Walking Contradiction: The Plymouth Project Changing How We Talk About Disability, and Inspiring a New Kind of Community Leadership

Plymouth disability advocate Jacqui Cant is using her platform, Walking Contradiction, to challenge stereotypes, amplify unheard voices, and reshape the conversation around disability across the city. What began as a personal project is now evolving into a wider movement, one that Jacqui hopes to take with her into future public life.

Walking Contradiction was born from Jacqui’s lived experience of disability, and from the contradictions she met daily, being told she “didn’t look disabled,” people making
assumptions, or not seeing beyond the surface.

“The name Walking Contradiction originally came from the final conversation she had with her father, that she was a “Walking Contradiction”, she never wanted to be defined by her disability. It started as a side project along side her multimedia business Skymind Studios, but as time went on she continued to feel misunderstood,” Jacqui explains. “People often decide what disability should look like. I wanted to take that contradiction and turn it into something powerful, something that educates, empowers, and encourages real understanding.”

What Walking Contradiction Does
1. Disability Awareness & Real-Life Education
Through talks, workshops, and media appearances, Walking Contradiction helps people understand the truth of living with a disability, the challenges, the discrimination, and the resilience and creativity many disabled people develop.

2. Inclusive Employment Support for Businesses
Jacqui works with organisations to build confidence in employing disabled people, offering guidance on workplace adjustments, communication, and understanding hidden disabilities. Her goal is to help businesses see the ability in disability.

3. Community Advocacy & Local Action
Walking Contradiction engages directly with Plymouth residents, supporting them to speak up about accessibility, equality, and community issues that affect disabled people daily.

From Advocacy to Aspiration
Jacqui’s work in the community has naturally grown into a wider ambition, to take her experience, knowledge, and passion into local politics.
“My aspiration is to bring real lived experience into decision-making,” she says. “Too often, policy is made about disabled people without disabled voices in the room. I want to change that. Walking Contradiction is not just a project, it is the foundation of the kind of leadership Plymouth deserves.”

Her political outlook is grounded in inclusion, fairness, and practical community action, not traditional left–right labels.

“I’m driven by people, not parties,” Jacqui adds. “I want to show that politics can be compassionate, accessible, and honest.”

Why Walking Contradiction Matters
The project is growing because it gives people:
> A place to feel heard,
> A platform to learn, and
> A way to challenge assumptions through real stories.
Its mix of honesty, humour, and heart has made Jacqui a sought-after speaker at events like DevCon, where her talk “Lights, Camera, Access: Why Disability Representation Matters” and “Understanding Disability and changing the Conversation at a Humanist event was widely praised.

Get Involved
Walking Contradiction works with:
> Businesses
> Schools
> Community groups
> Events
> Organisations seeking disability awareness training

To book a talk, collaborate, or learn more:
jacqui@walkingcontradiction.co.uk
Facebook & Instagram: Walking Contradiction