Liebster Award Number 2

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all well.

Some of you may remember that I was nominated to do the Liebster award last year which you can read here. Well…I have been nominated again! I love this award as it allows you to connect with other bloggers and gives so many fantastic bloggers the exposure they deserve.

I have been nominated by the lovely Elm who is basically a wonderful person, and her writing style is amazing so make sure you check out her blog! A huge thank you to Elm for nominating me!

 

The Rules

1. Thank the blogger who has nominated you

2. Answer 11 questions from the blogger who has nominated you

3. Nominate 11 blogs

4. Ask them 11 questions

 

Elm’s questions

1. What’s a song that you feel summarises your thoughts right now?

Jessie J – Masterpiece. I’ve got my degree, but I’m still getting to where I want to be in life and working on myself.

2. When was the last time you felt happy and why?

I’ve just got back from a lovely holiday with my family so I feel happy at the moment as I had a relaxing break.

3. Do you like books?

I absolutely love books! I love to just sit down and relax reading a good book.

4. Do you often find yourself thinking about the past, present or future?

Probably a mix of all three, but mostly the future.

5. If you’ve made a difficult decision recently, what have you learned from it?

Hmmmm, probably that everything happens for a reason.

6. If you had to choose between always travelling abroad but never being able to travel in your own country or always travelling in your country but never being able to go abroad, which would you choose?

This was such a tough one! I think I’d choose travelling abroad, as there’s so many places that I could travel to and explore.

7. What’s your least favourite instrument?

Probably the Violin (nothing against Violinists), it’s not really my kind of instrument.

8. Can you cook/bake?

Sort of, but I’m not the best at either haha.

9. Do you get emotional easily?

Yes! I kind of wish I didn’t sometimes.

10. What kinds of posts do you most like writing?

It depends what mood I’m in but I love writing my disability related posts, especially my educational ones.

11. How do you resist negative pressure to do something from others?

I think it’s important to remember that if you don’t want to do something, then you don’t have to. Those that value you and love you for who you are should respect your decision.

 

My Nominations

Elin Sassy The Heart Of Me Jade Marie Hannah Lois L Sarah Shona Glen Emma

My Questions

1. What’s your favourite thing about blogging?

2. If your life was a book, would you stop reading at this point or carry on?

3. If you could meet any celebrity, who would you want to meet and why?

4. Favourite album at the moment?

5. Favourite memory of 2017 so far?

6. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

7. Favourite social media site?

8. Who is your biggest inspiration?

9. What’s your biggest achievement?

10. One place you’d like to visit?

11. If money wasn’t an issue, what would you spend it on?

 

There you go! I really hope you enjoyed reading, make sure you check out all of the lovely bloggers that I have mentioned in this post! To those of you that I have nominated…enjoy!

Holly x

Failings in Passenger Assistance

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all well.

This post is part of mine and Elin’s #SeeingThroughSightLossSeries where we discuss everything relating to disability, visual impairment and also often our meet ups. Today’s post is going to be a bit of a mixed bag – I am going to discuss my own personal experiences and from this, I hope to raise awareness.

I try to be positive on my blog as I feel that it generally reflects the person I am, and I don’t sugar-coat anything that I write, therefore this post is no exception but I just want you to know that everything that I’m discussing is true and honest, not exaggerated, made up or fake. As I said, I try to be positive on my blog, but I do sometimes address the negative aspects of having a disability too and I think that’s important. Today I want to tell you about an experience that I have had recently, but one that’s reoccurred on several occasions and sadly, that’s one of the harsh realities of being blind or having a disability. What I’m talking about is passenger assistance on public transport, in this case, trains. For those of you that aren’t familiar with passenger assistance, it’s where a member of staff from a train station helps a disabled or elderly person IE people in wheelchairs, or those with a visual impairment like myself. For example, They can assist people on and off trains, take people to a meeting point to meet others, to a taxi or even a connecting train. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

That’s what I thought when I tried it for the first time. But this was soon the opposite – I was left on a train, had I not have been with my Dad who came with me whilst I was trying it for the first time, I’d have been left on a train to Southampton, over 100 miles away from my original destination. Scary thought, right? But this sort of thing happens too often. You can read about my first time trying passenger assistance here.

