August 2022 summary: Feeling hot hot hot

August 2022 has been the hottest month I have ever known and it was a killer at times. But thankfully I survived and had a productive month of work, a nice sociable weekend and discovered an incredible new podcast.

Disability Horizons

Following my time off at the end of June and early July, work at Disability Horizons is back in full swing. There has been a mixture of news content, feature pieces, an interview, shop newsletters and product edits.

Here are some of the articles I published in August:

• 11 disability podcasts that give advice, support and humour

• 8 myths about living with urinary catheters busted

• Paralympian Ellie Simmonds set to take part in Strictly Come Dancing 2022
• Rose Ayling-Ellis reveals first-ever Barbie doll with hearing aids
• 8 adaptable and inclusive travel accessories for disabled adventurers
• Why the Glideboard is the best transfer board for disabled people on the market
• Cristel Guzman: designer of the Optivus adaptable streetwear clothing range

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.

Accessible trip to the beach

A couple of weeks ago, I met up with my friends Steph and Paul, plus Steph’s mum and brothers, at Southsea beach. We had drinks and snacks at a fish & chips pub then made our way to the seafront.

I’ve lived near Portsmouth almost all my life and been to Southsea beach plenty of times but it has been the first time I’ve ever seen an accessible ramp down the pebble beach.  It was so lovely to be near the waves and feel included with all the other beachgoers.

lABLEd podcast

While writing the disability podcasts article, I started listening to the lABLEd podcast, hosted by Lucy Wood and Alice Evans. The podcast launched in January 2021 and I was already aware of it as I knew Lucy at the time through our work at AccessAble. However, I never got around to listen to the podcast until now.

Therefore, while writing the article, I started listening to it and was instantly hooked. I then spent the next two weeks binge-listening to almost every episode.

In each episode, they interview a range of people with different disabilities, impairments and/or health conditions. It’s really interesting learning about different disabilities and conditions and discussions on their experiences, achievements and attitudes from the rest of society.

I also love the interactions between Lucy and Alice – their honest feelings, the banter and their infectious laughter.

They also have a “history lesson” feature, in which they discuss historical figures from the disability community. This is great for those of you who are history geeks but to be honest, I’m not that keen.

Since then, I have contacted them to see if I can be a guest on their show – fingers crossed!

Books

With regard to books this month, I’ve been on an impulsive autobiographical marathon. I finished Will Smith’s book, which had a rather strange ending with eccentric psychological mindfulness and Will bungy jumping the Grand Canon on his 50^th birthday. I still think he is an incredible actor but an odd person in real life.

I then read disabled activist Samantha Renke’s autobiography You Are The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread. It was such an honest, open and moving account of her life and I learnt so much more about her.  I was especially amazed by her bravery, determination and success in moving to London from Lancaster independently, despite living with Brittle Bones.

The next book was recommended to me by the Spokz People community. Sitting Pretty is an autobiography written by Rebekah Taussig, an American teacher, writer and social media influencer who uses a wheelchair. In her book, Rebekah shares what it is like to be a disabled woman and the barriers she has faced in society. I particularly resonate with her point about kindness and how having non-disabled try and constantly help us can be very irritating and off-putting and more of a hindrance.

I’ve also just finished reading Sophie Morgan’s book Driving Forward, in which the TV presenter, artist and disability activist shares her story of how she became paralysed in a car accident, her rehabilitation and her career in the media industry. I was amazed at how much of a badass she was at school before her accident and pleased that she was honest about the ableist views she had before becoming disabled. I also like her detailed accounts of catheterisation – not enough people talk about their use of catheters.

TV

I finished watching Grace & Frankie and the show was much better than I was anticipating. Great humour and drama and a nice variety of storylines. I also noticed they had some very similar jokes to what we know and love on Friends.

I also watched two films on Amazon Prime – 13 Lives and Sound of Metal. 13 Lives is based on the true story of 12 young footballers and their coach who got trapped in a cave in Thailand and were rescued by specialist divers over several weeks. I thought the film was authentic, moving and suspenseful.

Sound of Metal is a fictional film about a drummer who goes deaf and goes to rehab for deaf addicts to deal with his drug addiction and learn to live with hearing loss. Once he masters sign language, he still wants to get cochlear implants. So he sells his music equipment and RV to pay for the $40K surgery. However, once he gets them fitted, he discovered the sound quality wasn’t perfect and he would have a better life of silence, lip reading and sign language. It made me understand more why many deaf people still need visual aids to communicate even with hearing aids.

Audio Description petition

My campaign for audio description has continued throughout August 2022 and the petition has now gained a total 3554 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

In case you missed any of my blog posts this month, here is a roundup of them:

1. Women’s Euro 2022: outstanding, inspiring and accessible – but could more be done to make football fully inclusive?
2. Music Interview Marathon 2022

5 favourite blog posts

 Here are my 5 favourite blog posts I’ve read this month: 

1. How The Small Joys Become Big Things With Chronic Illness, Disability & Pain  at Invisibly Me
2. Football for all at My Life Kerry’s Way
3. Why the Climate Crisis is a Disability Justice Issue at Diary of a Disabled Person
4. I don’t want to be your “inspiration” simply for being disabled at Life of a Blind Girl
5. How To Control Your Anger at New Lune

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