A University of Stirling student and disability advocate, Melissa Cassidy, has been named on the Young Women’s Movement annual 30 under 30 campaign.
The list celebrates inspiring young women and non-binary people from Scotland and has run since 2016.
This year, it was held at The Melting Pot in Edinburgh on Saturday November 1.
Melissa is only 19-years-old, yet she has a lifetime worth of achievements under her belt. Growing up with cerebral palsy, she found herself isolated in mainstream education.
To put her voice out there, she started blogging about her disability and her experiences when she was 14. From there, her writing experience broadened, and at 16 she had written and published a children’s book.
She writes a column for Able Magazine, the UK’s leading disability magazine, and is the founder of Alder Books Publishing.
Brig sat down with Melissa to talk about being named on such a prestigious list, and to reflect on how she got there.
Humble and smiling, she spoke about her feelings on this achievement.
“It’s nice to have recognition for what I’ve been doing.”
She believes that the award is far bigger than an individual’s story. She sees it as an opportunity to “highlight how disabled women are underrepresented in almost every space” and to showcase the systemic challenges that they face.
Her blog, Buttons and Ramps, is full of articles from Melissa about herself and life as a teenage girl with quadriplegic cerebral palsy. This year is the fifth anniversary of the site, and she tells Brig she never thought it would go on this long.
“I thought it would be, like, a month and I’d get bored, but I just kept going,” she explained.
Now that she is at the University of Stirling, studying Film and TV, time has become somewhat scarce.
“I don’t have as much time as I used to have, but I really enjoy writing and it’s a great way to connect with people,” she said, cheerfully.
Besides actively writing for her own blog and a magazine collum, Melissa felt this wasn’t enough to keep her busy. So, she published a children’s book.
“I was a bit bored,” she laughed, when asked why she decided to write a book.
“I just thought, ‘see if I wrote a book, people might realise that I’m a lot more than just a girl in a wheelchair’,” she said, on a more serious note.
Her book, Doodle the Poodle’s Big Day Out, aims to teach children about inclusivity. The book was written and published by herself, through Alder Books.
One book hasn’t quenched her writing thirst, and already the author has new plans in the works.
Grinning, Melissa shared some details on her upcoming summer projects.
“I’ve got a couple of more plans for the summer. So, I’ve been talking to an illustrator about publishing a book. I’ve written it, it’s more about getting it published [that she’s working on],” she told Brig.
With a second book well underway, Melissa is booked and busy. However, she still makes time to continue her advocacy work, through her writing and through receiving this award.
“I think, I want to raise awareness about the barriers that disabled women face compared to men. We face double barriers, compared to disabled men.
“I think when I’m writing, people see me as more than that, because people read my writing, they’re not staring at me, they’re just reading my work. And I think that helps a lot,” she said.
More information about the Young Women’s Movement can be found here.
The full list of Scotland’s 30 Under 30 can be found here.
Featured Image Credit: Young Women’s Movement
Fourth year student journalist studying Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Journalism Studies.
Words at Brig, The Daily Evergreen, Alloa Advertiser, Discovery Music Scotland, and The Mourning Paper.
