My name is Alun Thomas, I’m originally from Ceredigion, but I now live in Cwm Rhymni.
I work for the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
I have several different personas; I'm a Welsh-speaking Welshman, I'm a disabled person and I'm a gay man, and I believe that those personas vary in importance during different stages in life.
For me at the moment, the most important one is my persona as a gay man who has just embarked on a civil partnership.
I met my partner Peter seven years ago and the day we held our civil partnership was the best day of my life and we had a bilingual ceremony.
Then in the evening, we hired a three-wheeler motorbike to take us to the hotel in style. We had a fancy dress theme for the party too and everyone made an extra special effort to dress up.
I think people's attitudes towards gay people have changed, the change in the law with regard to civil partnerships has definitely helped make a big difference.
Three or four years ago I wouldn't have dreamt of telling people that I work with and friends that I go horse riding with for example that I'm gay.
But there are still things that we don't feel comfortable with, we still don’t feel that we can hold hands in public for example, even though there are occasions when we might like to do that.
But that could change in time, as we gain confidence and as attitudes among members of the public continue to change.
When I was very young I had cataracts.
I had eight operations between the ages of about six and eighteen months old in Moorfields Hospital in London, which saved my sight. However, as a partially sighted person, there are a number of things that I can't do, such as drive a car for example, and I’ll never be able to fulfil my personal ambition to drive a motorbike.
Nevertheless, there are a number of things that I can do such as use computers and read using large print.
I think that my experiences and my personas have been a huge help to me over the years with regard to my lobbying work in Westminster and at the National Assembly of Wales.
The fact that I'm disabled combined with the fact that I'm a Welsh speaking Welsh person has helped give me greater credibility.
View Alun's video