2019 roundup

The end of the year is fast approaching, so I wanted to take some time to reflect and look back on 2019, a sort of diary entry in a way. It’s something that I can look back on in the future but it is also a chance for my readers to get a bit of an insight into what I’ve been up to over the last 12 months.

 

Like every year, 2019 has had its ups and downs but there has been some real highlights, I’ve achieved things that I never could have imagined, and I’ve had some incredible memories which I’ll cherish forever.

 

So, as 2019 draws to a close, I wanted to take this opportunity to look back on the year and share it all with you.

 

January

The film Bird Box sparked a lot of conversation at the start of the year, as sighted people took it upon themselves to try and carry out tasks blindfolded.

Following on from a blog post that I published about the Bird Box Challenge, I did an interview on RNIB Connect Radio and shared my thoughts and feelings on the Bird Box Challenge. It was the second interview that I’ve ever done and one that I really enjoyed.

I also took part in an Instagram story by the RNIB about the topic.

 

I spent a weekend with Elin in January, she came to stay with me, it was nice to show her where I live and have a good catch up.

 

February

It was a very busy month at work which took up the majority of my time.

One of the things that really seemed to dominate social media throughout February was the topic of blind people using phones after a photo of a lady looking at her mobile phone whilst using her cane with the caption ‘if you see what’s wrong with this photo say I see it’ with many people commenting how she was faking her blindness. Following on from this, the RNIB launched a campaign called #BlindPeopleUsePhones to tackle this incorrect ideology.

The aim of the campaign was for blind and vision impaired people to share a photo on social media of them holding their cane and mobile phone. I was keen to get involved and help tackle these misconceptions. It was a great campaign that I hope helped tackle some of the stereotypes surrounding sight loss

 

March

March was a pretty jam-packed month with a lot going on but it was great.

The month started off with a trip to Edinburgh with my family, it was a lovely day out and I always enjoy being a tourist for the day.

 

I work as an Assistive Technology Advisor at a University, to celebrate International Women’s Day, they shined a light on a number of women who are seen as role models within the University, and I was chosen as one of them! It was a big achievement for me as at that point I hadn’t even been in my job for 18 months, so to have been seen as a role model really meant a lot to me.

On the same day, I also took part in an Instagram story for the RNIB alongside some fabulous women with sight loss.

 

A week later, I made it into the Yorkshire Post, this was a huge achievement for me! I absolutely love the article and the interview was really fun. Raising awareness of sight loss within mainstream media was one of my goals for 2019 and this was the start of it.

 

The article lead to even more opportunities, I did my first ever two live radio interviews. I was interviewed on BBC Radio Leeds and BBC Radio York about all things blogging and sight loss, it definitely sparked my love for doing that sort of thing.

 

I also took part in my first ever podcast, I love listening to podcasts so as soon as the lovely Laura, the host of the Invisibility Today podcast asked if I’d be a guest, I knew I had to say yes! We had a great chat, it felt like I was talking to a friend rather than doing an interview which is always nice.

 

April

April was another busy month with all sorts going on.

I became an ambassador for the Wilberforce Trust who are a local charity. I volunteered with them when I was a teenager, so it was an honour to become an ambassador.

I also became one of AccessAble’s Yorkshire Champions, I use the app myself and think it is extremely useful, so when I was asked to become a champion I knew that it was something I wanted to do.

 

My work somehow made it over the pond in April, I contributed to an article all about beauty and sight loss in Allure Magazine, I was interviewed alongside some blind and visually impaired people that I really look up to so it was a very proud moment. I still can’t quite believe that I’ve had opportunities from the other side of the world!

 

The real standout moment of April, okay one of the highlights of 2019 (or my entire life) was meeting Shawn Mendes! I’d been counting down to that moment for months and it is something that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life. I’ll never forget it, and the concert will always hold a special place in my heart

I feel extremely lucky that I had the chance to meet one of my favourite artists and still can’t believe that it happened. I’d do anything to relive that moment all over again!

