I don’t have pigment in my skin, hair or eyes. I find it hard to see, especially in bright light [Gallagher has oclocutaneous albinism and is visually impaired]. I go round the place in sunglasses, looking like I think I’m really famous.
I wasn’t able to be free as a kid. I couldn’t ride a horse or cycle on my own, so the exhilaration I get from skiing with a guide, travelling faster than my body can carry me, is incredible.
My mum was always anxious about me doing things. But my dad would say: “Let her try. She’ll be good at it, and if she’s not, she’ll just try harder.”
People can now associate the word “disability” with 65mph. The coverage we [Gallagher and her guide Charlotte Evans] got from winning Team GB’s first Paralympic winter gold in Sochi was about more than just the sport. It’s changing attitudes to disability.
Think less and live more. That is Charlotte’s motto [Evans has now retired], and I’ve stolen it. It’s not so much about living dangerously as committing to decisions.
Crying is an emotional release. When I’m really frustrated I’ll go to a hot yoga session and have a cry when we do the shavasana at the end. Then I get up and think: “Well, I’ve got that out of me now.”
I get motion sickness. When I’m skiing the landscape is so white and I can’t see the horizon. Sometimes I don’t understand if I’m still in movement and end up falling over. It’s a funny old thing.
In my heart I want to do things all on my own. But skiing with a guide facilitates me to be the best I can. I focus on her fluorescent orange vest and listen to her instructions over Bluetooth. She doesn’t describe the terrain but what I should do to be able to be fast and how to handle upcoming bumps.
It’s not clumsiness if you don’t see things. My boyfriend says I walked into a pillar on our first date. At the time he said: “Maybe I shouldn’t have laughed.” And I was like: “No, you should have – that’s very funny!”
There will come a time when I want to be a statistician again. I’ll want a steady job and to be able to moan along with my friends. Right now I’m on a career break from the civil service.
I have a filthy vocabulary. My friends had a sweepstake on how long it would take for me to swear on live TV.
I was a real daddy’s girl. My dad died quickly [in 2012] – he had a tumour in his liver. Sochi was something to throw myself into, but it wasn’t like: “Oh, I must win for him.”
Every day I wake up, I think: “Ooh yes, not sick.” I’m happy.
Kelly Gallagher is an ambassador for Sightsavers’ Put Us in the Picture campaign, ensuring that people with disabilities aren’t left out of global efforts to fight poverty (sightsavers.org)
