In recent weeks there has been a tension running through certain pockets of academia. It’s hard to say if this can be felt on campus, as I haven’t been there, but certainly online it is very noticeable. Some will portray it as a conflict between the rights of academics and the rights of students, others…
Author: Connor Scott-Gardner
Remembering my Mum
My mum passed away last night from cancer at the age of 68. Writing those words doesn’t feel real, as much as I know that they are. I want people to understand the person she was, as if somehow, the more people who know about her, the longer she will be with me. Although both…
Each Last Moment
You never remember your lasts. Perhaps you tell yourself that you will. Surely you will remember your last conversation with a person, last shared meal, last joke, or song you shared or book you read together. But will you? I thought I would. How could I not? My mother is dying. She knows this. I…
The Grief Before they’re Gone
I’ve become familiar with anticipatory grief, the process of grieving a loss before it actually happens. I wasn’t sure if it was something I’d write about, but I’ve always found writing helpful for making sense of the world. When someone is really ill, time does strange things to you. In some moments it feels like…
UK Conservative National Disability Strategy Fails to Uphold Principles of Democracy
This morning, the UK government released their National Disability Strategy, a paper which outlines their policy focus pertaining to disabled people. A comprehensive strategy to tackle the multiple inequities that disabled people face sounds like a good thing on the surface, however it is so vague as to mean very little in reality. Few practical…
But who are we Fighting, Really?
I’ve been reading and thinking a lot lately about the systems that enable discrimination against certain groups of people. Of course I experience this discrimination as a disabled person, but disabled people are hardly the only group to find themselves disadvantaged and on the receiving end of unequal treatment. I started my life as an…
Blindness and the Barriers to the Ancient World
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about information deprivation. These aren’t new thoughts. As a blind person, I’m constantly denied access to information that other people take for granted. That denial isn’t malicious, it’s simply a result of living in a world that isn’t designed for people like me. There are lots of very important…
Remember your Participants are Human
The ethics form for my master’s research project wasn’t approved. I have to start by saying this, because it’s what has prompted the following thoughts. I actually found the reason extremely understandable. I was going to interview participants about potentially distressing experiences, and so I was asked to consider whether there was another way I…
To Know a Body I’ve Never Seen
As a blind person, I feel a significant amount of disconnect from my own body. I feel connected to my body in a physical sense, but there is a void where all the information I’m supposed to have is painfully absent. When I climb or skate or stretch I relish the pull in my muscles,…
You’ve got to reach out
I’ve taken the chance recently to reach out to a couple of people who I know are living in the area and ask if they’d like to meet up. Much to my surprise, they’ve both said yes. I also received a message from someone on my course asking if I’d like to go for a…