Shawn is honestly one of the nicest human beings.

 

I somehow reached 100,000 views on my blog; it was such a huge milestone for me.

 

At the end of the month, I had the chance to be interviewed for an article in the Huffington Post about what it’s like to be a young woman with a vision impairment, I really enjoyed getting involved in the article alongside Chloe and Elin.

 

May

Thankfully May was a quieter month.

The 16th of May marked Global Accessibility Awareness Day which aims to get everyone talking about accessibility and inclusion, whether this is software, on the web or mobile, it tries to encourage people to learn about accessibility. This is something that ties into my work as an Assistive Technology Advisor and my own interests in technology. The RNIB asked me to get involved with their Instagram story to mark the day, I spoke about VoiceOver on my iPhone, iPad and Mac and how it is a great feature that enables me to use these devices just like sighted people.

 

June

The start of June saw myself and my friend Jess launch our exciting new project Access For Us, which hopes to create change for disabled fans attending concerts, festivals and theatre shows, we also aim to highlight the lack of access. It is focused around disabled people sharing their experiences by writing a blog post for us or taking part in an interview. We’ve had some great posts and interviews so far and I hope that it is something that we can continue in 2020 and beyond.

 

As part of work, I had the opportunity to speak at a conference alongside two of my colleagues, the presentation was all about making content accessible and it also involved me doing a screen-reader demonstration. It was a bit of a nerve-racking experience, but one that I very much enjoyed and that I’m really proud of myself for doing.

I also did the same presentation later on in the month as part of a training day.

 

July

AT the start of the month I found out that I had been nominated and shortlisted for the Campaigner of the Year award at the 2019 Sense Awards, it was such a lovely surprise!

 

July was another concert month, I went with my Mum to see Lewis Capaldi at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Lewis put on a fantastic show.

 

As part of my role as an ambassador for the Wilberforce Trust, I had the chance to be on an interview panel for a job vacancy at the charity, it was a great experience and I took away many valuable skills that I’m sure will be very useful in the future.

 

I’m a regular columnist for Able Magazine, and for the first time ever, my work was published in the print magazine! It was such an amazing feeling to have an article that I had wrote to be published in print.

I also wrote a couple of other guest posts in July for some brilliant organisations.

 

August

in August I was interviewed for a piece for The Guardian all about finding work as a disabled graduate, I spoke about some of the struggles of finding employment as a disabled person and what I thought Universities could do in order to bridge the gap for disabled graduates when looking for employment.

 

I went on holiday to the Lake District with my family, after a very busy few months it was nice to have some time away from everything and visit some lovely places.

 

I was lucky enough to see Ed Sheeran at one of his homecoming gigs at Roundhay Park! The disabled access wasn’t great, but the concert was fantastic and Ed put on an amazing show as always. I felt very lucky to have had the chance to see him at such a special gig to bring his Divide Tour to a close.

 

The day after the Ed Sheeran concert, the York Press published an article about my 2019 Sense Awards nomination.

 

September

With the start of a new academic year just around the corner at work, it’s safe to say that September was the start of a very busy few months.

I was asked by one of my colleagues to help run a workshop on making social media accessible and the importance of doing so. I shared my experiences of using social media as someone with no useful vision, gave some handy tips on how to make it accessible and answered some questions. It’s great when work and passions come together.

 

I took part in my second podcast of the year, this time it was for the Sight and Sound Technology podcast, we spoke about a wide range of topics including sight loss, blogging, technology and concerts.

 

September was the 2019 Sense Awards where I had been shortlisted as Campaigner of the Year, I unfortunately couldn’t make the ceremony, but I won the runner-up prize! I am very grateful to have been recognised in this way.

 

Throughout the summer I had been doing visually impaired cycling, it was the final ride at the end of September, so we decided to celebrate a wonderful season by going for fish and chips which was a great evening.

 

I also had another article published in the print version of the September/October edition of Able Magazine.

