My Journey as a Severely Disabled Self-Published Author

Hi,

My name is Daniel Bate. I write under the pen name Daniel D. Bate. You probably haven't heard of me, but I'm a severely disabled self-published author. Like all of you, I'm trying to get my books out there into the world for people to read, and as I'm sure you know, it's not easy.

Sci-fi author Daniel D. Bate smiling warmly while seated in a wheelchair, exuding positivity.

It's not enough these days just to write a book. These days you have to get it out there for people to see. You could write the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, they're not going to buy it. Unfortunately, there are those of us who have additional trials to overcome. We all have the same amount of time in our day, but we also have commitments we need to keep—whether that's a family, a job, or severe disability. There's always something challenging our time and taking it away from doing the things we enjoy, like our writing.

As writers and creators, we want to be creating. We want to get our creations out there into the world for other people to enjoy. To do that, though, we have to find ways and means of still doing what it is we need to do while also doing what it is we want to do.

Living with Extreme Disability

I haven’t always been disabled. Until the age of nine I was a perfectly healthy child. One day however, I fell out of a tree hurt my knee and that changed my life forever. I then went blind in my middle teens over several years and then became a partial paraplegic when I was 29. During that whole time I have also been in and out of wheelchairs repeatedly. It’s an amazing and terrible thing when you can trace it all back to one event.

Personally, I am an extremely disabled person, and I do mean extremely. I'm completely blind, harshly deaf, I have severe joint damage, ten spinal fractures, and so on and so forth—the list does go on quite a bit. Just to give you an idea, I have five different conditions just in my eyes alone. I also think I might be missing one or two, but you get the gist.

The result of all these conditions is that I spend 80% of my day bedbound, and unfortunately, the rest of it confined to a wheelchair for the present moment in time. To overcome these issues, I use a lot of technology and I have to be very careful with my time.

I wake up at three in the morning to start doing medical things—trust me, you don't want to know the details. My carer then comes in and gets me ready at about 8 o'clock in the morning. Normally I'm up in my chair by about 11:30, give or take half an hour. I then use that time to do everything that I need to do, whether that's emailing people, doing bits on my books, doing medical stuff, calling hospitals, and so on and so forth.

At about 4:30 PM, I then start getting ready to go back to bed. My carers arrive just before 5:00 PM and we get me back into bed. This can take up to two hours because of all the stuff I need to get prepared to get me settled for the evening. After that, I tend to have my tea and I'm exhausted. I can't do anything else and most often even fall asleep in my tea—many times I've woken up with my face in pasta.

Either way, after that I have a few less things to sort out medically, and then I can finally fall asleep. Unfortunately, my sleep is also very intermittent and broken, so while I have the opportunity to get about six and a half hours of sleep, I unfortunately only get somewhere between two and four because of constantly waking up again. Then my day starts afresh at three in the morning, where it all starts again.

It has been like this now for nearly five years, ever since I came home from having a spinal cord infection that made me a partial paraplegic. I've partially recovered since then; however, I'm still not walking yet.

A History of Trials

I've had many other trials and tribulations over the years. I haven't been blind my whole life and I went blind in stages. I've been in and out of a wheelchair many times. Over those years, I've also had kidney failure and several infections that may have killed me if things had gone even slightly worse.

Despite all this, I keep on writing. I keep on doing my books that mean so much to me. My parents got me involved with audiobooks when I was extremely young, and despite also being dyslexic and finding it very difficult to read and write, I love books. I always have loved books, and I love stories. Many times I've come out of theatre and I've had an audiobook waiting for me to help me get over what it is I'm going through at that moment in time.

My Mission and Goals

I want to be able to write stories that other people can get enjoyment out of. I want them to be able to enjoy my books, to take them away from this world and enjoy something. Other authors have done it for me, and I would like to do it for others myself.

It's more than just that for me—there are many levels of this. I want to leave a legacy. I want to leave something behind once I'm gone. We don't know how much time we have on this planet, and time is our most valuable asset of all. We need to use it as wisely as possible.

I want to be able to earn an income from my books without having to be a leech on society. I know a lot of people don't like me putting it this way, but I am stuck in the benefit trap and I want to get out of it. I don't like being on benefits and I feel like I'm taking from others that would need it. Plenty of people have argued to me that I am one of those who do need it, but I have a brain. I have a mind that works, and as far as I'm concerned, that gives me the ability to do something. Maybe it's not a 9-to-5 job, but I can do my books.

I hope this will give me a way to earn an income, stand on my own two feet (figuratively speaking, of course), and have the dignity of being a contributor to society instead of a taker. Having the ability to leave a legacy and to help others when they're going through their own times of pain and hardship—these are all things I want to be able to achieve.

