"My ethos is that I won't let my physical disabilities to get in the way of doing the things I want to do – academically, professionally and in my social life,"

Throughout my life, the one thing that I strived for was my own independence, no matter what it took to achieve it (This drove my parents mad!!!). I have always believed that, despite my disability, anything's possible with a thought, even if it's in a slightly different way of achieving the same outcome. My parents are always very supportive of me in whatever I do and say that I can only achieve my best but I always like to go that one step further!

I was born in 1992 with Cerebral Palsy which affects my speech and limbs. I started my journey when I attended a mainstream primary school in 1996 at Holy Trinity Church of England in Yeovil, Somerset. Here I stayed for seven years and created a circle of friends with whom I stay in contact with to this day. In my final year, I became a 'Monitor' for the school which included duties such as holding the assembly doors open, for this, I just parked my wheelchair infront of the door!

In 2003, I was transferred to a mainstream secondary school, Preston School, yet again in Yeovil to study for my SATS and GCSEs. Before I came, they had no such disability access, as a result, a considerable amount of money was spent implementing ramps etc. I stayed here for five years and this was when I began to discover who I really was. Despite my primary school friends transferring with me, I began to distance myself from them and extend my social circle. To begin with, I was quite shy at meeting new people but gradually I began to build up my confidence during my teen years and as such I made some new great friends (and further!). Once again, I became a 'Prefect' in my final year, one of my duties was to enforce the schools one - way system, this was easy for me as I could block doors with my wheelchair! For my GCSEs, I decided to study English, English Literature, Maths, Science, Business Studies, French, Geography, Religious Studies and Citizenship. Although this was a tough time due to the number of exams, I managed to achieve an A, a couple of B's and C's and a D.

During my secondary school life, I discovered my interest for creating websites. This took a step further when I decided to film a West Country Carnival at Axminster 2005 and then put the footage online for all to see. This website, (even though poorly designed!) became an instant success and led to filming more and more carnivals! As I became more proficient at designing websites, I realised that this could in fact be turned into a business hence in December 2007, I founded VEU Design creating websites for businesses and individuals. To this day, it has seen a turnover of over £2500. Aside from this, I also sell DVDs online of some West Country Carnivals each year.

After my GCSEs in 2008, I began to build my independence up, this started with a train trip to Weymouth with my friends, this got my parents a little worried but soon they went along with it. Also, I attended sixth form at The Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset, to study for my A-Levels which were Business Studies, ICT and Psychology. This got off to a rocky start (something concerning a girl!) but once this had blown over, I began to make new friends and enjoy myself! Also, during this time, I was going all over the country on the train with my friends, Birmingham, Manchester and even Paris!!

Towards the end of 2009, I decided that I wanted to carry on my education to university level. I imagined that moving into halls of residence would be a huge step for me (and I wasn't wrong!!!) and would require me to have a lot of independence. To help me with this, mostly lunch times, I used to take a walk into and around Sherborne and then walk back. I think by the time I finished sixth form, I had walked around most of the town!

2010 saw a whole host of changes for me in preparation for university. It started in February where I began to use the train on my own to get to sixth form (even though it was only 5 minutes down the line!!!!). Also, I decided that I needed to find a way that I could film the West Country Carnivals myself without assistance. As a result, I bought a mobile tripod that clamps onto my wheelchair along with a remote.

I managed to secure a place at the University of The West of England in Bristol studying Business Enterprise. University got off to an uneasy start due to issues with a certain carer and meant that I was living with no flatmates for a few months. However, luckily I had Carnivals to keep me occupied! The University was very supportive during this time and I was given a better carer!

Things returned to normal when I came back after Christmas when I found that I was living with a group of girls. Since then I have had the best time at university while discovering my passion for photography and also founding and preparing workshops for VEUcan!

To find out about VEUcan visit:

http://www.veucan.co.uk/

To find out about West Country Carnivals visit:

http://www.westcountrycarnivals.co.uk/

Read the published article about Nath:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Meet-Nathan-severely-disabled-UWE-st...

and watch the video about Nath’s university life:

http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/whyuwe/uwestudentstories/nathan-businessenter...