Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, culture vulture & accessibility advocate, with aniridia & nystagmus, posting about my experiences & adventures.

Lockdown Favourites – Weeks 5-8

Hello again, hope you’re all keeping safe and well. We’ve now had nearly 3 months of lockdown, and this ‘new normal’ still feels surreal. It certainly puts everything in perspective, that a microscopic virus can temporarily shut down the entire planet in a matter of weeks. It’s a stark reminder of how powerful nature can be.

Everyone’s perception of time is rather weird at the moment too, with the weeks seeming to fly by, but that can be explained by science at least. Although, of course, it will be dragging much more slowly for those going through a particularly rough time at the moment, and you have my sympathies if that applies to you.

As I see it, the current small changes to our lockdown, as part of the government’s long term recovery plan, are basically urging people to use their common sense, as the virus is still circulating. We must continue to stay at home and work from home if at all possible, and obey the other safety rules. But provided we do so, we have a little bit more freedom now. So I hope people will continue to be careful and sensible, as we’re nowhere near out of the woods yet, but we’re getting there slowly. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And obviously for disabled people things are more complicated, as Lucy Edwards has discussed with a couple of her fellow blind activists in a recent video.

As for me though, I’m still doing fine. I’ve been staying indoors to keep my elderly mother safe, but recently I went out for the first time in over 5 weeks, as a couple of essential items were missing from our online shopping delivery. So I was very pleased to find that there were hardly any people and very few cars about, and that I was able to use the priority hour for disabled people at the supermarket, which was fully stocked and had social distancing measures very well enforced. So my risk of exposure was hopefully minimal.

But otherwise I’m still staying at home, and I’ve continued to keep myself entertained in various ways. So here’s my latest recap of what I’ve been enjoying and discovering recently, along with videos summarising week 5, week 6, week 7 & week 8. As usual nothing is sponsored or gifted, and all opinions are my own. So I hope you enjoy!

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Kerry Ellis Album Reviews

Kerry Ellis is a renowned musical theatre star, who I first became aware of through her work with Queen guitarist Brian May. She collaborated with him after starring in the We Will Rock You musical (which amazingly I still haven’t seen yet), and since then she has appeared in many major productions, as well as releasing a number of albums, with and without Brian’s involvement.

Most recently she’s been doing live streams on her Instagram, some of which are available on Youtube, as well as launching her own podcast – Keep Calm And Kerry On – where she talks to stars of stage, song and screen about their careers and their experiences of lockdown. So she’s keeping herself busy!

I haven’t had the good fortune to see her live in person yet, but I have been an admirer of her music for some years now, because she has a stunning voice and is very versatile, and I love musicals just like she does. I was therefore very excited to receive a signed copy of her brand new album recently (which, like all her albums, I bought myself – none of this is sponsored or gifted).

But as well as reviewing that, I thought I would also take the opportunity to give my opinions on her previous releases as well, because I have the time to do so right now, and it’s a good excuse (if one were needed) to go through them all again. So this a special post for the Bank Holiday weekend going through all her albums, plus a live concert on Blu-ray, and there’s a contents list below if you want to jump to specific titles. So I hope you enjoy!

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30 Day Song Challenge

Throughout April I’ve been taking part in the 30 Day Song Challenge on social media, where you post a song that matches a specified theme or topic each day, just for fun.

There are various lists out there that people are using for this, but I’ve followed the one by visual impairment charity VICTA on their page listing 20 ways to spend time at home and stay in touch. Apart from being a fun challenge, it’s also a nice way to return the favour given that my blog is among the many suggestions on that page, so thank you VICTA! Plus they deserve a shoutout for the wonderful work they do for visually impaired children and young adults. They’ve shared a great set of resources on their website, for young people with sight loss and parents, if you need help during the pandemic.

So here are the songs that I picked, I hope you enjoy looking through them. What would your choices be for the same questions? You can start the challenge whenever you like, so feel free to share your selections on social media, using the hashtag #30DaySongChallenge.