After that time, I thought that it would just be a mistake and wouldn’t happen to me again but that couldn’t have been further away from the truth, in the last 9 months the so called “passenger assistance” has failed me each time that I have required it.

I want to tell you about the most recent experience that I had. On Friday 28 April 2017, I was travelling to Manchester to meet my best friend Elin (My Blurred World) as we were going to see Shawn Mendes in concert and I was extremely excited! I pre-booked my hotel, train tickets and passenger assistance back in February so that it was all done, and I knew that I would hopefully get assistance. My Mum was travelling with me, as she was going out for a meal with Elin’s Mum whilst we were at the gig and as Manchester isn’t familiar to me and Elin, they were our eyes so to speak.

(photo of a train ticket)

You may be asking why I needed passenger assistance when my Mum was with me, I wanted to try it on this route as it’s one that I’ll hopefully be doing more often so wanted to try it whilst someone sighted was with me. So please do not tell me that I was abusing the system because I wasn’t, and I genuinely needed the experience for future trips.

I started my journey at York station where I went to the information desk, where I was met by an assistant a few minutes later. This part went well, the assistant helped me onto the train and assisted me in finding my seat; they did everything that they were supposed to do.

When I arrived at Manchester Victoria station, this is where the problems occurred. I was on an overcrowded train where people were stood up in the carriage, I appreciate that this was on the day of a rail strike so people were probably using alternative trains but as a blind person, it made it practically impossible for me to get through these people using my long cane. If my Mum hadn’t have been with me, it would have been extremely difficult for me to carry my luggage and navigate through an overcrowded carriage with my cane. We waited a couple of minutes to see whether a member of staff was going to come onto the train to assist me, as time quickly ticked by, we  soon realised that they hadn’t turned up yet again. We got off the train as it seemed that there was no assistant for me like I had pre-booked. Once we were off the train and stood on the platform, my Mum looked at a person who seemed to be a member of staff, and the lady came over and asked if I needed assistance, I explained that I had in fact pre-booked assistance as I was blind, for her to inform me that she only had two people on my train down for luggage assistance, rather than one with a severe visual impairment. I knew that the information she had told me was wrong as I knew that my passenger assistance details stated that I had a visual impairment and had the right instructions for the member of staff.

We went to the information centre at Manchester Victoria station to find out exactly what had happened. I knew that the assistance had been done right as I was there when the person booked it for me back in February. The man at the information point checked the system and told me that it was in fact all correct, and there had been clearly some mix up in communication. He said that they were short staffed but agreed with me in that this was no excuse. He told me to complain when I returned home the following day.

Despite all of this, I wanted to enjoy the Shawn Mendes concert and the time with my best friend so that’s exactly what we did! A post on the gig will be coming soon – this would have been too long if me and Elin would have just done one post each on the weekend overall!

 

On the Saturday, we left Manchester in the afternoon and me and my mum parted ways with Elin and her Mum and headed off to catch our trains.

Me and my Mum went to the information point again, in order for me to get my assistance. I informed the man at the information desk that I had pre-booked passenger assistance, the man told me that the system was down so would try to see if any assistants were available. Luckily there was, but had I been on my own, this could have been a real issue and so much worse.

When we arrived back at York station, there was no assistance there to come and help me off the train again. We waited for the train to pull out and there was no one there as my Mum and Dad observed this. A couple of minutes later, a woman walked onto the platform so we asked if she was my assistant, and she said yes, but she was waiting for me to “wave a stick or a dog in the air”. How can I wave a cane in the air when I don’t know where a person is, or if there’s anyone there waiting for me? Had I have been on my own, I’d have had to struggle to get off the train by myself along with my luggage, or even worse, ended up in Newcastle which is a long way from where I needed to be.

