A former Kingston student has made Team GB's Tokyo 2020 Paralympics squad.

Oliver Lam-Watson, an architecture graduate from Kingston School of Art, will be competing in the UK's wheelchair fencing team.

You can watch him in the team épée event today (27 August) and in the team foil competition this Sunday.

The 28-year-old started fencing less than four years ago and has won three medals in international competitions.

Oliver, who was born with Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, was told by his doctor he could never become an athlete or be able to run or walk normally.

"This made me want to find out what I was capable of," he said.

"As an able-bodied person, it's easy to measure what a good running time is, for example, but I never understood what my benchmark was for me on crutches.

"I set out on this journey of self-discovery. I started going to the gym and then wanted a bit more of a challenge, so I began taking part in these intense obstacle races around the world called Spartan races.

"I discovered wheelchair fencing and started training at a club in London.

"Within six months I took part in my first competition in Hungary representing Great Britain."

At Kingston, Oliver was known as a high achiever who won numerous awards for his work.

But his time at the university was also notable for the support he received from the staff there.

He said: "I look back on my time at Kingston University fondly. I had very supportive tutors and I really enjoyed my time there.

"My personal tutor, Bruno Silvestre, was incredibly supportive. He helped me to come to terms with my disability.

"It was the first time someone saw me for who I was aside from my disability."

He added: "As a disabled person, I always felt the need to be better than everybody else in order to be seen as equal.

"I couldn't just get an average grade and that's why I really pushed myself to be the best and achieve the results I wanted.

"Becoming an athlete changed me in that it really taught me what it meant to fail.

"You will do your best each day and can work as hard as possible but that doesn't mean it's going to be enough and that can be tough."

On top of being an athlete, Oliver uses his social media and YouTube channel to debunk myths about disability and being a Paralympic athlete, as well as talking about issues such as mental health.

"When I was younger, I suffered with low self-esteem and I always felt there was a great distance between myself and seeing these amazing heroes competing in the Paralympics," he said.

"For me, social media has been a great way to bridge that gap.

"I try to speak to the younger version of me and show the raw, behind the scenes footage of being an athlete and the everyday challenges.

"I try to show that we are all just human at the end of the day."

Click here to read more of Oliver's story