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Lockdown Favourites – Weeks 1-4

Hello there. I hope you’re all keepinng safe and well, and that you had a nice break over Easter, with plenty of chocolate goodies or whatever you like to indulge on.

I think we’ve all earned a few treats at the moment, given that things have felt very strange since we went into lockdown on 23 March. Like everybody else, I was very anxious about the situation at first, and it’s still going to be a concern for a while, because all of the changes to our lives are a lot to get used to. But I know that we’re doing it for the right reasons, to save lives.

I do also feel that my mother and I have been adjusting as well as can be expected, we feel relatively relaxed at the moment. It also helps that I’m not checking news and social media updates as often as I was initially, and I’ve muted certain phrases and blocked various accounts to make browsing social media a calmer experience. Things like that certainly make a big difference to one’s mindset.

I’m already a homeworker too, so that’s made things easier. Although, as it happened, I didn’t fully go back to work straightaway, because by chance I had already booked the first 2 weeks of lockdown off to use up my annual leave quota (after an illness last year meant I couldn’t use as much holiday as I’d hoped). Granted, I couldn’t use that holiday time to go anywhere nice, except the local park, but the time was very useful to ensure that Mum and I were stocked up and could start settling into this temporary new way of living. So it’s only been the last couple of weeks that I’ve started getting into a proper routine again (and even then Easter ensured that I had 2 four-day weeks).

But of course, many people have far more important, difficult and stressful jobs than I do. So if you’re a key worker – including employees and volunteers in the health service, social care, retail sectors and local authorities, among many others – then thank you!

It’s a very uncertain time, and we don’t know how long this will last, but I want to keep myself occupied as best I can. There are certainly lots of options for things to do, so I’ll try my best not to get bored. Indeed, it feels like time is moving more quickly again, after the month of March felt like a year. Maybe it’s because I was already used to homeworking and spending a lot of time at home, and because I’m finding plenty of ways to stay busy and entertained.

So with that in mind, here’s my first lockdown post about the things that have been keeping me occupied. There are 3 videos to go with this – for weeks 1-2, week 3 & week 4 – because with more free time I’ve been able to produce videos a bit more frequently, at least for a little while. So I hope you enjoy looking through this selection.

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Audio Description Awareness Day

Happy Audio Description Awareness Day! You won’t have heard of this before, because this is the first time it’s taken place. It’s been set up by Juan Alcazar (JC5 Productions), Chelsea Nguyen, Stephanae McCoy (Bold Blind Beauty), and audio description narrator Roy Samuelson. You can find out more in Juan’s video, where he explains the purpose of the day, and how you can raise awareness by demonstrating audio description to someone you know who isn’t familiar with it.

To mark the occasion, I’ve posted some unseen footage that I recorded a couple of years ago, which was never originally intended for my channel. It’s taken from a video interview I recorded for the producers of How To Be Human, a brilliant short sci-fi film. I was one of many people they were consulting during development of the audio described version, as they tried out various different approaches. And I’m very pleased with how the final film came out. I recommend watching with headphones to make the most of the impressive soundscape. Plus it’s just a great example of how immersive and engaging audio description can be when it’s integrated well.

Apart from giving my feedback on the film, my interview included various generic questions relating to audio description in general, and it’s my answers to those questions that you can hear in my video. I talk about why audio description is important to me and many other people, the impact when it’s not provided, and what I hope the future of audio description will be. So I hope you find it interesting.

And if you want to find out more, check out these other links as well:

AD | 10 Top Tips to Care for Disabled and Special Needs Children

This is a paid advertisement. I am very selective about featuring such content, but I feel this article fits very well with the disability and visual impairment themes of my blog, and features a lot of useful information for parents, who form a significant part of my audience. So I really hope you find it of interest.

It’s no secret that disabled and special needs children require different methods of parenting, but how can you support your child in the best way possible? Find out more, here…

Looking after a child with a disability or special needs is not always the easiest job. You have all the usual difficulties parents go through and, on top of that, you have to find ways to do your best for your disabled child.

