2023 has been a mixture of success, unexpected endings, new beginnings, fun-filled activities and memories.
Here I share some of my highlights and favourite things that I experienced and relished in 2023:
Greatest work achievement of 2023
My greatest achievement of 2023 has to be launching our online disability magazine Crip Life™. It was a rather quick and sudden decision but with mine and Joanna’s skills, knowledge and experiences, I think we’ve pulled off something pretty great, which we hope will grow further and reach millions of people.
Since launching in May 2023, Crip Life™ has published over 70 articles, secured exclusive interviews and collaborated with over a dozen companies. We have reached more than 5000 visitors, a combined social media following of approximately 1350 followers and over 190 subscribers to the free monthly newsletter.
Crip Life™ is an online disability magazine for anyone and everyone – whether you’re disabled yourself, know disabled people, work in the disability sector, study or educate in disability and/or are an ally of the disability community – you will find Crip Life™ a great resource for information, advice, entertainment and support.
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.
5 most popular blog posts of 2023
These are five of my most viewed blog posts written this year:
- 10 perks of being a disabled person
- 8 TV programmes that should have audio description
- 8 TV shows to watch this Disability Pride Month
- Guest Blog: 6 tips to simplify the moving house process when you have an autistic child
- Review: Victorious Festival 2023 (Saturday)
Favourite gig of 2023
Looking back on my Live Music Reviews this year, it occurred to me I did not attend as many as I thought in 2023. I think in terms of a favourite, I’m torn between Victorious Festival in Portsmouth and S Club in Cardiff.
But as well as live music, I also attended several comedy shows including Russell Howard, Rosie Jones and Chris & Rosie Ramsey’s Shagged Married Annoyed live show, which were all hilarious and great fun.
Favourite song of 2023
Without any hesitation, my favourite song of 2023 is definitely Rescued by Foo Fighters. This was the first music released by the band since the sad passing of their incredible drummer Taylor Hawkins last year.
The new single Rescued is the most incredible comeback single and is very emotional and poignant for the situation the band were in. When it got released back in April, I was constantly listening to it non-stop for the past week or so and I can’t get enough of it.
Their new album But Here We Are is also an absolute masterpiece and I’m buzzing to see Foo Fighters live again in 2024 but it will be better sweet without the amazing Taylor Hawkins!
Favourite sports moment of 2023
This is a hard one this year. My expected and most obvious answer would be the Women’s World Cup in the summer, but with England missing out on the win, it is kind of a bittersweet moment.
I guess my other two highlights would be Chelsea women winning the Women’s Super League and FA Cup final, and Portsmouth men securing a 27 league game unbeaten run from March to November, until Blackpool spoiled it with a 4 – 0 win on 25th November.
Favourite book of 2023
I’ve read about two dozen books this year but I think my favourite has to be the latest instalment of the Strike series,The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling). It was a very dramatic and intense book but thoroughly enjoyable. It was still left on a very irritating cliffhanger, so I hope there is an eighth book.
Favourite TV show of 2023
I’ve watched so much telly this year that there are too many shows to choose from. Therefore, here I will share my top five favourite TV programmes of 2023:
- Sex Education
- Ted Lasso
- Rosie Jones: Am I A R*tard?
- The Vampire Diaries
- The Patient
Favourite film of 2023
I haven’t watched lots of new films this year but I did thoroughly enjoy watching the new Wonka film, which is a prequel of the original Willy Wonka story, where we discover how the chocolate maker begins his journey to creating his factory.
Life-changing event of 2023
I would say my life changing moment of 2023 was having to say goodbye to 11 wonderful years working at Disability Horizons. It was a very unexpected and sudden decision by its co-founder to close it down and it was so sad for everyone involved.
We had so many plans and ideas to grow this incredible online magazine and community even more, but those opportunities turned out not to be possible.
I learnt so many skills and gain so much confidence during my time at Disability Horizons and grateful for all the support by my colleagues and our readers. It felt like the end of an era, when it was announced, but it has helped me move forward on to the next chapter in my career.
My summary of 2023
In case you missed any of my blog posts this year, here is a recap of the monthly roundups:
- January 2023 summary: Seeking a more sociable life
- February 2023 summary: Continuing the status quo
- March 2023 summary: The end of an era
- April 2023 summary: A medical marathon
- May 2023 summary: Celebrating the launch of Crip Life™
- June 2023 summary: a kaleidoscope of work, heat and virtual fun
- July 2023 summary: We’re bringing it home again… hopefully
- August 2023 summary: The wait goes on…
- September 2023 summary: The animal kingdom at a distance
- October 2023 summary: Road trip, comedy and a S Club Party
- November 2023 summary: A very naughty night out
- December 2023 summary: festive films, food and fun
Changes to Rock For Disability content
Due to my commitments at Crip Life™, my voluntary work at the lABLEd Podcast and my keenness to pursue other projects, I am scaling back the amount of content I publish on Rock For Disability.
Instead of frequent content every two weeks, I plan to just post content as and when available and when relevant to the time of year. Any future life updates, announcements and summaries will be available to view on my social media accounts. So if you don’t follow me already, please do.
I can assure you, this is not the end of Rock For Disability but I’m focusing on the quality of blog posts, rather than the quantity of blog posts.
Please continue to browse and share all my previous blog content and continue to subscribe for updates on new content throughout 2024.
My New Year’s resolution 2024
I have decided for my New Year’s resolution, I’m going to be more active on Instagram. I originally created an Instagram account three years ago, but didn’t really intend on using it to post things, but to search contacts for interviews while working at Disability Horizons.
However, when I started Crip Life™, I created an Instagram account for the online disability magazine and been running it for the past seven months and it has turned out to be our most successful social media platform so far.
Therefore, I have decided to take the plunge and make an effort to post content on my personal account to help raise the profile of me, my work and my campaigning. You can follow me @p94_emma.