I wrote to the train company, First Transpenine Express who informed me that they couldn’t deal with this issue as they do not manage Manchester Victoria station so have passed it onto Northern Rail who would be in touch with me. And guess what? I haven’t heard from Northern Rail yet, despite trying to contact them several times myself.

So clearly, there’s a failing in the system somewhere.

I find it appalling that train companies and members of staff do not communicate, misread information, leave disabled passengers on trains and ignore complaints. Like I said, this is one of many incidents that I’ve had when using passenger assistance and it really isn’t fair.

Sadly, I’m not on my own when experiencing these issues, most or if not all of my blind or visually impaired friends have had the same experiences across the country. Make sure you check out Elin’s post as she gives you an account on her experience of passenger assistance and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

I’ve wrote this post to highlight some of the issues and struggles that people like myself face when wanting to do something simple like travelling independently on public transport. Just because we have a visual impairment, or other disability it should not be incredibly hard and cause endless frustrations for us. We claim to live in a (fairly) equal society but is this really the case when such problems arise and are a regular occurrence?

I know that here in the UK, we are extremely lucky to have services in place such as passenger assistance and I am extremely grateful for this service but it does not make it right when such systems fail.

I believe that disabled people should have the same rights to travel on trains independently like non-disabled people, but the reality of this is that I feel that this is not the case at all. This is becoming a regular occurrence for me and many others and I do not feel that this should be the case at all.

It is frustrating, and very exhausting for me and my parents to have to keep contacting train companies because of continuous failings, lack of communication or assistance.

I know that writing this blog post will not change the policies and procedures that are put in place, but I hope it highlights some of the issues that disabled people face.

I want to be like my sighted friends and family and travel independently but how can I trust such services when they keep letting me down?

I’m sorry if this was a bit of a rant but I really hope it has helped raise awareness.

I’d really appreciate it if you could share this post so that we can at least try to make a difference!

If you are a disabled person and have had similar experiences then feel free to leave them in the comments.

I’m sorry if this post has offended any of you – that was never my intention.

As always, thank you for reading, I’ll be back soon with another post!

Holly x

How I Balance Blogging and University

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all well.

As you can tell from the title, today’s post is about how I balance blogging and university.

It can be tough and I don’t post as often as I’d like to but that’s due to a lack of time, but I am always working on my blog, a lot of it being behind the scenes so you may not see or read it.

Being a third year student in the last few weeks of my degree, and also working for a wonderful sight loss charity, the pressure is well and truly on and the stress levels are high! On top of that my visual impairment can add extra stress and pressures like resources not being accessible, organising support and things like that. That’s all part and parcel of having a visual impairment, but it can take a lot of time up and can be a lot harder compared to sighted people.

I have come up with ways in which I balance university and blogging which work well for me so I wanted to share them with you all. I hope some of you find today’s post useful!

 

Plan ahead

Everyone says ‘plan’ but it is key when you’re a third year student and blogger. Personally, I use the calendar app on my phone to plan and organise things coming up such as deadlines, meetings for work, tutorials, social events and basically everything that I’m doing. That way, I can plan ahead and know what I’m doing when and where I need to be at specific times.
Prioritise

Whether you’re a student, blogger or neither, this tip is so important for everyone. It’s so easy to get caught up in the stresses of university and life in general that we don’t often know where to start. University will always come first for me, so if I have any deadlines looming then those are my priority!

To prioritise, I write myself a to-do list every night so that I can wake up the next morning  knowing exactly what I need to do. I then go through this list and work out which things are my priority and make sure that they’re at the top of the list. My to-do lists include things such as dissertation and assignment goals, other work that I need to do for my job or just in general, blog posts that I need to write or schedule etc. It’s a great way of prioritising what is most important and what needs doing when. I use the notes app on my iPhone to write these lists, it’s nice and simple.

(photo of iPhone)

Have a routine

I’ll be completely honest, I have days where I feel extremely unmotivated and exhausted that I don’t feel like doing any university work or writing blog posts but I try to stick to a routine.

For me, I like to get university work done during the day and spend my evenings writing blog posts and taking some time out for myself. Blogging is a hobby that I enjoy so I like getting some university work done, then sitting down and doing something that I enjoy afterwards.

