By MICHAEL PULMAN
Hamilton Press June 17 2015
Tegan Morris isn’t just a campaigner, she is an expresser.
Morris is a disabled woman living in Hamilton and she has her finger in just about every avenue of disability awareness that you could possibly imagine. Morris knows the industry more than most, because for her it is a day-to-day part of life.
The young Hamiltonian suffers from a form of Muscular Dystrophy and has been confined to a wheelchair from a young age.
Morris has many passions, including writing fiction. Having just finished writing her first novel, Morris said her experience writing a story about a girl adjusting to life in a wheelchair has been an expression of herself throughout the three-year process.
‘‘I was playing around with some ideas but it has just grown and changed and turned into what it is now’’, Morris said.
The novel is a story about a young woman who becomes wheelchairbound. Morris said the main character is a reflection of herself through the story. She also writes on her own blog called Give My Wheels Wings.
While the writing process takes up much of her time, she has her hand in many ambitious disability campaigns that try to further expose the world of disability to the larger able-bodied world.
Perhaps her biggest claim to fame and most exposure has come from her personal journey to meet TV host Ellen DeGeneres.
The campaign to meet Ellen has attracted a large following on social media, with more than 2000 likes on Facebook.
Although Team Morris has approached Ellen’s people on multiple occasions asking to appear on the show in America, they have yet to garner a response.
Morris continues to use the popular social platform to promote and share all the news about her life and latest projects, including a new YouTube series.
Her next ‘‘big idea’’ is starting a business as a motivational speaker on all issues regarding disability.
Author and blogger Tegan Morris has used her experiences of living with a disability as the basis of a novel. Photo: Geoff Lewis
