"Kids bullying me because I was different. Lecturers and employers locking me out of opportunities because they didn’t want to ‘deal’ with my disability."
But along the way, the 36-year-old has discovered her disability has actually helped her to become an international award-winning author.
"I think a lot of sensory disabled people view the world in a slightly different way, and that probably feeds into my creativity a bit."
Under her pen-name Steffanie Holmes, she is the USA Today bestselling author of paranormal, gothic, dark and fantastical books which feature clever, witty heroines, secret societies, creepy old mansions, and "alpha males who always get what they want".
"I could have given up. ... Instead, I kept writing. And when Amazon introduced their self-publishing platform, I started putting my work out in the world.
"Surprise! People liked it. So I kept writing and publishing and dreaming and doing.
"I write tales ... for thousands of readers across the world who never tell me I can’t write because of my eyes."
As well as winning a best-selling author award, she received the 2017 Attitude Award for Artistic Achievement and was a finalist for a 2018 Women of Influence award.
Alongside being the creator of Rage Against the Manuscript, a podcast producer, and author, she runs courses to help writers tell their story, find readers, and build a "bad-ass" writing career.
Yesterday, she was at Otago Girls’ High School with magician, hypnotist, storyteller, bookseller and author Gareth Ward, as part of the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival, to share stories about the fame, fortune and hard work making a career in the literary arts.
The session aimed to inspire young people to pursue a career in writing, which was right up Ms Green’s alley.
"I’m obsessed with helping other writers to find their voice, smash through the gatekeepers, and discover the badassitry of putting their work directly into the hands of readers," she said.
