August 2023 has been filled with highs and lows. The highs being I’ve produced some great original content on Crip Life™, going to my first music festival since pre-Covid and having flying visits from a couple of friends. The lows were working too hard and the heartbreaking loss for England in the Women’s World Cup final.
Crip Life™
This August, we are treating you to interviews with not one but TWO extraordinary disabled people who are both doing incredible things to grow the representation and inclusion of disability.
First, we spoke to Line Of Duty actor Tommy Jessop alongside his brother Will. Tommy is on a mission to show that people with Down syndrome can play heroes too. He’s starred in high-profile TV programmes and short films, and now he wants to be a leading man. But the right roles are not being offered to him, so Tommy decides to take matters into his own hands. With the help of his brother, filmmaker Will Jessop, Tommy sets off on an epic creative journey to develop his own superhero movie and pitch it in Hollywood. This is a warm, funny and original documentary about daring to dream, created by Tommy and Will.
Our second interview was with Shelbée Clarke – an amputee footballer for Chelsea and England and the Head Coach of SEND football club SSG Celestials. Her devoted work was recognised when she became the winner of the Bobby Moore Award as part of the FA’s Grassroots Football Awards 2023.
In addition, we shared the news that the lABLEd Podcast is looking for voluntary transcribers to help write transcriptions of its episodes as part of its commitment to making its show fully accessible.
You can browse all the articles we published this month on our August 2023 archive page.
We’d appreciate you getting involved and supporting Crip Life™ in any way you can. This can be done by subscribing to our monthly newsletter, following us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & LinkedIn), advertising with us, publishing your research and/or donating to us.
Visit Crip Life™ and help us with dismantling disabling barriers one article at a time.
Football
It’s been 11 days since the Women’s World Cup final and I still can’t put into words how I feel. At the group stages, I was rather nervous and felt England’s team were doomed in the knockout stages. Then I was impressed by their performances in the quarter and semi-finals so was optimistic about the final against Spain – how wrong I was.
Yes, they played well but chances, missed opportunities and an exceptional penalty save from Mary Earps mean nothing in tournament football. Scoring goals wins games and we failed to do that. My thoughts continue to be “What if?” but I know I shouldn’t dwell on the past and just be proud of how far we reached and that we have more opportunities to try again. The wait goes on…
Overall, it was an incredible tournament and I loved watching every minute of it. Plus, it was nice to see a new team win the tournament. It’s a shame the celebrations have been overshadowed by the controversial kiss from the Spanish FA president to a Spanish player.
Going forward, I hope more people will follow women’s football at a domestic level too (FYI – the WSL starts 1st October 2023 and is available to watch and stream on the BBC, Sky Sports & The FA Player – so you have no excuse not to get involved!).
Books
I finished reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins but was thoroughly disappointed with it and continued to find it hard to follow.
I’ve now continued to read The School For Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani. I completed book 4 Quest for Glory and because it had such a big cliffhanger, I’ve gone straight into book 5 A Crystal of Time. They are great stories but a lot to digest.
Also, I’m finding a lot of similarities to Harry Potter. I’ve heard the phrase “for the greater good”, a suggestion that “one has to kill the other” and they have maps to monitor people very similar to the Marauder’s Map – a possible lawsuit for J.K Rowling?
TV
Away from the football, I watched the second series of Heartstopper on Netflix, a teen drama about coming of age, romance and identity. I wish there were more programmes like this available to watch when I was a teenager but I never feel too old to watch shows like this.
I then rewatched the full box set of Outnumbered on Netflix, just because I love it and fancy watching it again.
I also watched a horror film called Eli, which my screen reader pronounced as “Ellie” when in fact it was pronounced “E-lie”. The film is about a boy called Eli who is believed to have a weekend immune system meaning he is vulnerable to all germs and viruses and has to stay indoors and wear a hazmat suit when he goes outside. His parents take him to a specialist health facility that reckons he can be treated but it leads to twists and turns and not all as it seems. It was very dark, suspenseful and dramatic.
I am now rewatching the full box set of Sex Education ahead of the fourth and final series being released in mid-September.
Audio Description petition
My campaign for audio description has continued throughout August 2023 and the petition has now gained a total of 3683 signatures, which is incredible!
But I’m eager to reach thousands more. The more signatures we get, the more likely changes will be made within the TV and film industries. Please, please, PLEASE continue to sign & share my petition!
Guest Bloggers Wanted
I’m aware I have a couple of guest blog drafts in my inbox waiting to be published. I apologise for the delay and I’ll do my best to get them uploaded in September.
In the meantime, I’m still eager to collaborate with even more bloggers in 2023. 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:
- Music Interview: Total Recall
- Accessibility features on TV streaming services in 2023
- Music Interview Marathon 2023
- Review: Victorious Festival 2023 (Saturday)
5 favourite blog posts
Here are my 5 favourite blog posts I’ve read this month:
- Ableism – Lift Dependency at The Life of Sophie
- Navigating College and University Life at The View From Where I Sit
- Digital Accessibility Matters at Diary of a Disabled Person
- How Dancing Has Helped Me To Love My Body at Little Body Huge Life
- How my disability fuels my imposter syndrome at Life of a Blind Girl
