As a person with a disability, I was initially very resistant to using AI. I worried it would never truly capture my voice, personality or tone. Because of that fear, I often chose not to share anything at all. Instead, I internalised my feelings because I didn’t have the energy or capacity to express them in a way that felt authentic.
That only led to more frustration. I wanted to write and help others to understand what I was going through but I found myself too tired and without the capacity to overcome the communication barriers that are part of my life. So much of what I could have shared just stayed in my head unseen. I want to continue to educate others through my lived-experience and needed a new, less exhausting way to do this.
I write in my book:
Always a keen diarist, I faithfully recorded every amazing and terrible thing happening to my body, from the first mysterious symptoms through to waking up after being in a coma. My writings range from serious attempts at storytelling to scraps, strings of words that were all I could manage at times to describe the nightmare world I had found myself in.
Reinventing Emma, page 2
My writing has always been so important to not only me, but others as well. For me, it provides a type of therapy for me and what I experience in my daily life. For others, it’s shared in meetings and discussions on how to create better experiences for others who live with disabilities and gives a much clearer understanding on what the reality is in the challenges and resilience required.
So I have turned to AI to help my writing process. In my short time using it, I have found it so helpful in being able to capture my feelings and thoughts in the moment where I could otherwise not express them. Even if the output isn’t exactly in my voice, it gives me a draft to refine later. Without this support my reflections couldn’t be written down, especially after rehab when I feel especially exhausted.
Traditional ways of sharing and writing are often impossible for me with fatigue and communication taking up so much effort. Using AI allows me to express myself without exhausting the limited capacity I have. It means I can still share my story and advocate for others through my experiences without it taking everything out of me.
Knowing that my experiences won’t be lost and can continue to be captured and shared bring me comfort and confidence. It reassures me that even when I’m tired, overwhelmed, or unable to speak up, my story still has a voice. AI hasn’t replaced my voice but it has supported it, and made it possible for me to express myself more consistently without exhausting me.
How can you strengthen yours or another’s voice by using AI?