If someone had told me 6 months ago that I would be sat outside my 20+ year-old camper van at 8 o’clock on a rainy Sunday morning in early Spring looking out at the Brecon Beacons. I’d have laughed in their face. But, here I am, pen in hand, legs wrapped in a blanket and …
Continue reading Van life: Can this blind petrol head really be happy in the slow lane?
With the local elections around the corner, I wanted to find out a little bit about the stances of the potential counsellors for my local Tilehurst ward of West Berkshire Council. This email has been sent to the candidates of all the parties standing for election which are: Conservative Paul Kander Jane Langford Thomas Marino …
Continue reading An open email to the candidates for West Berkshire local elections: April 2023
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here as I’ve been fortunate that the Vision Foundation have published my last couple of articles on audio description and abuse – You can find the links to these and more including an introduction to my latest fundraiser for Berkshire Vision in my External Links page. Accessibility …
Continue reading Blind Man With a Backpack: The newest restaurant reviewer
Last time out we looked at the concept of disability not being a medical term, but a social construct in the article Disabled in an Abled World. This time, I’d like to delve into this further, exploring what can be done to make a more accessible space for everyone and how the benefits of inclusive …
Disability comes as a result of many circumstances. For some it’s from a freak occurrence such as an accident or an acute medical condition, others are affected by it from birth and still others it happens over time like a dormant beast, slowly waking. For those of you who’ve read my other posts, you’ll know …
What a week, after starting it with the hottest temperatures on record, I had the unenviable task of heading north for work. Whilst my colleagues all flew, I opted to catch the train because, although slower, having the choice between travelling by train or air with a visual impairment, I always opt to stay as …
It’s almost 30 degrees Celsius and we’ve just finished checking in over 100 boxes from Friday’s kitchen delivery. Aside from one or two discrepancies everything seems to be just about in order ready for installation to begin tomorrow morning. It’s been 7 weeks since we last had a “proper” home-cooked meal in our own home …
Continue reading Letting the (brick) dust settle – Part 5: Lighting it up
Surely the most straightforward part of designing a kitchen is choosing the appliances, right? For some it’s simply a case of going for a preferred manufacturer, for others it will be what works the best and for some it will be driven by budget. Still others may spend hours on end trawling the review websites …
Continue reading Letting the (brick) dust settle – Part 4: That perfect souffle
This week was an exciting one in the ongoing kitchen renovations as it came with the installation of one of the key components – bifold windows. The importance of this is twofold. Firstly, it demonstrates how big and bright the space will be and, secondly, it creates that direct link between the inside and outside …
Continue reading Letting the (brick) dust settle – Part 3: Opening up to nature
As mentioned in last week’s post, over the next few weeks I’d like to showcase some of the elements of our new kitchen design that will hopefully ensure the space remains suitable long after the decline in my sight reaches its inevitable conclusion. going to focus on the actual kitchen layout. It goes without saying …
Continue reading Letting the (brick) dust settle – Part 2: The design
Blind Man with a Backpack 