Well, what a busy month that was! During April I attended a couple of theatre shows, went out and about with a couple of good friends, had some lovely walks to take advantage of the nice weather, and watched a variety of things at home too.
All of which means there’s plenty to get through in this latest post and video recap. And none of it is sponsored or gifted, apart from a little press event that I’ll mention, and all opinions are my own regardless. So let’s crack on with it, and I hope you enjoy!
Following on from my previous posts about the museums I visited and the We Will Rock You musical, I want to finish my trilogy about my recent break in Milton Keynes by giving an overview of the area I was staying in near the theatre, as I spent a bit of time having a wander around. As with my other posts, none of this is sponsored or gifted, and you can see some footage from the area as part of the vlog in my March Favourites video.
We’ve reached the halfway point in the year, and summer is finally blessing us with decent weather. And I’ve had a very busy month!
Firstly, there have been some disability related developments, most of them positive. In particular, I’ve spoken at a conference, been a guest on a podcast, and I was filmed for another documentary. So my visual impairment led to a few great opportunities in quick succession, I’m happy to say.
On the downside, I’ve finally received the call-up letter to switch from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payments (PIP). This basically means I have to fill out a huge form about how my disability affects me, and then have a face-to-face assessment with a health professional, so the government can decide if I’m entitled to benefit payments. It sounds relatively simple when worded like that, but most disabled people will tell you it’s anything but. So that’s going to be on my mind a lot over the next couple of months at least, and I’m not looking forward to the process. But I’ll let you know how it goes at a later date. I’m not going to bore you with a rant about it in this post!
Thankfully, apart from that, I’ve been able to enjoy the month in many other ways. I went on a lovely weekend break with my girlfriend, I’ve been out in London for more exhibitions and walks, my girlfriend and I enjoyed a new film at the cinema, and I’ve enjoyed new TV shows and music releases at home. So there’s plenty to get through. As always, I’m not sponsored by anyone mentioned here, I’m just sharing these things because I enjoyed them. And I hope you enjoy this month’s post and video!
March was an incredibly busy month, so I’ve got a lot to tell you about, including disability exhibitions, theatre shows and museum visits. But to start with, I wanted to tell you about a special charity comedy night I went to.
The Leonard Cheshire charity provides valuable support to disabled people, helping them to live, learn and work as independently as possible. And, like any charity, fundraising is essential. So they sometimes hold special events to raise both money and awareness.
In March, therefore, they held Cheshire Chuckle, their first ever comedy night. I was very kindly given complimentary tickets to see and review the show, so I attended with my friend James. But all opinions here are my own as always. Thank you very much to the charity for inviting me along and looking after us.
The nights have drawn in and there’s much more of a nip in the air, so at this time of year it can be very tempting to stay indoors where it’s warm and dry and cosy. But not me. The wintry weather hasn’t stopped me getting out and about as much as ever, so November was pretty busy.
I think it was especially nice to relax having got my charity abseil out of the way. Finally getting the blog post and video up for that at the start of November was a nice way to wrap it all up. Thank you again to everyone for their kind donations and to the Nystagmus Network for giving me another shoutout recently as well!
So here’s my latest monthly recap for November, including visits to theatre shows, comedy clubs and museums, and other bits and pieces. There’s also an accompanying video as per usual. I hope you enjoy!
When people first meet me or look at my blog or social media, it’s easy to focus on the fact that I have a disability, because of the different ways that I have to do things as a result.
However, my visual impairment is just one part of me. It does have an impact on me, sure, and is an important aspect of my life. But it doesn’t stop me from being happy and successful and exploring the world around me. So there is far more to me and my identity than just a couple of wonky eyes, as regular readers of my blog will know already.
So in this post I want to list some of the other key things that make me who I am, all of which seem to begin with the letter C now I think about it. I was tagged to do this by Holly at Life Of A Blind Girl, and the #WhatMakesMe tag was originally created by Gem Turner. So thank you to Gem for initiating it and Holly for nominating me, and I hope you all enjoy reading about what makes me who I am.
It’s now time to do my August Favourites post and video, to bring myself up to date before I get into an eventful September. August was again busy on the social media front, and there was important stuff going on at home too. But I also had time to go out and do a nice variety of things as well. So it was another productive and enjoyable month, and I hope you enjoy reading about it.
Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and that 2018 is a joyful and prosperous year for you. 🙂
This Christmas marked my first anniversary of moving to London. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long already. And 2017 has been an amazing year! Although I was already used to getting around the city from my previous visits, it was still a leap into the unknown in many respects to actually live here. I had no idea how well it would work out, how safe or comfortable I would feel, how accessible events and attractions would be, and how easy it would be to make friends.
But it’s been more than worth the effort, and I’m extremely happy with how well it’s gone, given all the friends I’ve made, places I’ve explored, new things I’ve tried, and the opportunities I’ve taken up. A year ago I never imagined that I would be doing many of the things that have transpired in the months since.
I’m also pleased that my blog, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages have had a steady increase in followers over the year. Sure, I don’t have big numbers compared to the bigger bloggers out there, but relative to where I was a year ago it’s been a substantial leap. And my goals for this haven’t been about the numbers anyway. Making connections, sharing my experiences and spreading a bit of awareness was always my aim, and I’ve been achieving that. It’s resulted in numerous opportunities and new experiences, including guest posts, a public speech (with another planned for next year), participating in a research study (which is continuing next year), being interviewed by a journalist, and more. My efforts have been paying off more than I could ever have imagined, and I’m loving it.
But above all, thank you so much to everyone I’ve met and interacted with during the year, whether it be in person or online. By reading, liking and sharing my content, leaving comments, asking questions, sending me private messages and emails, giving me opportunities for guest posts and public talks, and even meeting up in person, you’ve helped to make this year a very special one for me. Especially Aniridia Network UK, Nystagmus Network, London Vision, Thinking Bob, VocalEyes, RNIB, Scope, Fashioneyesta, Life Of A Blind Girl, My Blurred World, Luke Sam Sowden & All The Stations, but also everyone else that I’ve had any kind of contact with during the year.
Everyone has been very positive and supportive, and your involvement has enabled me to start this new chapter in my life with confidence and comfort, and fun and friendship. And for that I’ll always be very grateful. 2017 will forever be one of the most significant and happy of my life, nothing will take that away.
And I’ve had a lovely Christmas to finish it off in style, so I wanted to bring you up to date with how it went and the various things I enjoyed. This is quite an epic post as a result, and I’ve also filmed a video that mentions some of the stuff here along with my general reflections on 2017 as a whole. So I hope you enjoy!
This Monday I finally got to meet one of my favourite Youtubers – Emily Davison from Fashioneyesta. We spent a delightful day together at Knole Park in Sevenoaks, and she’s posted a wonderful vlog about it on her second channel. So I wanted to blog about it from my own perspective as well, which I hope you enjoy!
Well Eye Never 
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