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I think for me, my life never stops.
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You know, I'm always on the go.
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I've got four children.
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It can get quite interesting;
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it can get stressful.
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On Sunday, we go to church.
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Church has become
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very much a part of our lives.
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It's given us a social life.
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When we get back from church,
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we do three sets of washing.
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We get homework out of the way.
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We get violin practice out of the way.
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Sometimes, you just need somewhere
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to just go and be you,
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and have a quiet moment.
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And my garden is my sanctuary window.
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Sometimes, I just sit there,
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you know, and listen to
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the birds and think how far I've come,
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you know, despite all the odds.
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I'm currently studying
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children's literature
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and it's my final year of studying.
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The project I did
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is part of my distance learning course.
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It's about children's literature, say, from
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the beginning of when people started
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to write for children,
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and how it's evolved
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over the years.
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You choose a question,
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and then you sort of bring
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together all the assignments
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that you've done.
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The length of the project is
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different from
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the normal assignments:
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it's twice the normal assignments.
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It's involved a lot of online research,
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a lot of group discussions, and
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media research, which
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I find difficult.
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You get placed within a group,
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and then you choose
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a book, and then you discuss it.
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If you choose a book that's been made into
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a film, you also
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have to look at the film;
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look at the reviews
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and the criticisms it's had,
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and then you compare and contrast it.
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I did online research on various criticisms,
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but the majority of it was writing:
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I did a lot of writing.
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You have an introduction.
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You have your body and the conclusion.
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For me, it was a big challenge.
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Fortunately for me, my group
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were very supportive.
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With an assignment sometimes,
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I can sit there in one day and write it.
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In writing a project,
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you've got enough time to do it.
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You get somebody to read it for you
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to see that it makes sense
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and I don't often get to do
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that with my assignments.
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I suffer from sickle cell disease:
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it's a genetic illness,
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so it constantly makes me anaemic.
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I haven't got an immune system
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because of that,
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so I tend to spend a fair bit of
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time in hospital.
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Distance learning has been
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good for me because it has
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reduced that travelling
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to university, and
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your disability shouldn't limit you.
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So, you're here to dictate to that
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disability and not the other way around.
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Currently, I work as a teaching assistant.
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On a daily basis,
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my job is very interesting;
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no one day is the same.
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I do love my job.
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I think the children bring
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the best out of
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me, and hopefully I bring
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the best out of them as well.
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After I've graduated, I hope
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to train as a primary school teacher,
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come out as a professional
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despite all my difficulties,
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and make my children proud.
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Go the distance.