 

Prepare blog posts in advance

When I have an idea for a blog post, I write it down in the notes app on my phone so that I don’t forget it and can come back to it.

I also try to write blog posts in advance so that I don’t have to rush them, especially if I have deadlines coming up.

I also use an app called Buffer to schedule tweets in order to promote my posts, if I know I won’t have time to sit and promote them on social media myself. Work in bulk.

(photo of the app Buffer)

This can often be quite hard to do if you’re like me, and run out of hours in the day to get everything done that you need to! Working in bulk means that you don’t have to rush posts and write content that you’re not happy with. If you work in bulk, you can post content when you have time or schedule it and it’s extremely rewarding knowing that it’s ready for you to schedule or post.

 

Take time out for yourself

This is definitely something I have been guilty of not doing and I’ve got to the point where I’m extremely exhausted and stressed because I’ve been doing too much and working beyond my limits. I try to take time out for myself and do things like have a catch up with a friend, listen to music, read a book, have a long bath and generally do things that I enjoy doing. Taking time out for yourself means that you can recharge and relax so that you don’t burn out quickly! Since I’ve been at university, I’ve really started to realise that self care is so important.

 

So there you go, that’s how I balance university and blogging. I hope you enjoyed reading and that it helped some of you out there.

Holly x

Seeing Through Sight Loss Q&A

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all well.

Today’s post is another collaboration with Elin as part of our seeing through sight loss series

 

 

 

(A photo of me and Elin)

 

A few weeks ago, we both asked for questions for a Q&A on our social media, thank you to those of you that have sent us questions!

We are very sorry that we have only just got around to posting this, the main reason for that being the amount of university work that I have had.

The Q&A is split into different sections: friendship, blogging, lifestyle and disability, we wanted to cover a bit of everything. So, let’s get into today’s post!

 

Friendship

How/when did you meet for the first time?

We started talking on Twitter back in June 2015, after reading each others blogs for a while. We then met on 29 August 2016 in Manchester. You can read all about our first ever meet up here.

 

Do you think your friendship will last?

I think me and Elin have a strong friendship, it’s definitely become a lot stronger over the last year or so. We’ve been through a lot together and as annoying as it can be, I believe that distance makes our friendship stronger. But yes, I truly do think our friendship will last. I hope so anyway!

 

If you could go anywhere in the world together, where would it be?

We have a lot of places that we’d both like to visit but I personally think New York as this is somewhere both of us would love to go.

 

Describe each other in three words.

This is a tricky one to pick just three but caring, trustworthy, and motivational.

 

Why is Elin your best friend?

Can I write a book? Ok, I would if I had the time but realistically I don’t…sorry gal pal. Elin is my best friend for so many reasons and I’m going to discuss a few of them. She’s always there for me, and I mean, always. From putting up with me when I’m stressed out to the max because university work is getting too much, from the problems I’ve had with my eyes for the last 9 months, or when I just need a kick up the butt or a good chat…she’s always there. She makes me laugh and says the most random things which has made dissertation that bit more bearable over the last 6 months. She’s kind, caring, supportive, motivational and just all the qualities you need in a best friend. She just completely gets me, I swear we’re in sync the majority of the time. We’re so similar it’s quite scary sometimes!

 

Blogging

Favourite blog post you have done together?

My favourite blog post we have done together is our first ever collaboration, The VIP Daily Living Tag. It’s a post that we’re both really proud of and were amazed at how many people got involved in completing the tag. I think from that point our friendship really started to grow and blossom.

 

How has your blog changed over time if it has?

I’ve most definitely gained more readers, more than I thought I ever would. As a result of this, it’s been recognised more widely and by quite a lot of sight loss organisations and organisations for people with disabilities which I never imagined happening.

 

What is your favourite thing about blogging?

My favourite thing about blogging is being part of such a wonderful community. The blogging community is just fantastic. Deciding to start a blog was by far one of the best decisions that I’ve made as it’s given me some life-long friends like Elin and I’ve had some wonderful opportunities through blogging.

