Year 2 have been learning about local heroes this half-term and were lucky enough to have Naomi Riches come to school to visit them.

Naomi is a local hero after winning a Gold medal in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. She explained that it took 10 years of dedication, working in high-pressure performance environments, adapting to a huge variety of people and pushing my mind and body to its limits.

My perceived limitation was the reason I was able to achieve all I did!

Since retiring from the Great Britain Paralympic Rowing Team in 2013, she came to realise that whilst becoming a Paralympic Champion in 2012 was her greatest visible public reward, with a tangible and shining Gold medal; her greatest achievement was actually far more personal. It was realising that what others saw as her disability, her ‘problem’ or her limitation, was the reason she was able to achieve all she did.

Yes, being a Paralympian automatically defines you as being disabled; but she believes it is your abilities that define what you achieve, not your disability.