I thought my life was over at 19: now I run a business empowering 180,000

Amelia, who was left with a life-changing spinal injury following a quad bike accident in 2005, is marking 20 years of living with a disability, and reflecting on how little has changed for millions of disabled people since her own journey began.

“Representation has improved massively, but access, opportunity, and inclusion are still miles behind where they should be,” she says. “We’ve made progress, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be.”

Two decades ago, around 18% of the UK population identified as disabled. Today, it’s one in four, over 16 million people. But while visibility has improved, equality hasn’t caught up. Disabled people remain far less likely to be in work, with an employment rate of just 53% compared to 81% for non-disabled people. Those in work earn, on average, 12.7% less per hour, and disabled households now face over £1,000 in extra costs every month, a figure expected to rise further in the next five years.

Amelia’s perspective comes from lived experience. At just 19, her life changed in an instant. A trip away to the Scottish Highlands turned into a nightmare when she came off a quad bike and hit the ground hard, sustaining a spinal injury that left her unable to feel or move from the waist down. “I didn’t even know what a spinal injury was or what my future could look like,” she remembers.

Her early months were a blur of morphine, hospital stays, and relentless uncertainty. Doctors told her there was a three-to-six-month window where recovery was possible; after that, whatever movement or feeling she regained would likely be permanent, and that pressure fuelled her fight.

“I threw myself into physio, desperate to stimulate nerve recovery,” she says. “But my body wouldn’t respond. I’d push until I was sick or in tears, trying to put mind over matter, but it just didn’t work. I smiled through the days, but I sobbed most nights.”

Clare, Amelia’s mum, remembers that time vividly. “The shock was enormous. We didn’t understand what spinal injuries meant, and neither did Amelia. Watching her friends go off to university while she stayed at home, stuck in pain, was heartbreaking. She was only 19; her whole life was supposed to be ahead of her.”

After getting through the initial difficulties, rehabilitation brought another challenge. NHS-issued crutches, intended to give Amelia independence, left her with added pain, infected blisters, and slowed her recovery.

“Seeing Amelia in pain from equipment that was supposed to help her was unbearable,” Clare recalls. “I thought there had to be something better out there. But after months of searching across Europe and the US, there was nothing. That’s when we realised we’d have to create it ourselves.”

That moment led to Cool Crutches and Walking Sticks, the business Amelia and Clare co-founded to create stylish, supportive, and comfortable mobility aids designed to help people move more, not less.

What began as a personal solution has grown into a brand empowering over 180,000 disabled people worldwide, with a recent launch on Amazon making their products more accessible than ever.

“At 19, my life changed in an instant,” says Amelia softly. “If I could sit beside myself in that hospital bed, I’d say: Hold on tight. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s not the end. Life will look different, but it won’t be any less. You’ll laugh again. You’ll dance again. You’ll live fully again.”

For Amelia, the first decade after her accident was the hardest. “I felt like I was on some kind of expedition without a map, training, or kit,” she says. “I didn’t know who I was anymore, and I clung to pre-accident ideas of success and happiness that no longer made sense. I felt like a failure 99% of the time.”

Over time, though, Amelia was able to rebuild and see her worth. “I stopped chasing what I thought life ‘should’ look like and started writing my own version. My body is different, my priorities are different, and my way of living is different, but that doesn’t mean it’s worse. If anything, it’s better.”

The new mindset allowed for unexpected milestones, too. Amelia met her now husband and was able to become a mum to two incredible boys. “Having my two boys is my biggest achievement, and despite the doubts from the doctors that it was even possible, here they are. On top of that, reaching 20 years without further spinal damage, that’s another huge win.”

One defining moment came when Victoria Beckham was photographed using Cool Crutches after quietly ordering a pair online.

“It was surreal,” Amelia laughs. “She didn’t need persuading; she had the same problem I did. That moment proved we weren’t just creating a product. We were solving something real.”

For Amelia, her story and her company are proof that disability doesn’t have to mean limitation. “When I had my accident, disabled people were invisible,” she says. “You didn’t see mobility aids unless someone was gravely unwell. Now, disabled people are visible, confident, thriving, but we’re still treated as second-class citizens.”

Clare agrees. “I’ve seen Amelia turn something devastating into something extraordinary,” she says. “Her empathy, strength, and drive come from lived experience. She understands pain, frustration, and struggle, and she’s turned that into something that genuinely changes lives.”

Today, Cool Crutches and Walking Sticks is thriving, but Amelia says her mission goes far beyond business. “My personal goal is to make life after injury or diagnosis easier for others. It took me ten years to find my footing, mentally and physically. If I can help someone else get there faster, that’s what drives me.”

“If I could speak to my 19-year-old self, I’d tell her this: You’ll dance again. You’ll love again. You’ll laugh again. Your life won’t be what you imagined, but it’ll be richer, fuller, and more beautiful than you can possibly see right now.”