 

October

I have a real passion for radio and at the start of October I was very kindly asked if I would like to do an interview with Simon who presents the Afternoon Edition on RNIB Connect Radio, so I obviously said yes. That has led to me having a regular feature once a month and I’ve done two interviews since, we’ve spoke about education and also the positives of having sight loss, I can’t wait for this to continue next year.

 

The 8th of October was the launch of the 2019 Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 List, I was somehow named as one of the top 100 most influential disabled people in the UK for the second year in a row! It’s something that I’m really proud of and it is a surreal feeling.

 

In the same week, I also found out that I was a national finalist for the RNIB See Differently Awards 2019 in the Social Media Influencer of the Year category, I was listed alongside Elin and Chloe who are two fabulous visually impaired bloggers, but also two of my good friends.

 

October was the month of White Cane Awareness Day and the charity LOOK-UK launched their #LoveMyCane campaign, encouraging blind and visually impaired people to love their cane and see the positives of using it. It is something that I feel really passionate about as I hated using my cane for a long time, so when I was asked if I’d write a blog post for the campaign I really wanted to get involved to share my story and hopefully help others.

 

November

November was my birthday month and I celebrated it by going out for a lovely meal with my family, I also had some birthday drinks with friends.

 

I had another radio appearance in November, I shared what it’s like to shop online using a screen-reader on the Wake up to Money show on BBC Radio 5 Live.

 

A few days later, an article about my RNIB See Differently Awards nomination was published in the York Press.

 

Time seemed to fly by and before I knew it, Tuesday 26th November was upon us which  was the day of the RNIB See Differently Awards! It was such a special day filled with inspiring stories and many memories that I will cherish for a long time.

I still can’t believe that I won the Social Media Influencer of the Year award, it feels very surreal to think that sharing my experiences of living with a vision impairment on my blog and on social media has led to something like this!

It is definitely up there as one of my highlights of 2019 and one of my proudest achievements.

 

December

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to write an article for issue 22 of Blogosphere Magazine, my article was about making your blog and social media accessible for everyone. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity, Blogosphere really is the best magazine for all things blogging, so to have been part of the latest issue means the world. It didn’t quite sink in until I received my copy of the magazine in the post.

 

This month has been filled with Christmas festivities including some celebrations with my work colleagues.

We went for a lovely lunch and also had our Christmas party, it was nice to celebrate everyone’s hard work throughout the term, it was also a chance to have a catch up with the people we don’t see as often.

 

I’ve also enjoyed a day out in London with my Mum and Dad, I love London but there isn’t anything quite like visiting at Christmas.

 

So, there you have it, a roundup of 2019. As you can probably tell, it has been a whirlwind of a year!

This year has been full of amazing opportunities which I’m beyond grateful for, I certainly don’t take them for granted and I feel very lucky.

If you’d like to read any of the guest blog posts and articles that I’ve wrote over the last 12 months, as well as listen to my radio interviews, you can find them all over on my featured page.

 

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has supported me and my blog this year. If you’ve read one post or read every single one, it truly means the world.

None of the opportunities that I’ve been lucky enough to have this year would have been possible without your constant support and I can’t put into words how grateful I am, thank you so much!

 

I’ve done things this year that I could have never imagined myself doing – from radio interviews, to speaking at a conference, writing articles, being in newspapers and winning an award, there has definitely been some pinch myself moments over the course of the year.

I’ve also had the chance to write some guest posts for charities and organisations this year, I love writing so I always enjoy doing that sort of thing.

 

I hope that I was able to use my platform effectively this year, to raise awareness and to help others in some way. I’ve published some of my favourite blog posts to date in 2019 and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.

I want to keep breaking down barriers, striving for change and raising awareness even more in 2020.

 

2019 has been full of growth and opportunities and I never would have expected that at the start of the year.

There have been a few difficult times but despite all of that, I’m really proud of myself and everything that I’ve achieved this year.

 

I hope that 2020 brings you lots of happiness, success and positivity.

 

What have been some of your highlights from 2019? Let me know in the comments.

 

Until next year!

 

Holly x