Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
We caught up with Grace Spence Green - doctor, disability activist, and author - to talk about disability, politics and her new book 'To Exist as I Am: A Doctor's Notes on Recovery and Radical Acceptance' ✨
Grace Spence Green is a junior doctor working to challenge the narratives surrounding disability, medicine and identity. In 2018, aged 22 and a fourth year medical student, she sustained a spinal cord injury and is now a full-time wheelchair user. Since her life-changing injury, Grace has become a passionate advocate for the disabled community, appearing in the BMJ and Guardian, and across TV and radio.
0:00: intro
0.05: disability = stigma
0:44: inappropriate things people say to wheelchair users
03:06: what 'disability' means
04:30: what is 'radical acceptance'
05:01: the role of hope and care in activism
Read an extract online: wellcomecollection.org/stories/waking-up-in-a-new-body
Pick up your copy at Wellcome Collection's bookshop or your nearest bookstore 📚 profilebooks.com/work/to-exist-as-i-am
[Alt text: We're watching a video of Grace speaking directly to the camera in our Reading Room – a nice, cosy, space with books, lounge chairs and bean bags. She has long brown hair and wears red lipstick, round yellow glasses, and a sweater-vest-shirt combo. She is sitting in her wheel chair with one leg crossed over the opposite knee.]
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@WellcomeCollection
Follow us on socials ✨
Instagram: instagram.com/wellcomecollection
TikTok: tiktok.com/@wellcomecollection
Facebook: facebook.com/wellcomecollection
Threads: threads.com/@wellcomecollection
We caught up with Grace Spence Green - doctor, disability activist, and author - to talk about disability, politics and her new book 'To Exist as I Am: A Doctor's Notes on Recovery and Radical Acceptance' ✨
Grace Spence Green is a junior doctor working to challenge the narratives surrounding disability, medicine and identity. In 2018, aged 22 and a fourth year medical student, she sustained a spinal cord injury and is now a full-time wheelchair user. Since her life-changing injury, Grace has become a passionate advocate for the disabled community, appearing in the BMJ and Guardian, and across TV and radio.
0:00: intro
0.05: disability = stigma
0:44: inappropriate things people say to wheelchair users
03:06: what 'disability' means
04:30: what is 'radical acceptance'
05:01: the role of hope and care in activism
Read an extract online: wellcomecollection.org/stories/waking-up-in-a-new-body
Pick up your copy at Wellcome Collection's bookshop or your nearest bookstore 📚 profilebooks.com/work/to-exist-as-i-am
[Alt text: We're watching a video of Grace speaking directly to the camera in our Reading Room – a nice, cosy, space with books, lounge chairs and bean bags. She has long brown hair and wears red lipstick, round yellow glasses, and a sweater-vest-shirt combo. She is sitting in her wheel chair with one leg crossed over the opposite knee.]
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@WellcomeCollection
Follow us on socials ✨
Instagram: instagram.com/wellcomecollection
TikTok: tiktok.com/@wellcomecollection
Facebook: facebook.com/wellcomecollection
Threads: threads.com/@wellcomecollection
