March 2022 has been another extremely busy month with lots of work at Disability Horizons, continuing to restore my blog and enjoying another night of live comedy.
Disability Horizons
This month I have been occupied with numerous projects at DH HQ. Firstly, we got to enjoy 10 days of incredible sport at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing, in which I published some coverage both on our site and on Twitter.
I also published three interviews – actor and star of BBC Jerk, Tim Renkow, deaf and queer filmmaker Lindsey Dryden and actor from the film Then Barbara Met Alan, Arthur Hughes.
I also got to do a video interview with iconic rockstar, Shaun Ryder, who was diagnosed with ADHD in 2020. I was rather starstruck interviewing him but we had a great chat and the article will hopefully be published in the next week or two.
I’ve also published several news stories, a shop blog post about the RADAR key scheme and uploaded our new range of disability awareness cards to the shop.
In addition, I’ve taken on some responsibility for commissioning content for other writers and can now officially call myself an editor at Disability Horizons – I quite like that job title!
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 regularly, as well as browse other content from the rest of the amazing DH team, subscribe to the Disability Horizons newsletter.
The Disability & Journalism Forum
Last week I attended a virtual conference that discussed disabled people becoming journalists, employers in the industry retaining disabled staff and publications and broadcasters being accessible to disabled audiences.
There was a range of talks with panellists throughout the afternoon with disabled journalists, charities and organisations. It was really interesting and gave me some thought for my future career plans later this year or next year.
You can find out more about The Disability & Journalism Forum by visiting its website and following on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Blog re-brand update
As you may have seen my 2020 blog content has been restored. I’m now going through restoring my 2019 content.
In the meantime, I’m doing a feature on social media called #RFDThrowback, in which I share content from already published blog posts so new people can discover it and followers can re-visit and share.
If you haven’t already, please Like my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter and view, react and share my #RFDThrowback blog posts.
Chris Ramsey live in Portsmouth
On 12th March 2022, I saw Geordie comedian Chris Ramsey live at the Portsmouth Guildhall. This was my third time seeing him live after seeing him at Reading Festival in 2014 and previously in Portsmouth in 2017.
Nowadays, Chris is best known for being a co-host of the podcast Shagged Married Annoyed with his amazing and utterly bonkers wife Rosie, which I love.
This gig was incredible because the show was called the 20/20 Tour, in which Chris was meant to perform in the year 2020. But, of course, a pandemic hit and live comedy was cancelled for about two years.
Despite it now being 2022, Chris kept the name 20/20 and told all the same jokes and stories he originally wrote three years ago. I was amazed he managed to not share any of those stories on the podcast, TV and/or social media for 24 months.
The show itself was hilarious and I cried with laughter throughout. I won’t give too much away but I loved his story about Strictly Come Dancing and being referred to BananaMan. I think I’ll always think of that name when thinking about Chris Ramsey from now on.
I’d also like to give a mention to Chris’ support act – and friend of the podcast – Carl Hudgenson who was amazing too. He fought back perfectly against a heckler who would not shut up. Also, the stag night story was historical.
RIP Taylor Hawkins
There was some very sad news announced last week when the legendary drummer of the Foo Fighters Taylor Hawkins died at the age of 50.
I was totally shocked and stunned to hear such devastating news. He was an incredible musician and amazing drummer. I’ve seen him live three times with Foo Fighters and he is an outstanding performer. I will definitely miss his improvised solo drum parts in shows.
I was scheduled to see them again this summer but due to the circumstances, the world tour has been cancelled. It is so sad to know Taylor will never be banging on the drums and we’ll never see him blast out his rendition of Queen and David Bowie’s Underpressure.
Books
As I mentioned in January, I’ve been trying to get through all my unread books stacked up in my Audible library. This month, I read another three books –
- The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Jacob & Wilhel Grimm – Volume One
- Blood and Sand by Frank Gardener
- The Storyteller by Dave Grohl (I only finished this book days before Taylor’s death)
TV
I’ve started watching the fourth and final series of Killing Eve, with new episodes available each week. So far it is good but very complicated. There are so many new characters that I get confused. I think when the full series is available, I’ll re-watch it in full and then it might make more sense.
It was a bittersweet ending for the cast, crew and fans of Holby City as it aired its last episode this month after 23 years on TV. I will miss it but maybe some characters will move onto Casualty instead or another channel will re-commission it in the future. (Spoiler alert – although I can’t imagine watching it now my favourite character Jac Naylor has died.)
I binge-watched the second series of Netflix’s Raising Dion, which became darker and more dramatic and I think a third series is on the horizon. I also binge-watched the fourth series of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel on Amazon Prime, which continues to be a funny, witty and classy comedy-drama series.
In addition, I’m three-quarters the way through the second series of Bridgeton on Netflix. I feel it isn’t as good as series one but I’m still keen to know how it ends.
Audio Description petition
My campaign for audio description has continued throughout — 2022 and the petition has now gained a total of 3461 signatures, which is incredible!
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 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 post; 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
*No new blog posts are available this month due to re-brand*
5 favourite blog posts
Here are my 5 favourite blog posts I’ve read this month:
- The Importance Of Personal Boundaries & How To Set Them at Invisibly Me
- My 30 by 30 at Undercover Superhero
- 6 Outstanding Fiction Reads With Authentic Chronically Ill Characters at Life Of Pippa
- A Magical Wheelchair Accessible Treehouse in the Trossachs, Scotland at Simply Emma
- Feeling Top Trumped at From This Window
