Katy Deacon is Chartered Electrical Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Technology. She’s driven by the desire to make things work better. Focused on finding solutions and innovating.
Katy’s working life kicked off with her working on aircraft in Scotland as a graduate apprentice with British Airways. After receiving her first-class honours degree, she moved into electrical building services where she was designing and project managing fit outs of new schools, office buildings and colleges. After completing her Master’s degree, she created a renewable energy toolkit to help engineers and architects pick, design and scale the generation that they would need for the building they were building.
She was at the top of her career, ready to take on Europe and move onto bigger projects. In January 2012, she moved jobs to manage the Information Governance department at her local council. This was a brilliant job, still very technical and with great prospects for development but… “Then my legs went,” says Katy. “And you can’t get on site when your legs don’t work. Schools aren’t accessible, buildings aren’t accessible and suddenly, I was faced with the very real question of ‘what the hell do I do?’”
After many tests and physical progression of symptoms, Katy received diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in March 2012. “I’d just turned 32, started a brilliant new job and suddenly everything tipped on its head,” she explains. “It’s a lot to come to terms with. My son was only two, I was running my department at work but as soon as you have a disability, society sort of turns on you. I felt I was being told ‘you don’t belong here. We don’t know what to do with you, so we’ll park you out of the way.’
“I took some time off work, I gave myself and my husband time to get our head round things, my boss was wonderfully supportive, and I decided I wanted another child. I didn’t want MS to shut the door on me and my family.”
Katy worked in that role for another 10 years, building her team from 1.5 to 18 people until her MS progressed again. “I lost the use of my left eye, as well as losing fine motor control in my hands. I can’t use a pen, can’t write, can’t use a keyboard or mouse.
“So, it was decided that I’d take ill health retirement, so I was looked after. But I felt like I’d been put into a box, and the lid had been put on. I was very down and depressed at that point.”
But, Katy is Katy and has never let disability stop her from doing anything. “It’s given me a run for my money,” she laughs, “but I’m firmly of the mindset that This. Is. Not. Beating. Me.
“I have found a way to work with it, to promote and increase understanding around it to help myself and others. Basically, I am engineering my best life to ensure I can still take part in the world. I am not ever going to be ‘done’. I am going to find a way to have a brilliant life. Fortunately, as an engineer that’s in my nature.”
She now runs her own company, Towards Belonging, empowering engineers to create accessible environments. She’s a visiting professor at two universities, Vice President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and a busy keynote speaker. “Part of my presentations is about how resilient disabled people are and how we’ll always find a solution to a problem.”
Recently, another problem solver arrived in her life in the form of Dogs for Good assistance dog, Sterling. “He’s ridiculously handsome, kind, clever and despite us only being together for a short while, he knows me inside out. He does so much for me and brings so much depth to my life,” says Katy.
“My family really wanted a dog,” she explains “but after our last dog died, I said that if we were going to get another one, I wanted a dog who could help me. We really didn’t have the time to devote to raising a puppy; I needed a dog who already knew how to be wonderful. A dog who was perfect for me as well as for our family. And that’s Sterling.”
Katy is hugely accomplished, vibrant, crackling with energy, warmth, wit and intelligence. Despite the incredible presence she has and is, she says that before Sterling came into her life, she was almost invisible. “This thing, disability… it stops people engaging with me and it’s infuriating. People would see me in a wheelchair and start talking to my PA instead of me. It was as if they saw me, but they thought it not appropriate to speak to me.
“Sterling brings people back to me. People see my wonderful dog, start talking to me about him and suddenly, my disability disappears. I’m back in the game!”
Sterling has practical ways of helping Katy that enable her to unlock more independence. Together, they find solutions.
“Practically, Sterling is my hands,” she explains. “He picks things up for me, opens doors, carries, fetches, takes off my socks, coat and jumpers… he does so much. But the biggest, most powerful truth of mine and Sterling’s relationship is that he gets me. I don’t have to say or do anything. He senses everything I need. He’s always got his eyes on me, so that he’s there when I ask him to be.”
Katy also says that Sterling has brought her an ‘incredible gift’. And it’s something he loves as much as she does. “It’s simple and it’s beautiful,” says Katy. “It’s going out on a walk together.”
“I never, ever used to go out independently,” she explains. “I’d always have someone with me, and I never got an hour to myself. Now, Sterls and I potter off together; me trundling off in my chair and enjoying the nature around me and him wandering off and sniffing all the important sniffs… The value of having this time, just me and him, is enormous.”
Katy says that Sterling is ‘perfect’. “Even his size is spot on!” she laughs. “One of his favourite things to do is sidling up to me and putting his head on my knee. And my knee is exactly the right level for his beautiful head. It seems like it calms him, and it does the same for me, too. It’s one of those things that dogs do which make you feel so special and grounded. He’ll do it when I’m in my chair or on the bed, on the sofa. Wherever, really. He’ll do it when I’m talking to people or just when he senses I might be frustrated or anxious. Just him being there and being able to rest my hand on his head or his back. Nothing needs saying. We click; we’re a unit. I can carry on talking and we’re in the moment together.
“He’s part of my story now, a wonderful addition to my life. And actually, he’s a vital element to engineering my best life. Without him, this Katy wouldn’t work quite as well.
“He enhances my story and my presence. He gives me unique connections, and it makes everything special. I’m the woman with the dog rather than the wheelchair user and that simple fact brings me so much.”
Help bring more people and dogs, like Katy and Sterling, together by sponsoring a puppy today.
