My name is Kyah and I am a proud, British-Pakistani, gay, woman, with learning difficulties, at the Bar. There are three truths that simultaneously follow; firstly that I can not (and should not) be reduced to only those features of my Self; secondly, that my journey has been fundamentally shaped, at every stage, by the combination of them; thirdly, that I have also benefitted from aspects of privilege.

It has often been the case that triumphs along my professional journey have been the result of the resilience and ability to function under pressure which I developed in the course of my experience as an LGBT woman from a traditional Muslim background. Little scares me. I do not seek to downplay the set-backs and struggles with bias and prejudice along the way; I have simply come to appreciate the magic of having made it through enough of them to be here – I am beyond my younger self’s wildest dreams.