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10 | InTouch WINTER 2024 KYLEE SHARES HER PASSIONS FOR LIFE AND BUSINESS, AND HOW THEY’VE LED HER TO A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY SERVING THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY. Kylee & Co is a platform for all things accessible. Founded by Kylee Black with a small group of her peers, Kylee & Co is by the disability community, for everyone. FEATURE Above: Kylee visiting the Confetti Dome at the ‘Happy Place’ exhibit (capturing her fun, bubbly personality). At 22 years old, life as I knew it changed. I lost use on the left-hand side of my body and both legs and battled severe nerve pain. I was thrown into a whirlwind of hospital admissions, Dr’s assessments, and tests. Life doesn’t always go the way we think it should or had been planning for — either positively or negatively. My name is Kylee Black. I am a passionate lover of life, I have an incredible partner, family, and group of friends. One thing that I have learnt is that we don’t get to choose our circumstances, but we can choose how we play them. I have received many diagnoses over the years, we found out why my body has never quite worked on cue, a genetic condition that affects my muscles, nerves, bones, ligaments, and internal organs. Answers brought relief but also grief and a realisation that this is my real life, it’s not a dress rehearsal. More importantly, I am a friend, a family member, a partner, as well as being an advocate, public speaker, mentor, and business owner. I have learnt a lot along the journey, especially that I don’t have to believe the script others feed me about what I can or can’t do, I can ‘flip the script’. You can too! My reality can be really overwhelming, but as I lay in that bed early on, I asked myself a pivotal question that has become a mantra for me, and what I ask myself every day: “what can I do with what’s in my hands”. It’s been a great way for me to look outside of my own circumstances and see the world of others. I couldn’t change my Choosing to play my circumstances, my way... circumstances, but I could do something to help someone else, I could write to people, I could encourage others, I could share of myself. Which in turn helped me a lot too!! It has become my saving grace. “One step at a time, but soon enough when you look back the steps turn to miles.”