As well as continuing to work hard at Crip Life™ HQ, October 2023 included a visit to the theatre for some very inclusive and diverse comedy, and a road trip to Cardiff via Bristol to visit friends and enjoy some nostalgic live pop music.
Crip Life™
We’ve continued to publish a variety of content on Crip Life™ and working with even more organisations. We’ve partnered with Transport for London (TfL) to promote its latest public consultation on proposed changes to taxi fares. I’ve published an interview with physically disabled cricketer Callum Flynn. Also, tomorrow (30th Oct), we will be publishing a featured article looking at the impact fireworks have on people with disabilities and mental health problems.
You can browse all the articles we published this month on our October 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 (the October edition will be sent out 31/10/2023), following us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & LinkedIn), advertising with us, publishing your research and/or donating to us.
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Rosie Jones live in Southampton
In mid-October, I finally got to see the incredibly funny and talented comedian Rosie Jones at the MAST Mayflower in Southampton. It was an awesome performance and her comedy timing was perfect. Of course, some jokes referred to her sexuality and disability but there were plenty of other generic funny stories about relationships, family, society and sex. My favourite moment was her story about wanting to become a National Treasure but, to be honest, she is already a National Treasure to me.
There was the opportunity to meet Rosie at the merch stand but the queue was already a mile long, so there was no chance of me getting there before midnight. We did manage to get a photo of her though –
Road trip to Cardiff (via Bristol)
Last week, I travelled to Cardiff to go see S Club in concert. En route to Cardiff, I visited my friends Steph and Paul in Bristol, where they made an amazing cottage pie and served a lovely and gooey chocolate cake. It was nice to spend time with them and catch up on things.
I then continued my journey to Cardiff, staying at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Cardiff city centre. This was my third time staying at this hotel and the accessibility is overall good except for one slight issue – the lift. The accessible room has a ceiling hoist, which is great but the room is on the second floor. The lift to get upstairs is very small and I have to get in at an angle. On this particular visit, I found a way to remove my stabilisers temporarily to get a bit more room in the lift. But it does concern me that anybody with a bigger wheelchair than mine would never fit in the lift. This hotel seriously needs to invest in bigger lifts or have the accessible room on the ground floor.
The next day, we took a stroll across Cardiff Bay before meeting my friend Pluggy for dinner at the hotel and then heading to the Utilita Arena for S Club.
S Club live in Cardiff
A full review of S Club’s live show in Cardiff will be published on 6th November. In the meantime, I’ll just say, overall, the S Club 25th anniversary tour exceeded almost all my expectations and it is so true that there is “Ain’t no party like an S Club Party!!!”
Books
I finished Rise of the School For Good and Evil but was quite disappointed by it and it wasn’t what I expected. I understood it was a prequel to the main series but I got lost in most of the storyline of each character. It has put me off reading the second book in the series, but I may try again at a later time.
Instead, I read Dawn French’s latest book The Twat Files, in which she shares funny stories from her personal and professional life where she was an utter twat.
I am now a quarter of the way through reading the next instalment of the Strike series by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling). The Running Grave is the seventh book of the detective series, which sees Strike and Robyn investigate suspicious events at a religious cult known as the Universal Humanitarian Church. It is a long, challenging and complex read but definitely not a book to put down.
TV
I watched three series of the school-based drama Ackley Bridge on Channel 4. I kept seeing it come up in adverts and thought I’d give it a go. It is basically about a fictional school in Yorkshire that merges British white and Pakistani kids together and all the usual school drama from students and teachers that comes with it. I enjoyed the first two series but when they killed off one of the main characters in the third series, it wasn’t as good. I still decided to complete series three but I’m not so keen on the next series as most of the main characters I know have now left and moved on to other places such as university.
I’ve also watched three of the four episodes of the Beckham documentary on Netflix. I thought in episode one he was a bit of a pompous prat, obsessed with money, cars, watches, designer clothes and Victoria. But I did feel sorry for him after his red card at the 1998 World Cup. That challenge was nothing compared to Lauren James’ stamping at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. And the Argentinian player admitted he overreacted a pain he was in and simply playacting – like most male footballers do!
Audio Description petition
My campaign for audio description has continued throughout October 2023 and the petition has now gained a total of 3685 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 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:
- Guest Blog: How to find an accessible home to accommodate your needs
- Music Interview: Lost Dogs Of Ultimo
- Guest Blog: Business: The perfect fit for young adults with disabilities
- Music Interview: Hellaphant
5 favourite blog posts
Here are my 5 favourite blog posts I’ve read this month:
- 14 Ways Having A Stoma Bag Has Changed My Life at Invisibly Me
- Meeting American Rockband… Wheatus! at A Life On Wheels
- Ask, Don’t Assume at Diary of a Disabled Person
- Working With A Chronic Illness – All You Need To Know! at Life of Pippa
- Up at The O2 Wheelchair Climb Review: Everything You Need to Know at Simply Emma
