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This is what it's like to live with an invisible disability

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Susan Robinson was born with a genetic visual impairment, called Stargardt's disease that currently has no cure – she is legally blind. But she hates being called disabled.

She tells a TED audience that the word “detonates a mind-set of less than that utterly disregards capacity, potential, instead, prioritising brokenness and lack”.

But she says she often gets people asking her how on earth she achieves things, implying she shouldn't be able to do so because of her disability.

To help people get a better idea, Susan shared five tips that she lives her life by.

1. Know your superpowers

Robinson says her disability allows her to “see what other people do not”.

2. Be supremely skilled at getting it wrong

If you’re going to embarrass yourself, embrace it, she advises.

3. Know that everyone is disabled in some way

Robinson gives the example of people losing their taste when they have a cold.

4. Point out the disability in others

"This one is best reserved for people you know well, because random strangers typically don’t like teachable moments," she says.

5. Pursue audacious goals

Robinson says disability doesn't have to get in the way of anyone's goals. For Robinson, she wants to hop on the back of a motorbike for 620 miles from Katmandu to Darjeeling.

Here's the full video, it's well worth a watch:

More: This psychologist explains where all your free time goes

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