Amber Daw
News
Bath Spa University student joins charity youth board to affect change for young wheelchair users
Tuesday, 21 April, 2026When Bath Spa University MA Inclusive Education student Amber Daw became disabled as a teenager, access to the right wheelchair made her world bigger again. Now, as a member of the Youth Board at Whizz Kidz – a charity providing custom wheelchairs for young people – she’s helping to make the world more accessible to others.
Amber is one of the newest members of Whizz Kidz’ Youth Board and joined in April 2025. The Board is comprised of young wheelchair users, each representing a region of the UK. Using their lived experiences and expertise, they work to ensure that young people’s voices are at the heart of Whizz Kidz’ work.
Amber first came into contact with Whizz Kidz when she was looking for funding for her first custom wheelchair. Though she was unfortunately too old to take advantage of their services, Amber still saw an opportunity to use her lived experience as a wheelchair user to affect meaningful change. Explaining further, Amber said:
“I wanted to join the Youth Board as it looked like a brilliant opportunity. Whizz Kidz is changing the lives of so many young wheelchair users by providing access to the right wheelchairs, accessible opportunities, and training, and getting to be part of that, knowing how much bigger using a wheelchair has made my world, was a massive pull towards applying.”
The role is incredibly varied, offering a range of opportunities for Board members. Within her first year, Amber has spoken at Parliament about education and barriers to accessible bus travel, provided feedback on imagery for children's books, helped design research projects, conducted access audits with GWR, co-delivered disability awareness training, shaped campaigns and represented young wheelchair users in various spaces.
“All of this work combines to help Whizz Kidz create a society where every young wheelchair user can be confident, independent and free to live the life they choose,” Amber said. Talking further about disability advocacy, she continued:
“Disability advocacy has such a rich history and underpins all the rights that disabled people have in the present day, and it can take so many different shapes. It doesn’t always have to be large scale, attention-grabbing campaigns to have a meaningful impact. Local issues like installing a ramp at a coffee shop or asking a shop to implement a quiet hour to make the experience easier for neurodivergent individuals are just as impactful for those it benefits day to day.”
Amber has a BA in Education from BSU and has just finished her MA in Inclusive Education, which she says undoubtedly informs and shapes the work that she does on the Youth Board. Explaining further, Amber said:
“Education is one of the key pillars of the Youth Board manifesto, so my understanding of how education systems operate, what inclusive education can look like, how young people learn and what they need from education professionals has been incredibly useful.”
Amber has developed a resource for teachers on improving the representation of young wheelchair users in the classroom, drawing on learning from a range of modules. She has also used her knowledge and experience as a key member of the team that developed a module in Understanding Disability at BSU, which welcomed its first cohort of students this academic year. Amber hopes to continue incorporating her experience – both personal and academic – into her work. She said:
“My lived experiences as a disabled person, alongside academic perspectives on disability and wider disability studies literature, has been key in understanding our rights, their roots, societal perceptions and changemaking. I am really keen to stay working in disability spaces and would love to build on my master's dissertation work, which explored the university experiences of undergraduate students who are both autistic and have an energy-limiting chronic illness.”
While Amber has had access to varied opportunities in her work to help make disabled people’s lives more accessible, she says she is also inspired by the support, kindness and achievements of her friends and colleagues.
“I am inspired by other disabled people just living their lives. And that is not meant in any way to feed into the narrative that 'disabled people are inspirational for just existing'. What I mean is that as a multiply disabled person, it is often challenging to find role models or people who have navigated the paths you might be headed for. Whether it's been disabled academics at BSU who have been kind enough to share their experiences with me, other members of the Youth Board or disabled friends, each one of them has created a possibility for what can be achieved, and that is really powerful.”
Find out more about the work Whizz Kidz is doing on their website. You can also read more about disability advocacy at BSU and the University’s new Understanding Disability module.