I’m Jack,  I’m 29 from Clydebank. I work as a metal artist/sculptor who creates art from car parts, horseshoes and mild steel and I’m the business owner of Salvaged Metal Art.

When I was about eight years old I helped my uncle weld hinges onto an old gate post, not thinking this would make an impact on my future. I just concentrated working on and learning about cars for the next number of years, as this is what I wanted to do as a career.

My experience at both primary and secondary school was not a positive experience as I was bullied throughout my time there due to my cerebral palsy. My cerebral palsy affects me on a daily basis as it restricts me on some things I would like to do by myself. I often suffer sore backs and stiffness due to my cerebral palsy.

My experience at college wasn’t positive either as I was bullied in college as well. When I got into the mechanics course, during the year long course I was bullied on a daily basis. A month or so before the course was due to end two of the lecturers spoke to me to tell me that I couldn’t get onto the next level of the mechanics course. This is when I told them I could try welding. They told me this would be too hard for me as well, but they didn’t know that my uncle who has been a welder for 40+ years was willing to take his time to teach me, no matter how long it would take.

That year my mum and dad bought me a small mig welder to learn with and this is where I started to get a passion for welding. My first welding project was a welding cart, which I still have to this day. After a number of times practicing my welding I said to my uncle “how about combining car parts and welding them to create unique pieces of art” and this is where my Prince’s Trust journey began.

In 2017 I read about a group called Street League who help people find jobs, so I joined and this is how I contacted the Prince’s Trust with my idea about setting up my business. I was given support and met new people which gave my confidence a massive boost and encouraged me to start my own business.

I continued with the Prince’s Trust which led me to me becoming a young ambassador in 2018 – that was the same year that I got involved with Improving Lives. When I attended the Improving Lives open day in 2018 I met the Clydesider. I have done a few pieces for their magazine in the past three years and this has also helped me with my confidence .

In 2019 I was awarded the Prince’s Trust Scotland’s Young Achiever of the Year for the work and progress that I had made. This was the highlight of my year as I got to meet my inspiration, artist/blacksmith Kev Paxton who informed me that I had won the award .

During lockdown I continued to grow my business by gaining local customers and selling garden pieces such as firepits. I also got involved with Epilepsy Scotland, donating pieces for their online Christmas craft fair. Since then I’ve continued to support them by doing a sponsored 60k walk over 6 weeks and a 5k during Christmas. I’ve done this since 2020 and it’s made me feel a lot better both physically and mentally.

Fast forward to 2022, and I won the ‘Princes Trust Young Achiever of the Year’ award at the Pride of Scotland Awards held in Edinburgh. I also did two collaborations with Kev Paxton, who continues to mentor me to this day. Both collaborations got auctioned off for the Prince’s Trust at their biggest fundraising event called ‘Lunch with an Old Bag’.

In 2023 I expanded my range of pieces which led to me supplying a company in south Queensferry called Craigies Farm Shop and Deli, my horseshoe candleholders for their gift shop. I continue to supply these and they have now extended their range of my pieces.

This year I’m aiming to grow my business even more by getting my work into Arnold Clark dealerships (who are one of my suppliers). I also want to continue with my charity work and continue to break down barriers by creating new pieces of art to show people that cerebral palsy isn’t a disability, it’s just a different ability.

My personal reason for supporting Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month is to make people aware that just because you have cerebral palsy this should not stand in your way of following your dreams – never give up through tough times. I feel more needs to be done to tackle the bullying that people suffer on a daily basis for having a disability, it affects all aspects of your life.

I feel more needs to be taught about disabilities and more disabled role models should be speaking out. This is what has led me to want to be a motivational speaker to encourage people to follow their dreams and knock down the barriers that I have faced.

As part of Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, Melissa shares what she wishes she knew about cerebral palsy when she was younger. 

I have had Cerebral Palsy for nineteen years (my entire life) despite this I feel like I am always learning something new about the nature of my condition. There are so many things I wish I’d known when I was a child with CP that would’ve helped me understand how to navigate the world with positivity rather than constantly feeling held back by barriers.

I spent so much time wishing I could ‘fix’ the way I moved, spoke, or struggled with certain tasks. I saw tasks as either something I could or couldn’t do rather than wanting to adapt them. I wish I could go back and tell myself that CP isn’t something to be cured or conquered—it’s just a different way of existing in the world. It’s okay to need accommodations, to move at your own pace, and to define success on your own terms.

There were (and still are) times I pushed myself too hard, trying to ‘prove’ I could do everything on my own. But as a university student who still relies on her parents I know that independence doesn’t mean doing everything by yourself—it means knowing when to ask for support. For example, I spent so long telling my mother that I didn’t want a personal assistant because I wanted to be independent but then once I got my PA I realised how much more freedom I had to go places with her rather than always needing my parents with me.

Frustration is part of having CP. There’s been countless times I’ve felt like screaming at my own body, resenting all the extra effort everything takes and how people treat me differently. When I was little I had a very “why me?” attitude and unsurprisingly that didn’t get me very far. It’s probably only now I’m an adult that I’ve fully accepted that this is just how my life is and most of my self-acceptance has come from how much I’ve been able to get out of writing about my disability. Without cerebral palsy, I don’t think I would’ve been ‘a writer’ because when you have a clear voice I don’t think you understand the power of being instantly understood through writing. I like to remind myself of this when the inevitable frustration creeps in.

A huge thing that I wish I’d realised at secondary school is that pushing through exhaustion won’t make you more ‘normal’ or ‘productive’. Nobody is going to give you a gold medal for pretending you’re fine when you’re exhausted. CP means your body works harder than most people’s, and that means I needed more rest. I was so determined not to be on a part-time timetable and school because I thought it would mean I wasn’t “as good” as everyone else but looking back, if I hadn’t cut down the amount of subjects I did at school I wouldn’t have had the energy to get the grades I needed to get into university.

Finally, I wish I’d been told from the get-go that the world isn’t built for disabled people. Struggling to make friends and access places or opportunities, that wasn’t a me problem —it was a society problem. I wasn’t “being dramatic” or “difficult” for wanting accessibility. Disabled people deserve to exist in spaces without having to fight for the accommodation we need.