December is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year.However for me, it has become the most heart-breaking time of the year, adding to what has already been a sad and sorrowful year. Plus, I was supposed to enjoy some time off and relaxation after a few busy months of work. Instead, this ended up being a lot of stress and chaos rebranding my blog.
Disability Horizons
After doing so much work at Disability Horizons over the past few months, I decided I deserved a well-earned break.
I did manage to finish off a few projects and pieces of content at the beginning of December though:
- Rob Smith: designer of the Active Hands gripping aids
- 8 accessible products to help you enjoy arts and crafts if you have a disability
- Deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis wins Strictly Come Dancing 2021
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.
Migrating blog
With my current WordPress subscription due to expire in December and keen to add and improved features on my blog, I decided to migrate to a self-hosting platform.
However, this was a lot harder than I expected and it is taking me almost a month to complete.
As you can see, a lot of my content is currently not available as I’ve moved it back to draft so I can edit the fonts and layout to how I would like it as it’s not migrated exactly as I hoped.
There was an option for WordPress experts to do the migration for me but being a stubborn idiot that I was I thought I’d do it myself – big mistake that was.
Sadly, because I’d already started it, I was no longer eligible for the free service.
Nevertheless, I am hoping to get all my content back up as soon as possible – stay tuned!
Losing Lottie
If you follow me on social media or have seen my latest update to my blog anniversary post, you would’ve seen that I was given the very sad news that another close friend of mine from school, Lottie Rapson, passed away in mid-December.
It was such a shock and I’ve still not really come to terms with it yet. Her family arranged a private funeral last week and therefore I’ve not been able to pay my respects yet.
However, her family have announced that in the spring/summer of 2022 they’re going to organise LottieFEST, in which we can all come together and celebrate her life. She loves live music and festivals so this will be a fitting tribute to her.
I would also like to mention the sad loss of my former colleague at Disability Horizons Chris Cusack who also died suddenly this month. Although I never met him in person, we had a great time chatting over the phone or on video calls about live music and going to gigs. My condolences go to his wife Amy and daughter Grace.
Drama Christmas performance
On a brighter note, I got to perform with my drama group in our Christmas production at the West End centre.
We did a show called A Contractually Obliged Christmas, which is set in a department store and the CEO Felicity Artifice takes over the store and tries to steal the will of her late father.
I played one of Felicity’s assistants Sarah who spends most of the time bickering with the other assistant Nigel.
Despite the difficult rehearsals we had and not having a full cast throughout the whole term, we managed to pull it off on the nights!
Christmas celebrations
Due to the sad circumstances of lost friends this year, my family and I weren’t really in the Christmas spirit much but we still manage to try and enjoy it best we could.
I did attend a virtual Christmas party with my colleagues at Disability Horizons, which was fun.
On Christmas Day itself, my grandma came down from Newcastle and we spent the day at my parent’s house opening presents and eating food, which was nice.
My favourite gifts were tickets to see The Proclaimers in Southampton next year and a silver Harry Potter bracelet with a snitch charm on it.
Donations
As you may have seen in my previous posts and on social media, I’m still asking for more donations to help fund my future blog content and donate to four amazing charities.
Due to the changes to my blog, donations can be made via a PayPal link that I have created, which you can pay via PayPal or card.
I’ve also extended the 2021 deadline to 31st January 2022 because my site was offline for so long and people could not access the donation button.
So far, we have raised £115, with 20% going to four charities in honour of four friends that we have lost this year.
Head to the donations page to give what you can. You can find out more information on the four charities I’m supporting this year in my blog roundup below.
Books
I’ve been reading the Strike book series by J. K. Rowling for the last few weeks. I am currently on Book 4 Lethal White.
I don’t usually read detective stories, but this series is really good. I particularly like how many references/characters there are with disabilities.
My only criticism would be is that they do refer to people with wheelchairs as “wheelchair-bound”, which I don’t think is appropriate. Instead. it should be described as a “wheelchair user”.
TV
I finished watching I’m a Celebrity at the beginning of the month. I was slightly disappointed with the final two and the winner. I would’ve preferred Frankie and David to be in the final two but hey ho – well done Danny!
I also watched the full series of the Beatles documentary Get Back. It was really interesting and surprising how good the quality was considering it was filmed in 1969.
I think it could’ve been cut back a little bit because there were some things that they go on a bit too long but I definitely like the last episode when they were recording on the roof and members of the public were just casually wandering around watching them.
My Christmas TV highlight has to be watching the Christmas Comedy Club With Lost Voice Guy on ITV. Disabled comedian Lost Voice Guy (Lee Ridley) was hosting the show along with a range of guest comedians.
One of the guest comedians was Rosie Jones, who told a hilarious story about Christmas with cerebral palsy, which later made me realise why I also have cerebral palsy.
Find out more in my Facebook status below –
Audio Description petition
My campaign for audio description has continued throughout December 2021 and the petition has now gained a total of 3417 signatures, which is incredible!
But I’m eager to reach thousands more. 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 2022. 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:
- Celebrate 4 years of Rock For Disability by giving a charitable donation
- Music Interview: Flush
- Rock For Disability Re-brand for 2022
- Music Interviews: 2021 roundup
5 favourite blog posts
Here are my 5 favourite blog posts I’ve read this month:
- 13 years to long! at My Life, Kerry’s Way
- Blogmas: The Christmas Song Tag at Got Meghan
- Encanto (2021) & the Disabled Protagonist at Little Sea Bear
- The Butterfly Effect of Online Activism at Diary of a Disabled Person
- Christmas Wish List at You Can Always Start Now
