This September has been a rather different and bittersweet time with the sad passing of my beloved dog Sasha and adventuring out to meet colleagues and businesses at the Naidex exhibition.
Farewell Sasha
As you may already be aware if you follow my blog and/or on social media, on the 8th September, our family dog Sasha passed away. She had 15 incredible years of life and brought smiles and laughter to us all.
Although it was so sad and heart-breaking to see her go, we knew it was her time and we felt a bit of relief that she wasn’t suffering anymore, and she no longer depended on us.
We had her cremated and she was put into a beautiful, patterned urn with trees, which we will treasure forever.
In my blog summary below, you can read my latest blog post Farewell Sasha, in which I share stories and photos of her crazy, amusing and adventurous life.
Disability Horizons at Naidex 2021
Naidex is Europe’s largest disability exhibition, which I attended for the first time back in 2019 with my colleagues at Disability Horizons.
After the event was postponed three times over the past 18 months due to Covid-19, I finally got to attend again this September. It was of course a lot quieter with less visitors and exhibitors due to many vulnerable people still not keen on attending large events.
Again, I was attending to represent Team DH. We had a stall filled with products from our online shop, which we launched in 2020. Our shop manager Duncan and our customer service advisor Archie were there. I also briefly met with one of our other writers Lucy too.
I spent most of my time at the stall handing out leaflets and sharing information about our site and shop. Sadly, we couldn’t get a barcode scanner to let people sign up to our newsletter but we hope people who took a leaflet will sign up.
I also browsed the other stalls and did some networking with other companies to collaborate with.
I even got to say hello to some of the team at AccessAble and Able Move, who I also do content for. However, I missed out on saying hi to Disability Horizons’ co-founder and disability A-lister Martyn Sibley this time.
Disability Horizons
Away from Naidex, I managed to publish a few articles too. In early September, I published our final Paralympic interview with sprinter Libby Clegg. Following the games, I also published a highlights piece of Team GB’s success.
Our Paralympic coverage doesn’t end there though, as I’m planning to interview more athletes over the coming months about their achievements in Tokyo – stay tuned.
I also published a few other articles including:
- 8 kitchen aids for disabled people to prepare and enjoy meals with ease
- Mission Accessible: Rosie Jones stars in short-form travelogue series on Channel 4
- 8 accessible and functional products for disabled children heading back to school
All my Disability Horizons content is now available to view in one place on the Emma Purcell Author’s page. This link can also be accessed on the “Disability Horizons” button on the menu page on the left of this site.
My featured content, product articles and sponsored posts for Disability Horizons can be viewed in my Journo Portfolio.
To read my latest news stories, interviews and featured articles on a regular basis, as well as browse other content from the rest of the amazing DH team, subscribe to the Disability Horizons newsletter.
Books
This month I began reading a book series called Lovely Lane by Nadine Dorries, which is about five girls in the 1950’s training to be nurses in Liverpool. There are five books in the series and I’m only on book one.
The story begins with the girl’s backgrounds and them enrolling onto the course. Then we follow their journeys as they work on different wards.
I wouldn’t say at this stage it’s an incredible book, but I think I need to give it more time before I give it my thoughts. I do find it interesting to see how healthcare worked in those days with the infancy of the NHS.
TV
In the first week of September, I was pretty much focused on the Paralympic coverage and The Last Leg on Channel 4.
I think my favourite moments of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games was watching Hannah Cockroft win double gold in the T34 100m and 800m, the mixed relay event with different impairment and Team GB winning gold in wheelchair rugby.
I also spent two weeks binge watching the full box set of Line of Duty. I’ve known about the show for years but just never got round to watching it until now. I decided to watch it now after seeing them on the National Television Awards.
It was definitely dramatic and binge-worthy and like everyone else said, the ending was disappointing and still left unanswered questions.
I do have one thought though (spoiler alert) that when DI Cotton was giving his dyeing declaration, and he said the letter H, he wasn’t spelling a name but the word “hand” to indicate the morse code with his fingers.
I also binge-watched the third series of Netflix Original Sex Education, which was really good, especially the storyline with disabled character Issac.
In addition, I watched the final series of Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father, in which comedian Jack Whitehall and his 81-year-old father Michael go on different adventures together.
This series, due to travel restrictions, the pair had to settle for a UK trip, which started in London and went to Dorset, Kent, Devon, Wales, Lake District and Scotland. If you need a good giggle, this show is extremely funny and histerical.
Audio Description petition
My campaign for audio description has continued throughout September 2021 and the petition has now reached 3388 signatures, which is great!
But I’m eager to reach thousands. The more signatures we get, the more likely changes could be made within the TV & films industries. Please, please, PLEASE continue to sign & share my petition!
Guest Bloggers Wanted
I’m still eager to collaborate with even more bloggers in 2021. So, if you’re a lifestyle, disability and/or music blogger, send me your blog stories. Plus let me know if you’d like me to feature on your blog as a guest blogger.
I’m flexible with any type of blog posts; life story, disability awareness, music event, musician promotion – basically anything to do with life, disability or music!
In addition, I have a guest blog series called “RFD Question Time with…” where I interview disabled people and/or bloggers. If you’d like to be interviewed in this series, please also contact me.
Blog post roundup
In case you missed any of my blog posts this month, here is a roundup of them:
5 favourite blog posts
Here are my 5 favourite blog posts I’ve read this month:
- Leaving a Legacy at My Life Kerry’s Way
- #WeThe15 at Hannah’s Hope
- Press Review: Rock of Ages at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham at Suzie Speaks
- What is the difference between a Disability Minister and a Disability Commissioner? at The View From Where I Sit
- A note from the girl in the wheelchair at Gin and Lemonade
