Disability Representation in Storytelling: A New Series

A country road stretching towards a bend in the early morning sunrise, with trees on either side. A boy and a dog are walking along the road silhouetted against the sunrise.

Hello everyone!

I come to you today from the depths of university disability studies with a proposition for a new blog series.

Namely, as it says in the title, a series that examines disability representation in storytelling.

My favourite unit at uni so far has been one called Perspectives on Disability and it focuses on critiquing the representation of people with disabilities in media. My major assignment involves writing an examination of a YouTube clip from an X-Factor audition a few years ago.

I’ve really enjoyed the critical thinking aspects of this unit, but I felt a bit limited by the assignment. I wanted to branch out more, dig deeper into some of this representation. So, what better way to do that than with a few blog posts on the topic! I’m super excited to dig into this more, and raise some awareness on disability and also provide a guide for writers’ who are looking to add more diversity to their novels.

I already have a long list of characters, movies, and books to examine (way more than I’ll ever be able to actually write about), but if you have a particular topic you think would make a great instalment let me know!

Anyway, thanks for your time today, hopefully I’ll be more active on here, especially since I’ve convinced myself that “it’s uni work!” I’ll see you around!

How has life been for you, my friends? Are you studying at the moment, and if so, what? Who is your favourite disabled character in media? Any suggestions for topics in this series? Also, are you currently doing Camp NaNoWriMo?

The Thirty Song Tag

Hello! I’m not sure if you remember me, but I’m the little shadow of a human being who runs this blog. And yes, I’ve been absent for some time. I’m hoping to do a life update post soon to give you a rundown of this hectic life I lead. However, I recently had to renew my blog subscription and pay actual hard earned money to keep this blog going, which has been the kick up the backside I needed to get back into blogging. Spending money will do that to you. So I’m hoping to be more active here. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, to get me back into blogging I’ve got a really easy tag that was a lot of fun to write! It’s all about music and I adore music so much. Megan kind of tagged everyone, so go check out her blog.

1. Your Favourite Song

I literally cannot choose. It is impossible, so I’m going to cheat and list a few of my favourite songs. I promise though, I will keep to the rules for the rest of the post and only mention one song (or maybe two, if I’m feeling particularly indecisive).

“The Blessing” by Kari Jobe

“God Help The Outcasts” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

“The Tale of Cu Chulainn” by Miracle of Sound (Irish folk rock/metal. Could there be a better combination?)

“Lothlorien” from The Lord of the Rings musical

“Wonder” from the same musical

“Into The West” by Annie Lennox

“Now and For Always”

“Anne Bonney” by Karliene

“I See Fire” by Ed Sheeran

“Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran

“Nancy Mulligan” by Ed Sheeran (Also check out this British Sign Language version, it is awesome!)

This list is so incomplete, but you’ll see more of my favourites as we go through this tag!

2. Your Least Favourite Song

This one is actually so easy. Out of all the songs I’ve heard, the one I’ve hated the most is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, which is sad, because for years I refused to listen to any of his other songs because of this one, and I was really missing out on some quality music. But I hate this song so much. I know there’s a lot of songs that objectify women, but for me, this one just represents them all, and for some reason, people adore it??? I do not like it.

Rant over. Let’s continue.

3. A Song That Makes You Happy

“The Wellerman” is a such a fun song and I’m so very glad it came to the attention of whoever started the TikTok trend. It’s such a jaunty song and it makes me so happy to listen to! For the record, my favourite versions are Alina Gingertail’s version, The Hound and the Fox’s version, and Nathan Evans’s version.

The Sunshine Blogger Tag: Tagged by The Sponge

The inimitable Story Sponge 

tagged me for the glorious Sunshine Blogger award, which was very considerate. Basically, the rules are: thank the person who tagged you, answer their questions, tag some more and ask some more questions, so let’s get into it!

What is one phenomenal book that you think more people should know about?

If there’s one thing the Story Sponge knows how to do, its torture those she tags. How am I supposed to choose just one book out of all the books there are in the world? There are so many good books.

Okay, here’s a compromise. I’ll give you one non-fiction (fun fact: I actually love non-fiction, but never talk about it?) and one fiction.

Fiction: The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff. I feel like a lot of people have read, or at least heard of, The Eagle of the Ninth, but The Silver Branch is criminally underated. I love the characters in this book, particularly Justin, who has a stammer and is the sweetest Roman surgeon ever seen. Also, the plot is full of espionage and spying and invasions. It’s good.

My Review of BBC Les Miserables (2019)

Today I feel very excited to bring you my review of the BBC’s new miniseries version of Les Miserables. I’ll be honest, I was expecting a lot from this show and wasn’t sure I was going to get it, but–thankfully–this show was pretty amazing. Not perfect (but who is, really?), but great anyway.

So I first heard about this new version (remake?) of Les Miserables late last year but I forgot about it pretty soon afterward because there didn’t seem to be any solid evidence that it was happening, or at least that it was happening any time in the immediate future.

And then, in January this year, I randomly came across it again and  realised that the first episode was airing in a matter of days. This got me extremely excited, but since I don’t have TV or any streaming services I still had to wait months until it came out on DVD in order to watch it.

But finally, at the end of August, I was able to get my hands on a DVD copy. Needless to say, I immediately began watching and judging. And since I know a good amount of you guys are Les Mis fans too I thought I would share my thoughts with you as well.