Who would have thought that having a chunk of flesh from both sides of your chest removed would hurt? Everyone except me, apparently. I went in for a small revision to my top surgery yesterday. It was a comparatively small process, when you consider the original surgery. I was awake for this one, and because…
Category: Thoughts
Impermanence
I’m in the process of moving to the other end of the country. Not my first move, and as my nephew pointed out, at least this one is in the same country, which they haven’t always been. But somehow this one feels a lot bigger. Perhaps it’s because over the last four years, I’ve built…
Sometimes it just sucks
I am currently in Brighton. I recently got a job in the area, so I’m on a frantic hunt for somewhere to live. I am also very stressed. Not because of the house move, although that isn’t helping. I’m stressed because navigating Brighton makes me want to cry. I am trying to remind myself that…
Change
I’ve been thinking about how much has changed since I started writing this blog 14 years ago. Sometimes the name of the blog makes me cringe, because I was so much younger when I came up with it. Yet by now, people know it as my blog, and changing it seems like far more effort…
What the AI may take away
AI can open up information access for blind people, but we need to be aware of what it takes away from us. I’ve seen a lot of talk within the blind community which celebrates AI completely uncritically. There are smart glasses and apps on our phone which describe the world to us, and isn’t that…
A New Year
Condensing a whole year into a single post always feels like an impossible task. I will inevitably miss details that were important or events that had a significant impact on my life. One thing I can say is that last year felt like the most settled of all my adult years. I didn’t move house…
Creating tactile graphics on a braille embosser, first experiments
Further to my previous efforts to create tactile graphics, I’ve been messing about with creating them using my braille embosser. There are clear advantages to this over using a tactile image printer, mostly cost. A box of 1000 sheets of braille paper costs around £65, whereas a box of 100 sheets of swell paper for…
University, interesting books, and the death of blogging
I’ve been back at university for almost two weeks now, and it still feels strange to write these words. For those who don’t know, I decided to get a second undergraduate degree, studying Classical Studies at the Open University. This means studying online rather than going to a university in person, and I’m also doing…
Assistance on the Railway Fails Again
Once again, a disabled person has been left on a train. When I was scrolling social media earlier today I saw a post by Tanni Grey-Thompson, former Paralympian and Member of the House of Lords, stating that she had to crawl off a train yesterday. Tanni is a wheelchair user, who is forced to request…
A complicated loss
In December 2022, three months into my PhD, I dropped out. It was objectively the right decision, but that doesn’t mean that thinking about it isn’t painful. I had applied for my PhD at a time when life seemed if not simple, then like it was heading in the direction I wanted it to. I…