesses with limited funds to spend on getting help.
I became aware of the Access to Work programme about 6 months into having my business, but I had no idea that it could do so much for people who needed it – and best of all, it can be used to fund my services which is incredible.
Building a business as a disabled person was hard. Consequences of my condition meant that in my early 20s, I trashed my credit rating, so securing any funds (even a loan) was almost impossible.
I’ve always approached my business with a ‘start where you are, use what you have, do what you can’ mentality. I think these days, people buy into getting lots of advice from lots of people, especially where neurodivergence is at play, and the reality is, THEY ALREADY HAVE A SKILL. By deploying my little mantra, I didn’t need to invest in much until my third year of business, because I just did my best, and researched what I didn’t know.
While the word ‘superpower’ makes me balk, my superpower is that I am a great learner and the information is either already in my head, or I know where I need to look to find it. I have pristine research skills. I’m also good at boundaries for this type of work. However, ask me to design something and I will follow the rabbit into the dark!
Having Access to Work support for myself was gamechanging. My biggest challenge was the amount of paperwork I’d have lying around. Now, my support worker helps me to get on top of that, and its extremely useful.
I do however struggle with object impermanence and hyperfocus. This has meant my business became my hyperfocus, and it really show by the progress we have made here, but I can honestly say I feel so painfully lonely at times, because somewhere along the way I forgot to have friends. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I have exciting things to say, and nobody to say them to.
But all I can to is try every day to do better.
Starting where I am. Using what I have. And doing what I can.
– Stephanie Ward, Stephanie Ward Online Business Services.