Honouring people’s stories, that no one is immune to anything, the value of friendships and that you can’t trust someone because of the role they have.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
These are just some of the life lessons Fay Keegan has learned through her experiences with a disability and her time as a social worker.
“One of the things that comes back to me, really, through working as a social worker, is the honouring of people’s stories.
“Sometimes people would talk to me and they talked to me as if they have failed in some way.
“I’d be sitting there thinking ‘Look at all the things that have happened to you and look at what you’ve achieved and you are still here’.
“Everyone has their own story and you can’t know it until they tell you and you listen.”
Fay fell from a moving train when she was 11 and her foot was crushed, which lead to years of complications and the eventual amputation of her lower leg in 2012.
Fay said she accepts herself as she is.
“I don’t compare myself to what I might have been, or could have been. I have never thought ‘why me’, ever. I always thought, ‘why not me’.
“None of us are immune from anything and anything can happen to anybody. It's a scary thought.”
She also learned very early, that you can’t trust people just because of the role they have.
“I’ve met some wonderful doctors and not so wonderful doctors.
"I was also inundated by religious people in hospital. Visiting hours were restricted but not from them – I had people coming in saying really inappropriate things like that God had chosen me for this...
“But then there was the nun who was part of my mother’s life when she was young and she was the most wonderful person.
“I had an early understanding of the complexity of human nature – no matter what people do, it’s what they are that matters.
“I came to understand that young and I’d done a lot of growing up really quickly.”
Fay said she was “lifted out” of the typical period of developing peer relationships and learning to get along with kids in the playground.
“That’s not a good thing for a kid. Being mature too early can come at a cost.”
She became isolated as she did the majority of her schooling from home. The only year she spent at school after the accident was her final year and she said she was still absent for 47 days.
“When attending, in good weeks I would be there three days out of five because of the swelling and the pain.”
She said the isolation that came from the experience has really made her value friends.
It also built her resilience and determination.
“I had to push myself right from when I was 11 to achieve things and to make sure my foot didn’t run my life and to push past those barriers.
“When the amputation happened I didn’t have to push anymore and just started having fun.
“The accident didn’t make me who I am, but I wouldn’t be ‘me’ without it.”