 

Have you ever experienced hate on your blog?

I feel very lucky to say that No I haven’t.

 

What’s one blogging goal you have?

I’d like to gain more followers on my blog, I know it’s not all about numbers but I would really like to reach more people. If you’re not following my blog then please make sure you do so then you’ll never miss a post! The follow button is located near the bottom of the page

 

Lifestyle

What is your proudest moment?

I’d have to say getting into university. The months leading up to my A-level exams I’d practically convinced myself that I was going to fail my exams and not get into university. Everyone around me believed in me but I didn’t believe in myself. So, when I got a place at my first choice university was such a huge turning point in my life so that’s definitely my proudest moment. From then I’ve become so much more confident, and started to believe in myself.

 

If you could relive one moment, what would it be?

I feel incredibly lucky to have had some amazing experiences and opportunities so this was a very hard question for me. I’m surrounded by extremely wonderful family and friends that support me through everything and without them, I wouldn’t be the person I am today or wouldn’t have been able to do half of the things that I have. But one of the moments that I’d like to relive is my 18^th birthday celebrations when I saw my favourite band at the O2 arena, that was one of my favourite moments that I’d like to relive.

 

Do you want to travel, if yes where?

As I’ve said previously, I’d love to go to New York!

 

Are you going to any concerts in the future?

Yes, later this month me and Elin are going to see Shawn Mendes and we are also seeing Adele in July. I’m also seeing Olly Murs in July too, as you can tell, I love concerts.

 

What do you do when you’re feeling down?

Listen to music, have a hot bath to try and relax, talk to a friend or family member or watch some TV or read a good book. It’s important to take time away from the things that are stressing you out or making you feel down, self care is vital.

 

Disability

Do you plan to get a guide dog?

I’d love to get a guide dog. I’ve considered it for a few years now but I don’t think I’ve been ready for one, especially whilst being at university and spending a lot of my time in lectures and writing assignments, I haven’t really felt the need for one as such. I do think that I am ready for one now and I am going to start the process very soon I hope. So yes, I do plan to get a guide dog.

 

What’s the best/worst thing about having a visual impairment?

I’d say the best thing about having a visual impairment is being part of the sight loss community which has allowed me to meet some of my best friends. If I didn’t have a visual impairment, I wouldn’t have been part of that community, and I doubt I would have ever met some of the most important people in my life. It’s also given me some great experiences too.

There are a few negatives of having a visual impairment but I like to think the positives outweigh the negatives. It can be hard sometimes though. One of the worst things about having a visual impairment for me, is not being able to see the things in this world such as my family and friends, and just things sighted people may take for granted. I’d love to have a bit more vision so see things such as the people closest to me. For me, that’s probably the worst thing about having a visual impairment. But at the end of the day, life is what you make it, and I’m extremely grateful for the light perception that I do have and that my vision is stable.

 

Does it help that you can talk to each other about your disability/visual impairment?

Yes, it definitely does. We can give each other advice, share our funny moments/experiences, motivate each other when we’re having a down day because of our disability and just support each other. For me, I think it’s so important to have people around you that you can relate to and talk openly to each other about things such as a disability.

 

Do people treat you differently because of your blindness?

Sometimes, yes. That’s one of my biggest pet hates! Some people don’t know how to act around people with a disability, in my case a visual impairment but there’s no need to be awkward, a lot of it is just common sense. We’re just average people, just with a disability. There are a lot of people that do not treat me differently though and see beyond my visual impairment. I personally think there need to be more awareness around this topic.

 

What are people’s reactions when you tell them you’re blind/visually impaired?

I often get told that I don’t look “blind”, and because of this, people are rather shocked that I have a visual impairment. Some people also say things like “oh bless you, it must be difficult” so sort of look down on me when there’s no need to do so. Other people on the other hand, just treat me exactly the same as any sighted person and I think it needs to be that way.

That concludes today’s post everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading. If you have any questions for future Q&A’s that we do then please feel free to send us them!

Don’t forget to check out Elin’s post to read her answers to the questions!

