Inspire-Ability

In the second part of our conversation with Katy, she discusses with Harriett what she learned during her time as a teacher. She describes how some of the skills she applied to her teaching are applicable to everyday life, especially in her current training roles. On a similar note, Katy describes her role within the Air Training Corps, and how her involvement has grown to include taking part in expanding the use of drones and new technology for young people. Although this environment was totally new to her, Katy tells us how her confidence in her own grounding as a pilot allowed her to expand and learn new skills. We also hear what resilience means to Katy, and she reflects on some of the times of self-doubt that she has overcome as a woman in a male-dominated industry. 

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com

Our next guest is Katy Lee MBE: a First Officer on the 737-800, RAF Air Training Corps officer, and Chair of Trustees for the charity Aviation in Reach. Such a passion for flying is unsurprising given Katy’s upbringing by her flight crew parents - Katy was able to pursue this passion despite academic pressures in school, by heading straight to flying school as opposed to university. Together with fellow commercial pilot Harriett, she discusses some of the challenges that she faced in her training, as well as the positive impact that gender neutral language and policies can have in creating an equitable platform. 

Katy also shares how the economic downturn of 2009 led to her flying career being prematurely paused, and she describes how a temporary switch to teaching has continued to drive her support of youth endeavours. 

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com

In the final part of our conversation with Dr Catherine Ruddick, she discusses with Harriett how therapy and communication has helped her to confront the well-intentioned but unhelpful coping strategies she had developed in childhood. These new strategies have led to Catherine’s increased mental resilience, which has been vital in bouncing back and reaching out when at a low ebb. In an emotional closing to our conversation, Catherine also opens up on her feeling of being “different”, both as a woman in the Army but especially as a gay woman, at a time when it was still ‘incompatible with service life’.

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com

For the third part of our conversation with Dr Catherine Ruddick, we learn about how opening up about mental health struggles can have a transformative effect on quality of life. Catherine describes to Harriett how her first experience of verbalising these struggles with a therapist at Headley Court has led to a healthier lifestyle with open dialogues. This took on a greater significance when Catherine was medically discharged from the Army, and had to find a new career. Having found her new calling as a GP, Catherine describes the challenges and delays that marked her journey towards her current position, and reflects on the resilience that she developed along the way - something that was to become vital during the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com

For the second part of our conversation with Dr Catherine Ruddick, she discusses how her foray into physiotherapy reawakened a medical passion, and coincided with an inexorable pull back to military life. Having joined the Territorial Army, Catherine was able to complete the training required to become a surgeon in the Armed Forces. However, despite these successes, she shares with Harriett how this still led to an identity crisis, and mental health struggles. In her recuperation time, Catherine embarked on a journey to “find me”, and discusses the things she learned: the importance of being assertive in saying no when struggling, the benefit of counselling and sharing her thoughts and feelings, and gaining a sense of perspective on the challenges she was facing. 

This recovery period culminated in visiting Aerobility, and embarking on a journey to flying. Through flying, Catherine has been able to satisfy her feelings following the premature end of her RAF career, and the overall benefit to her mental health has allowed her to attain her medical, and subsequently her PPL.

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com

In the first of our episodes in conversation with Dr Catherine Ruddick, we hear how Catherine was fixated on flying from a young age, growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Moving quickly from the Air Cadets, through a University Air Squadron, Catherine was successful in her application to the RAF. Her career as a prospective Navigator was cut short by injury however, and she discusses with Harriett how her response to the setback of a medical discharge, and how her upbringing taught her to reframe these challenges, and believe that “you can do anything that you want to”. 

Out of this “grieving process” came a decision to refocus on the practice that had helped her so much, and led to a successful period working as a physiotherapist. Along with many lessons learned regarding how to respond to failure, Harriett and Catherine discuss the importance of motivation, creativity, and how support networks and sharing can relieve life’s burdens, and aid recovery.

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com

In the final part of our conversation with Brian Wheeler, attention turns to his recovery; having fought the odds by even walking again, he describes his journey back to running, culminating in a half marathon. In more recent years, Brian has also returned to flying, and even celebrated the 5th anniversary of being told he would never walk again, by walking the length of a marathon around New York City. Throughout, Brian is candid in describing the physical struggles he has faced, as well as challenging the perceptions around hidden disability. Other topics of discussion include the importance of empathy in leadership, and the future of disabled aviation.

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com

Having overcome the prognosis of never walking again, Brian describes how his recovery was further disrupted by more uncertainty around his health. Yet, these challenges were met by Brian’s indomitable stubbornness, and also the friendships made with fellow patients, such as Tariq. In refusing to be cowed by the adversity he faced, Brian became a self-described ‘cantankerous old git’, and there is perhaps no better example than when he refused to follow his hospital’s instructions to pick a wheelchair “for the rest of your life”. 

In more candid conversation, Brian and Harriett discuss his journey through physiotherapy, learning to crawl and walk again. The importance of choosing the right environment is a key theme in this episode, as is the significance of the people that surround and support you in recovery, which is a ‘collaborative process’.

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com

In part two of our chat with Brian Wheeler, he and Harriett discuss the role that confidence and perception play in perpetuating the gender gap. Brian reflects on a conversation with a colleague about the reversal of gender balance, and how this helped him to understand the barriers to diversity that remain. From there, Harriett and Brian discuss equity versus equality, leadership, and the toxic influence of technology and social media in the modern age; especially on children. 

Our next guest on Inspire-Ability is Aerobility COO, NATS Deputy General Manager, and disability advocate Brian Wheeler. In the first of four episodes in conversation with Brian, Harriett discusses the impact of his naval upbringing, and how his early dream to fly led to a single-minded pursuit of a British Airways cadetship during his latter schooling. Although this determination would lead to academic struggles, Brian’s passion for flight was little diminished, and an eventful month in the USA allowed him to gain his PPL. Despite this, among other achievements, Brian would have to learn to respond to failure after it was decided that he did not have the aptitude to be an airline pilot. Although this might have been “game over”, what followed was a successful career as a military and civilian air traffic controller, until May 2018, when everything changed. 

Episodes released every Friday afternoon. Available as a subtitled video format on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcolE-AfelXHlfWWw-KR74A 

To find out more about Aerobility, and to get involved, please visit our website: aerobility.com