Spotlight On: Ruby

Spotlight On: Ruby

Introducing Spotlight On: - a new monthly feature celebrating the achievements, projects and personal milestones of people in our community.

Ruby is 22-years-old and has cerebral palsy. Growing up, Ruby loved sport, but too often found herself watching PE lessons from the sidelines. Without the right equipment or understanding to include a wheelchair user, she was not always given the same opportunity to participate as her classmates.

Those experiences inspired Ruby to turn exclusion into action.

Now a Great Britain wheelchair tennis player and disability inclusion advocate, Ruby launched Ruby’s Law, a campaign calling for sports wheelchairs to become standard equipment in schools. Her aim is simple: no child should miss out on PE or school sport because the right equipment is not available.

Ruby has taken her campaign to Parliament, worked alongside her local MP and donated her first sports wheelchair to her former high school.

Her campaigning also led to the creation of Norfolk’s Most Inclusive Sports Day, an initiative celebrating schools that are already breaking down barriers and finding creative ways to ensure every pupil can take part.

This year, Ruby has visited schools across Norfolk to see inclusion in action.

For Ruby, this is only the beginning. She hopes her work will help make inclusive sport the norm rather than the exception - and ensure that disabled young people grow up feeling included, recognised and celebrated.

“As a professional wheelchair tennis player representing Great Britain, I know first-hand the power of sport. It has given me confidence, independence, resilience and opportunities to travel the world. Every child deserves the chance to experience those same benefits, regardless of whether they have a disability.”

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Proud of something you have done? Know someone whose achievement deserves to be celebrated? Tell us about it here: www.cpteensuk.org/spotlighton.

Achievements come in all shapes and sizes. It could be progress in education or work, a creative project, sporting success, advocacy, volunteering, trying something new, reaching a personal goal or overcoming a challenge. We want to shine a light on the moments that matter, whether they are big, bold and public or quietly significant.

You can submit yourself or nominate someone aged 35 or under. Each month, we will choose one person to feature across CP Teens UK’s social media and website, and give them the chance to share their achievement - no matter how big or small.