Happy birthday to me!

Arrogant as this sounds, I have genuinely lost track of how many awards I have received for my writing (I’m bad at counting). I guess I must be reasonably good at this whole stringing words together thing to get this much recognition. Either that, or I’m so abhorrently terrible that people are returning to laugh at my miserable efforts, although if that were the case I would have expected to have gone viral by now.

On this occasion the nomination comes from The Anxious History Teacher, who’s blog can be found here.

Accepting the reward requires me to acknowledge the person who nominated me, give a brief explanation of why I started blogging, provide two bits of advice for new bloggers, & to nominate a few other bloggers deserving of the award. Having previously been nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award, I will do my best not to repeat myself!

Why did I start Diary of a Disabled Person?

There are a lot of misconceptions & generalisations made about disabled people. We’re perceived as weak & helpless, often naive, innocent, or even straight-up unintelligent. We’re often seen to be in need of help, whether that be impromptu healing prayers in front of an audience, or a flamboyant display of assistance, also in front of an audience for some reason, that actually does more harm than good. When it comes to our fictional portrayals, we’re often depressed plot-points that a protagonist uses to give themselves motivation, and as such are usually accompanied by one lone violinist who remains remarkably off camera.

These stereotypes have done significant damage to disabled people & need to be educated against if they are to change. The lessons you remember from school are usually the humourous ones, so if humour helps teach maths, I’m sure it can do the same for equality.

2 Pieces of Advice.

1. Keep a regular posting schedule. The majority of the time my blog posts are published on a Sunday. There is, of course, some variance in that depending on other things going on around me, but for the most part it can be predicted when a blog post will appear. That means people keep coming back. My viewer count always goes up on a Sunday morning, even before I’ve had chance to publish anything.
2. Keep it varied. TV series that run for too long or too many seasons get stale very quickly, & regular blogging eventually runs the same risk. However, you can extend the longevity of your work by keeping it varied. Some weeks I will discuss personal experiences & anecdotes, other times it will be issues surrounding ableism supplemented with my experience, & at other times I publish short stories. There are photos, videos, & multiple social media platforms all helping to keep my content fresh (hopefully).

My Nominations:

• According To Me.
• A Backpack, A Chair, & a Beard.
• The Fooks.
• Beginners Guide to the Unbreakable.
• Cane Adventures.
• The Life Quadraplegic.

Once again, I’d like to thank The Anxious History Teacher for this nomination, & I’d also like to say congratulations to all of my nominees.