The Technology That Makes It Possible

I couldn't do any of this without the accessibility software that I use. With being completely blind and dyslexic, screen readers are incredibly useful for someone like me. I've tried many different sorts like JAWS and SuperNova for Windows operating systems. I prefer, however, Apple's built-in screen readers. They generally seem to be better, as far as I've experienced. That's not to say there aren't significant problems, and sometimes you do need to ask for help.

This is one of my own failings. One of the mottos I have is "if you don't use it, you lose it." By this I just mean I want to do as much for myself as I possibly can, but in doing so I do cause myself harm. I should ask for help more.

I also use several different types of dictation-based software. I use the built-in Apple dictation on the iPhone and the iPad. I don't use the Mac ones so much, as using the Mac is a bit difficult for me at present. Given my situation, the iPhone and iPad are far more easily portable. I also use the Dragon Anywhere app for longer dictation sessions. If I'm writing out thousands of words at a time, then I'll use Dragon Anywhere app on the iPhone and iPad. If I'm doing corrections or smaller dictation, then I will use the built-in dictation by Apple.

Another new thing I found which is truly amazing is AI. Unfortunately, the dictation isn't as accurate as I would like it to be. Instead, what I found I can do is put the dictation I've made into the AI and ask it to correct it for me. This is amazing and corrects an incredible amount of problems in the dictation. This work is still mine—I have written it or dictated it in this case—but the AI has corrected many of the errors, making a far cleaner piece of work. I don't leave it there, though. I go through it literally word by word and then again sentence by sentence to make sure that the book flows the way I want it to, that it reads the way I intended.

The Power of Mindset

This is just the technological side of things, though. One big part of this is a word a lot of you probably won't like, and that is mindset. I can't stop. I don't know what it is, but there's something inside of me that pushes me on, that burns away, that drives me to do my books. There is that fuel, but there are also my mantras.

I have eight mantras I say to myself almost every day, and one or two of them I say many times a day. Those eight mantras build the mindset I have, and they are:

Number one: If it's going to be, it's up to me. (If any of you have read the book Moonrise, you know where that's come from.)

Number two: Keep on keeping on.

Number three: Do what I can, when I can, how I can.

Number four: Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.

Number five: Slow and steady wins the race.

Number six: How to eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Number seven: The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

And number eight—number eight is probably the most important one of them all. Some of us need pushing on, but some of us also need pulling back. Sometimes we do too much and we make ourselves ill in the process. I have done this to myself by pushing myself too far and even ending up in hospital on more than one occasion. Number eight is: Balance and moderation in everything.

We need to make sure we do the work we need to do, but we also need to make sure we get the rest we need. We need to make sure we have enough time with our family. We need to make sure that we have the time to do the things we need to do.

Analogies for My Journey

These are all the tools I use to overcome my obstacles. There are several different types of analogies you can use. You could say that the mantras are the foundation stones to a great building. The technology I use are the tools with which I build the building, and the walls, doors, and roof are the outcome of that, which are my books and stories.

You could also say, if you're more of the old-fashioned seafaring type: "All I ask is a stout ship, a fair breeze, and a star to sail her by." The mantras are the ship. The mantras are the sails that make up the ship. The wind is the drive that pushes me on—the drive to achieve my goals and dreams. The North Star that I sail her by is the goal I'm trying to reach, whether that be the next book published.

The analogy I tend to use the most, as it's the most complete for me, is a car. My fear, anger, and something greater than myself are the emotions that drive us all in varying degrees. This is the fuel that goes in the car. I use these emotions to drive me on. These are used to push me past the resistance that we all must fight against. The engine is the mantras I've made for myself. These are what allow me to drive. The satnav has my destination in place and it allows me to reach my goals and dreams. I pass waypoints, I complete tasks, and eventually I reach those destinations.

This is probably the most complete of all the analogies, but they all mean the same to me. In the end, they allow me to achieve those goals and dreams I want so much.

My Guardian Angels

There are also several amazing people in my life who help me with this. I have done most of my book stuff on my own, but I can't do everything myself. I have tried and it doesn't work. We all need help. We all need a few guardian angels who can look over us and help us out. I have several of these myself.

I still do the vast majority of my books myself, but these people are modern-day superheroes in my opinion. Some of them are my carers. Some of them are my family, but others are people that I have met.

One of these people is Stuart. I came to him about trying to sort out a website for me. He did this and has done an incredible job. He, however, has gone far beyond this and helped me out in ways I would never have asked for. He's been absolutely incredible. Sometimes we just need to ask for help and it will be there if we need it, thanks to those truly outstanding people.

Every now and again you will come across people who truly go above and beyond. These people are incredible—treasure them, as they are unique individuals.

Connect With Me

If you wish to find out more about me personally or the books I write, then you can go to my website: danieldbate.com. Sign up to my newsletter and talk to me direct.

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