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,…
Author: Connor Scott-Gardner
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…
I Don’t Want a World Without Disabled People
Last night I was reading an article about a start-up that claims it can help prospective parents by allowing them to choose healthy embryos. I’ve written multiple times about my fears around tech companies that want to create genetically perfect matches, and my relief that my parents were never concerned with finding a cure for…
Getting Lost in Language
I learnt something about power in advocacy spaces when I studied abroad in Colombia. Specifically about communication involving people who speak different languages. It’s something I’ve wanted to write about for a while, but I’ve never been quite sure if I’m the right person to share it. I’m hoping that by writing about this, others…
Who has the Right to Cause Hurt?
This semester I’m taking a class in European human rights law. It’s one of the most complex and deeply interesting classes I’ve ever taken, not least because it forces me to ask myself difficult questions that I may not want to answer. I think that’s so important as a student, that I’m challenged to push…
There’s no map for navigating loss
Earlier this week I received a call from Guide Dogs finalising the rehoming of Isla, my retired dog. In four days, she’ll have lived with her new family for two years, but various logistical things meant this process took longer than expected. It was a routine call and yet when I hung up all I…
I am Not a Commodity to be Bought
Recently I’ve started exploring my feelings around being a postgraduate student on this blog, documenting the highs and lows as it were of student life. But I’ve also been writing more about my interactions with others and exploring how I feel about being a blind person. In some ways I’ve always done this. This blog…
Cry over your research and then get over it
Today I cried over a research proposal. Truly I am living the very glamorous life of a postgraduate student. The research proposal is for an applied project that I’m completing in place of a dissertation for my master’s degree, and when I received the feedback on it all I could do was cry. Truthfully it…
Who should Speak for Justice?
I wish we put as much pressure on society to change as we put on young disabled people to learn self-advocacy skills. This is a particular problem within education and advocacy spaces, where the concept of self-advocacy is considered to be somewhat sacred. I used to really push for these skills, believing that they were…
Academia. It’s a Mystery
One very exciting thing about being a postgraduate student is that I get to attend a lot of academic conferences. But I also know just enough to enable me to submit papers and presentations of my own. There are whole events designed to give postgraduate students this kind of experience, and I’m jumping at the…