Ruth Owen didn't plan on becoming the chief executive of a disabled children's charity, in fact she went out of her way to avoid becoming a disability campaigner. Instead she had a successful career in business at a time when women were firmly in the minority.

"It was tough, it wasn't easy to get a job and I had lots of rejections. I didn't have a very strong educational background, I was a wheelchair user and people had different views back then," she explains. After being called a lame duck by a job centre worker she swore at him and promised to come back as soon as she had her first paycheque, which she duly did.

It is little surprise then, that despite a tough start on the career ladder Owen has worked her way to the top. "When I started work I knew how lucky I was – and I really was lucky," she says. "I thought, I've got a great opportunity here, alright I'm starting at the bottom, but I thought if I work hard and demonstrate I'm capable then people will give me the opportunity."

She started out filing and making tea at a chemical company and progressed to a sales role in a global IT firm. Owen then started her own company, before taking on the role of CEO at Whizz-Kidz in 2004. Her ambition for the charity, which provides wheelchairs to young disabled people, is clear. She talks animatedly about getting young people into work, overcoming negative stereotypes and working with the government to personalise healthcare.

"Leadership was always going to be something that I'd end up doing because I was bossy at school and I was opinionated and clear about what I wanted and didn't want," she says. Although stepping into the shoes of former CEO and co-founder of the charity Michael Dickson wasn't an easy task, especially as she didn't even think she'd get the job.

"If I thought about being chief executive too closely I probably would have had a difficult time but I just didn't think about it. People used to ask: 'what do you do', and I used to be apologetic because I didn't really quite believe it. Now I just focus on doing a good job and I push myself until I get what I want. I'm very good at getting what I want."

It can be lonely though, she explains. Especially when you have to make difficult decisions and staff rely on you to stick to your guns. She is critical of people who expect promotions to land in their lap and is a firm believer in hard work and determination. "Sometimes I think women aren't always as tough as men, they tend to agonise about things and they can be too nice," she says. "At the same time you've got to be sensible, there's no point being a woman and trying to be a man."

Owen has experienced more discrimination in her career than most, although it's clear she doesn't resent it, if anything it spurred her on to achieve more. When she landed a job in direct sales her boss pointedly asked her how she thought her wheelchair would make her clients feel. Her response was typically direct.

"I said let that be my problem, not yours," she explains with a steely glint in her eye. "I'd been through all the interviews, all the tests, and I said 'I happen to have four wheels to my bum but if I do a good job and I deliver then we'll all be happy, and if you're not happy then sack me, the risk is all with me, not with you'."

So does she feel that perceptions of disabled people have changed? "I think people's perceptions from the Paralympics have changed, I get a lot more offers of help than I've ever had. People are more aware. But do I really think things have changed in terms of employment for young disabled people? Absolutely not. I think people are blinkered."

Employers still struggle with binary ideas about what makes a good employee and this affects young disabled people, who can't get work experience, she explains. "We can't all be leaders, but every company needs good workers and it's important to have different people in the workplace because we need balance."

Owen talks openly about having to use the men's toilets in a previous role, as the women's were down a flight of stairs. "I used to ask my client to go in first to check there weren't any men in there," she adds.

Perhaps because of this, she has little sympathy for those who are quick to claim they are being treated unfairly at work. "Sometimes women can be a bit whingy about their lot in life and I actually don't think we need to behave like that. You need to work on your talent and push yourself a bit. Men can make it difficult for you though, it's not easy. And it can be very subtle too.

"As a woman you've got to walk that very fine line of being pushy but nice to other people along the way." When she started out, the office environment was mostly white, male and suited, she explains. "I worked out very quickly the politics of it all and what I needed to do to climb."

In typical blunt but honest fashion, Owen isn't ashamed to admit that she uses her gender to her advantage at work. She explains that men want women who act like women, but only to a point. Being overly emotional and "faffy" are two qualities she steers as far from as possible, and she credits her background in residential care for her ability to keep her feelings under wraps. "It was survival of the fittest," she explains.

"You can be a bit jacked off but don't cry – don't show your emotions at work, it shows you as weak. Men are very good at keeping things separate, they keep everything in boxes. Women tend to blur around the edges but it didn't matter how disastrous my day was, I never said I couldn't cope.

"I might have gone home and had a Jack Daniels and sworn like a trooper in the car going home, but it only made me sharper – it made me think 'next time you're going to pay the price for that'," she says with a wry smile.

Find out more about Whizz-Kidz here

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