5 years of Life of a Blind Girl

The 12th January 2020 is a special day for me, as Life of a blind Girl turned 5 years old. On this day 5 years ago, I published my first ever blog post, I didn’t have any idea where blogging would take me. I never could have expected that having a passion for writing, helping others and raising awareness would lead me to some incredible opportunities and help me get to where I am today.

 

When I was growing up, blogs weren’t really a thing, I didn’t have any disabled role models that I could look up to or relate to in some way. Over the years, blogging became more popular and I started to read blogs by other people. There were only a handful of disabled bloggers though, so I decided to dip my toes in the water and start my own blog, just as a hobby and the chance to have my own small platform to raise awareness and help others. Little did I know that it would be so much more than that.

I’m passionate about helping others, so I wanted to try and help others in a similar situation through my writing if I could and also be that role model that I could have done with when I was younger.

I didn’t expect that anyone would read my writing, but if my words could help at least one person in some way then that was a bonus.

I never could have imagined that I’d be sat here 5 years later, reflecting on my blogging journey so far.

 

Blogging has brought many things to my life – a couple of accolades that I now have to my name, tons of opportunities and life-long friends.

 

5 years of Life of a Blind Girl

Let’s be honest, when I started blogging, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing or what direction I wanted to take my blog, and I didn’t know if it was something that I’d keep up and actually stick to.

It started with a rather vague focus on vision impairment and disability, but the more I started to write, the more I opened up about my own experiences and started to tackle some of the misconceptions. I became even more passionate about raising awareness, breaking down barriers and creating change, it sparked determination in me. It moved onto concert related posts as well as a few lifestyle posts thrown in the mix.

 

Blogging also helped me to connect with the online disabled community, especially through Twitter. I connected with other bloggers and also found a community of like-minded people who were all trying to create change for disabled people. I started to talk about my disability on social media and use those platforms as an extension of my blog, but also as a way of raising awareness. Disability is something I’m always talking about on social media now.

 

My blog has come a long way, I’ve discussed various topics relating to disability – from confidence, acceptance, independence, education and employment, but also to some of the practical sides of living with a vision impairment such as a few life hacks as well as assistive technology. These are posts that I could have done with reading when I was younger.

I’ve built my own little community and my writing has somehow managed to reach people from all over the world.

 

Some highlights from the last 5 years

Life of a Blind Girl has evolved in so many ways, it isn’t just my hobby anymore, it’s a huge part of my life and is helping carve out aspects of my future in a way.

 

There have been many highlights over the last 5 years, so I thought I’d take a look back at some of them.

 

•Winning the award for Social Media Influencer of the Year at the RNIB See Differently Awards 2019

•Being named as one of the top 100 most influential disabled people in the UK in Shaw Trust’s Disability Power 100 List for two years in a row!

•Being awarded the runner-up prize for Campaigner of the Year at the 2019 Sense Awards

•Becoming a part of the online vision impairment and disabled communities and making wonderful friends

•Having a platform to raise awareness, break down barriers and help others

•Receiving messages from my readers saying that my blog posts have helped them in some way

•Gaining readers from all over the world

•Having the chance to be interviewed on BBC Radio York, BBC Radio Leeds and RNIB Connect Radio

•Being featured in magazines and newspapers

•Being featured in Allure Magazine alongside some incredible blind and vision impaired women

•Having the chance to be interviewed on a couple of podcasts

•Writing an article for issue 22 of Blogosphere Magazine

•Getting involved in campaigns by charities such as the RNIB and Scope

•Writing articles for organisations and publications such as Scope, Able Magazine, Blind New World and many others

•Doing two sponsored blog posts

 

There have been some real highlights and pinch me moments over the last 5 years but none of them would have been possible without your constant support, I can’t thank you enough!

 

Life of a blind Girl is more than a blog for me, it’s a reminder of how far I’ve come in life in terms of my own personal journey with my disability, my career and the things that I’ve done and achieved over the years.

My blog is very much focused around disability, but it is also a place where I document my thoughts and feelings but also where I share some of my favourite memories. It has grown and developed a lot over the last 5 years but so have I. The posts demonstrate how far I’ve come as I’d never had the confidence to share my experiences, open up about my disability and grab opportunities a few years ago. My blog really shows how far I’ve come as a person and I feel like blogging has had a huge impact on that.

 

My younger self would never have believed what my blog would ever turn into and the opportunities I’d have because of it!

 

I want to thank you all for your support – every like, comment, share and follow means more than you know. Thank you for reading all of my posts, whether you’ve been here since the beginning or recently came across my blog, you all play a part in making Life of a Blind Girl what it is today. Thank you for being on this journey with me.

 

Here’s to the next 5 years!

 

Holly x