I’ll hopefully be back soon with another post.

Holly x

Far Away Friendship

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all well. I’m so glad that I’m able to post again this month as I am really missing posting regularly for you all!

Today’s post is both a lifestyle and disability one which I thought might be quite nice.

You all should know Elin from the blog My Blurred World as we do our ‘seeing through sight loss series’ together, and it’s no surprise on our blogs that we’re best friends. This post is also part of the series.

You may remember that we met up back in August last year and wrote a post all about it which you can read here, well after 7 months we were finally reunited again last weekend! We live 150 miles away from each other, it’s not easy to meet up as often as we’d like. Adding to this, I’m a few months away from graduating from university, so the workload is piling up too.

Despite all of this, we manage to maintain a very very strong friendship and I think that’s something to be proud of. Today we wanted to tell you about our recent meet-up and how we manage to maintain a long distance friendship which I’m sure some of you can relate to.

So, let’s get into today’s post!

Ever since me and Elin met up in Manchester back in August last year, we’ve been wanting to meet up ever since. After one thing after another, we set too to plan exactly how we could meet up and spend a weekend together. After a lot of planning and research, we finally came up with a plan that we were going to spend a weekend in Manchester as it is a central location. We needed to find somewhere to stay and somewhere that would cater for two visually impaired guests. We contacted several hotel companies and Premier Inn told us that their staff were trained in disability awareness so we decided that was probably the best option for us. We researched a whole load of Premier Inn’s and found one that seemed nice in Salford Quays, neither of us had been before so it was something new for us both. We booked it, told them that we had a visual impairment and asked for any assistance we might need. They were extremely happy to accommodate, they gave us an accessible room on the ground floor which was close to reception, assisted us to and from breakfast and were there if we needed any help. This was a huge help as we didn’t have to worry about which room was ours as ours was the first room from reception. The staff guided us to and from breakfast and made sure that we got to our room safely, the service and assistance we received was excellent!

On the Friday evening, me and Elin met at the hotel and were both very kindly dropped off by our parents ( thank you so much to them). After we checked in at the hotel we all went for a meal before our parents went back home. Me and Elin spent the Friday night unpacking, catching up and listening to music which was nice and chilled.

On the Saturday, we went for breakfast mid-morning and spent some time in our room afterwards. Later in the day, we decided to go for a walk by the waterfront. We didn’t know the area at all, but our mums had kindly shown us the route out of the hotel when they were with us so we grabbed our canes and decided to have a wander. We successfully managed it, we didn’t bump into anything or fall in the river! Navigating an unfamiliar area when you can’t see is very tricky so we were quite proud of ourselves!

Once we got back to the hotel we ordered a takeaway from Dominos, the pizzas were gorgeous might I add! We did probably get a bit too excited tracking our delivery but oh well, who doesn’t?

The rest of the Saturday evening consisted of watching some TV, listening to music, and having a proper girly chat and a lot of laughs. It was so nice to chill out with my best friend, forget about uni work and all the stress that goes with it and completely be myself.

Sunday soon arrived, we went for breakfast mid-morning again and packed to go home. We were both quite sad as we only had a matter of hours left but we wanted to make the most of it so decided to go for a walk by the waterfront again and have some lunch. When our families arrived to pick us up we walked to a nearby shopping centre, had a coffee, and walked by the waterfront with them and got some photos taken. We both love to keep photos as we think they’re something lovely to keep and look back on.

(photo of me and Elin)

It was hard to say goodbye to my best friend but we’re reunited in 6 weeks as we’re seeing Shawn Mendes together so that made the goodbyes easier.

I honestly had such an amazing weekend with Elin, I’m so lucky to call her my best friend. I am also extremely grateful to my Mum and Dad for taking me and picking me up, family is so precious.

We also wanted to tell you about how we maintain a long distance friendship. It can be extremely difficult as I live in Yorkshire and Elin lives in Wales and it’s quite a long journey, therefore we hadn’t seen each other for several months. Maintaining a long distance friendship is not easy but it’s possible so we wanted to tell you how we do it.

