Hi. My name’s Kate. I was born in New Zealand where I lived for 3 years before moving to Australia.

I was born with Albinism, a genetic condition which means you have no pigment in the skin. This left me highly sensitive to sun burn and almost anything that you put on my skin. It also meant I was
legally blind from birth.

My mother was determined that I would attend “normal” school and obtain any help I needed there. I attended mainstream schooling up until grade 8 where I transferred to a private performing arts school. You see I had been moving my feet since the age of two so mum put me in dance class and I of course wanted to be a ballerina. I quickly learnt that world was extremely “bitchy” and after my friend became seriously ill from an eating disorder, I decided that that life wasn’t for me. I changed to ballroom dancing, something I enjoyed right up until I became ill.

I went to university in Sydney, studying a Business degree and afterwards worked for the Commonwealth Bank in their training department. In 2001 I transferred to a Glasgow (Scotland) operation of the Bank, which then saw me move from the corporate world and retrain as a high school teacher in the area of IT.

I absolutely loved teaching and also living in the UK, especially the opportunity it gave me to travel. I traveled all over Europe in the nine years I lived in the UK. I returned to Australia, the Sunshine Coast, QLD, after the death of my mother in 2010. I looked after my father and continued to teach and travel as much as I could. I found the coast a hard place to make my home at first but now have to say it’s the best place ever.

In 2013 I become ill after an Appendix operation. After a year and a half of a whirlwind of doctors visits and multiple tests I was diagnosed with Scleroderma. What a world changer!! My hands were completely contracted at this point, I was told they could have saved my hands had I seen them earlier… I would have punched someone if I was physically able to! LOL.

Anyway, my journey since diagnosis has been long and hard, filled with lots of highs and amazing people. Currently I am still living on the Sunshine Coast and unfortunately my Dad died in 2022 so its just me and my two dogs Sophie and Charlie. At this point, I can no longer walk due to knee contractures and have regular fainting spells and nerve seizure events. I also had to retire from my teaching job which came with its own challenges. Despite all this I have had some amazing opportunities to see the world,  including traveling to Hawaii, Russia and Alaska. I also recently tried out the IFly in Brisbane, what fun and it turns out that stiffness actually comes in handy, who knew???

At the moment I am really enjoying getting into my role with Scleroderma Queensland as their IT Officer. It has really given me a chance to give back and also focus on something bigger than me which I have found to be very liberating.

That’s me in a nutshell, hopefully I might get to hear some of your story’s soon.

Thanks for reading.
Kate