Disabled and special needs children require constant support and supervision from their parents in their early life. The child may also require additional support from compensation, if their disability was caused by some sort of medical negligence. Here, the help provided by lawyers, for example erb’s palsy and cerebral palsy solicitors, will really come into play.

In this post we are going to cover the definition of a special needs child under the law, so you know whether you child is covered. We’ll also be sharing our top tips on how you can care for your disabled or special needs children.

CaringForDisabledChildren1
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February & March 2020 Favourites

Well, what a year this has turned out to be, huh? Perhaps we should just rename it 2019B or 2019.5 and start 2020 again next January. It’s like we’ve had a faulty software update in the calendar that needs serious debugging and virus-checking before it’s rolled out again.

Obviously I’m not dismissing the tragic side of things by saying that. My heart goes out to everybody who has lost loved ones or been severely affected in some other way, and I sincerely hope you all stay safe and well as best you can. Please follow the guidelines on hygiene, distancing, isolation, etc, because it really will save many lives. It will take a few weeks at least before we start seeing the impact of such measures, but they will help, and we will get through this. Huge thanks to all our incredible health and care staff, as well as the many other people providing essential products and services.

Beyond this introduction, I have no desire or intent to write posts about the situation, as it’s not nice and there’s enough about it online already. However, I have created a Covid Resources page, where you’ll find many links for information, advice and support, plus many ways to stay connected and entertained at home, which I hope you find useful.

Clearly this is going to change what I’m able to do and post about for a while. So in this post and video I want to wrap up my recent museum and theatre visits, as well as disability related updates and TV favourites, for both February and March. That way, I can move forward with a clean slate as I settle into a temporary new routine.

All of which means there’s a fair amount to cover here, making it a good distraction from everything that’s going on. I haven’t been sponsored or gifted by anyone to mention them, and all opinions are my own. So I hope you enjoy!

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January 2020 Favourites

2020 has got off to an enjoyable and eventful start, meaning there’s plenty to tell you about for this past month, including a musical, a comedy show, museum tours, research projects, walks, social events and entertainment.

As ever, I haven’t been sponsored or gifted by anybody in order to mention them here, and these are all my own opinions. I’ve also produced a video to go with this post as usual. So I hope you enjoy!

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Christmas 2019 Favourites

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and have a wonderful and prosperous 2020 ahead. 🙂

2019 was a bit of a rollercoaster year for me, but it worked out well overall. I was very busy and active for the first half, with highlights including a holiday in Liverpool, filming my What Is Normal? documentary, giving a speech at the Aniridia Network Conference, attending the Naidex event and seeing the Only Fools And Horses musical.  Then there was a big dip during the summer, with health issues, my PIP application, and my first relationship in London coming to an end after a year (but we’re still very close friends). Then the final few months gave me a chance to recharge and get back to normal, before I made TV & radio appearances to talk about digital accessibility. So there’s been a lot going on, and you can find out all the details in my Favourites posts from the year.

So December was very good for me all in all, and I was kept happily occupied over Christmas as usual. So there’s lots to mention, including museum visits, Christmas displays, socialising in London & Devon, Christmas food, TV shows, movies and audio entertainment, and more. As always, I’ve not been paid or gifted for anything I mention here, I’m simply expressing my own opinions. So I hope you enjoy this festive post and video roundup!

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Disability & Sunshine Blogger Awards

Rather than finish the year with a dull post about a scam email, I actually wanted to do a quick post to tie up a couple of loose ends, before I get on to doing my Christmas Favourites and a general look back at the year gone by to kickstart 2020.

As many of you know, people in the blogging community often nominate each other for “awards”, which is an opportunity to promote other bloggers that you like and ask them questions. And I was very kindly nominated for two of these awards back in October, but didn’t get around to responding at the time. So I wanted to acknowledge them and answer the questions that were put to me.

If you want to answer these questions yourself, then please feel free to do so. I always nominate everyone on my long lists of bloggers by default, as I always find it difficult to narrow it down to a select few!

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