Text regularly

You don’t have to text all day every day but it’s important to keep the conversation going, ask them how they are and keep them updated on your life, telling them yourself rather than them finding out on social media adds more of a personal touch. Me and Elin are always texting each other to keep each other updated on things, we think that this really does help.

Chat over the phone

Sometimes texting isn’t always good enough, having a phone call gives you chance to have a proper catch up. Sometimes you just need to pick up the phone and speak to your best friend which can instantly lift your mood. It’s not the same as being with them face-to-face but it is so important to have verbal conversations as well.

Do something together

You’re probably wondering what I mean by this, but me and Elin have our blog series which we include a range of posts on sight loss, to tag posts, to memories like this so they are nice to look back on. It’s nice to go back and read them sometimes! We also have a collaborative Spotify playlist which consists of our favourite songs, this is something that we like to update and share our music taste with each other. We’re lucky in that we like the same artists/bands. Let me just tell you, it’s a very good playlist!

Plan meet-ups

It’s important to have something to look forward to. Me and Elin have been focusing on this meet up for a while now, we’re also seeing Shawn Mendes and Adele together this year and I can honestly say that’s getting me through these last few months of university! Being able to countdown to something together is so exciting! It also makes the distance more bearable when you’re having one of those rubbish days.

Keep them motivated and always be there for them

Distance is nothing when friendship means everything, so make sure that you’re always there for them. If they’re going through a hard time or need a bit of motivation, then help them along the way.

If it wasn’t for blogging then me and Elin wouldn’t know each other, and I am so grateful. We may live miles away from each other but it makes the friendship stronger.

You can read Elin’s post here.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post, thank you so much for reading!

Do you have a long distance friendship? Let us know how you maintain it in the comments.

I’ll hopefully be back soon with a new post for you all.

Holly x

My Top 10 Blind Girl Problems

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all well.

Today’s post is something that I’ve wanted to do for a while but never actually got round to it. As you can tell from the title, it’s my top 10 blind girl problems. It’s a bit of a light-hearted post, I’ve put together a few of the mishaps that I experience due to my visual impairment. This post is part of Elin and I’s seeing through sight loss series where we discuss a range of topics on visual impairment, we thought this was a great post to include in the series!

So, without further ado, let’s get into today’s post.

1. Having a conversation with someone thinking that they’re still in the room and ending up talking to myself.
2. Walking into a cupboard or door.
3. Walking into the dishwasher because I left it open and ending up with a huge bruise on my leg.
4. Falling or tripping over the kerb because I misjudged the step.
5. Knocking the dog’s food or water over and it spilling literally everywhere!
6. Dropping something on the floor and scrambling around on my knees to find it for a good few minutes…it’s like a mini treasure hunt.
7. Losing something and taking forever to try and find it so giving up and asking a family member to come and help only for them to find it straight away.
8. Tripping over someone’s feet when they’re sat down.
9. Standing on something soft and panicking it was my pet, turns out it’s their toy.
10. Walking slap bang into someone because I didn’t know that they were stood there.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Make sure you check out Elin’s top 10 blind girl problems!

If you are blind or visually impaired yourself, then let me know your common blind person problems in the comments. Can you relate to any of these?

If you enjoy reading posts like these then let me know and I can write more of them for you.

Thank you for reading.

Holly x

My Favourite Memories of 2016

Hello!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I just wanted to start off by saying a huge thank you for all your support in 2016, it has truly been incredible and I cannot tell you how much I really do appreciate it. It’s hard to believe that I’ll have been blogging for two years in January. I really upped by blogging game in 2016 and really put my mind to it, trying my best to get my blog out there and noticed. I know I’m not one of the most popular bloggers and I doubt I ever will be but I’m really pleased with the progress I’ve made with my blog this year, it’s reached milestones that I never thought I’d achieve.

In this post, I wanted to write about some of my favourite memories of 2016, it’s been a pretty rubbish year with everything that’s gone on in the world and for me personally, but there have also been some good times for me too so I wanted to share them with you all. I’ve tried to do it in chronological order, I hope you enjoy!

