Wheely Hungover: My New Life as a Sober Disabled Woman

There has been a rise of sobriety within the disabled community and for many people with long-term health conditions deciding to stop drinking has proven to be beneficial. So whether you have resolved to bin the bottle for good or you are just sober-curious you are not alone.

Graduating from university at the age of 21 should have been an exciting time, friends were making career plans and talking about going travelling. Me? I was struggling to walk down stairs and I couldn't hold a drink without spilling the first inch or so, something that doubled if said drink contained alcohol. Something was wrong.

Alt text: a photo of Kate in her twenties, outside, wearing sunglasses, a silver dress and holding a fizzy alcoholic drink

I carried on with my life regardless which included countless trips to the pub, parties that could last a whole weekend and annually making a dent in the festival circuit using a string of dead-end admin jobs to support this lifestyle. But I was falling over a lot and seemingly taking longer to recover than everyone else. Visits to a few different GPs were frustrating and fruitless at best with one doctor telling me that "some people are just like that". Eventually a GP referred me to a neurologist who realised I had some form of ataxia. I was sent to a specialist in London who did tests and found out it was Friedrich's Ataxia, a progressive and genetic form. I had a diagnosis but it wasn't a good one, there was no cure and very little in the way of treatment available.

Around the same time some bad things happened in my personal life a and I found myself drinking a bottle of wine most nights until suddenly I was struggling with severe anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia. Long story short; I ended up unemployed and severely depressed as my symptoms persisted. I was terrified and felt so alone, I didn't know anyone else who was struggling in the way I was.

You are not alone

Corinna Alderton hosts the Sobertown podcast and has written a book called Alcohol and Sobriety: All You Need to Know. In 2017 Corinna was diagnosed with fibromyalgia after suffering from arthritis for many years previously and a bad back she has had since being involved in a car accident. After a further diagnosis of a functional neurological disorder three years ago, Corinna had difficulties walking, talking and swallowing as a result: "I'd been drinking a bottle of wine a night for many years. This is something quite a few people do and think it's quite normal to drink a bottle of wine a night but I was drinking away my neural pathways."

Alt text: a photo of Alcohol and Sobriety: All You Need to Know by Corinna Alderton

Last month Corinna celebrated 1,200 days sober: "Not only can I walk and talk a lot better and eat more unsupervised. I have retrained the neural pathhways because the brain does have plasticity and we can retrain those pathways." On her YouTube channel Corinna shares videos of herself doing tasks before and after giving up alcohol and the differences are huge. She uses mindfullness techniques on top of her ongoing sobriety in order to achieve this.

Seeking help

Almost 20 years after my symptoms first started showing and after one such drunken night when another friend had to help me home I decided enough was enough. I want to say my epiphany happened up a mountain or in a forest but it happen at Brighton Pride on the 6th August 2023 whilst sober and having the time of my life watching the pop group Steps.

I'd tried to stop drinking before to various degrees of success but I knew that if I was going to stick with it I would need some help. I found the charity Change Grow Live (CGL) who offer support for people with substance misuse issues. My first concern was that the building may not be accessible. Having (somewhat ironically) worked for the local NHS Substance Misuse team some years earlier I saw how government cuts had dramatically impaired the service. It was forced to move from a fully accessible clinic to a converted town house which could only be entered via a steep set of steps. Patients with mobility issues would be met outside. Fortunately my local branch of CGL could accommodate my mobility scooter although if the main door is shut I do have to ring through to reception and ask for someone to let me in.

I have a care coordinator, Jo, who I see once a month to discuss how I am doing and offer me advice to keep me on the straight and narrow. Jo admits that the service does have issues with accessibility: "We're fortunate that our office is on the ground floor, most wheelchairs can get through the front door and if not we have a portable ramp. There is always someone here to help." When asked about other disabilities being accommodated for Jo said: "We regularly do neurodiversity training and can provide any written documents in large print if needed. We haven't had any deaf people come in yet but if we did we would hire a BSL interpreter to attend appointments with them."

100 Days Sober

Alt text: a photo of Kate now holding a sign that says "100 Days Sober"

At the time of writing I have just celebrated 100 days sober with my six month "soberversary" in sight I am determined to carry on not drinking. Like Corinna I am seeing improvements in my health, I am stronger, my balance is better and I am falling over less as well as not struggling so much with fatigue. Of course there are still temptations, especially as we go into the festive season but using the techniques Jo has taught me I feel confident I will be able to ride out any cravings I might have.

It is important to know that if you are struggling with substance misuse problems and you are disabled there is plenty of help out there. You are not alone and I urge you to look online for other people in the same boat as you on social media or to search for services in your area that may be able to help.