 

Putting my blog out there

It was only at the start of 2016 that I created a Facebook page for my blog and it’s really helped get my blog out there and I’ve received some lovely messages from my readers.

I also started doing guest posts at the start of 2016 and received requests from sight loss charities and organisations asking me to write a post for them. I felt truly humbled and this was a huge achievement for me. You can check out all the guest posts I’ve written so far in my portfolio.

 

Volunteering on an Action for Blind Family Weekend

This was such a big step for me. When I graduate from university I am hoping to work in the sight loss sector so volunteering on this weekend really did give me some great experience. One of the things that I did was help run a talk on education for blind and visually impaired young people which allowed me to explain my own tips, give my own account and experiences and answer any questions that the families had. This was something that I thoroughly loved doing. It was something completely new but I felt that I gained many skills and valuable experience from doing so.

 

Passing my second year of university

Second year of university is such a huge jump from the first, anyone that’s been to university will know exactly what I mean! Back in 2015, during the first semester of second year, I wasn’t sure if I was even doing the right degree, I’d gone from wanting to be a primary school teacher to not having the first clue of what I wanted to do. But I figured it out, now I’m working towards getting that degree and working with other blind and visually impaired people when I graduate. I finished second year of university with a 2:1 which I worked so hard to get, it set me up nicely for my third and final year.

 

Celebrating passing second year of university with my friends

Everyone was together, we were all extremely proud of each other and it was just a great time.

 

Getting my first job

I’ve wanted a job since I was around the age of 16 and tried ever since to find a VI person friendly job if you get my drift! I started as a volunteer for LOOK UK in the summer and was employed as a Project Worker a couple of months down the line. It’s such a huge achievement for me as not only am I gaining experience in the field that I want to work in when I graduate university but I also can work hard and earn money just like my sighted friends. It’s given me so many skills and I am really enjoying it so far.

 

Attending Sight Village

I’ve never been to an exhibition like this before, it was an opportunity for me to see the latest technology and services that are available for blind and visually impaired people. I got passenger assistance for the first time when I was travelling down to Birmingham for the event and it didn’t go as planned, I have discussed this in a previous post. That experience really opened my eyes and possibly made me even more determined to not let my visual impairment be a barrier, even when things go wrong.

 

Being featured in RNIB connect Magazine.

This was a real shock for me as I read the Connect Magazine, so to be asked to be featured in it was wonderful.

 

Getting my OrCam.

The OrCam is a marvellous piece of equipment and it has had a huge impact on my life.

 

My family holiday

This was such a lovely holiday, I had time to relax and spend quality time with my mum and dad. It’s important to have family time with those that mean the most to you.

 

Meeting my best friend

Some of you will know her as Elin from the blog My Blurred World. This was by far one of my favourite memories of 2016, it was genuinely such a lovely day. We’d been speaking for over a year and finally got to meet in person. We got to know each other through blogging so that day was so special for the both of us. She lives over 150 miles away so you really do have to treasure moments like that. We’ve helped each other through a lot in 2016, the good and the bad and constantly stuck by each other whilst we’ve both had people we cared about walk away, helped each other through the rough times, given each other the kick up the bum when we’ve needed it and I think that’s true friendship. I’m so excited for more memories with her in 2017.

 

Becoming more confident using a cane

I wouldn’t say that this happened at a specific point but I feel that I have become more confident and comfortable when using my cane over the last couple of years, even more so in 2016.

 

My 21st birthday

I spent the weekend before my birthday with a close friend and my actual birthday with my family which was special to me. Family really are so important.

 

Reaching 10,000 views on my blog

This happened a few weeks ago, and it’s crazy to think that I have had over 10,000 views on my little corner of the internet!

Those are a few of my memories of 2016, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. I would just like to thank you again for your continued support in 2016, it really does mean the world to me! I really hope you’ll stick with me as I continue my blogging journey in 2017.

I would like to wish you all a happy New Year and wish you all the best for 2017!

Once again, thank you.

Holly x