Published: Wednesday 1st January 2025

Goodbye 2024

I don't usually do this, but I wanted to share my reflections on the last year and some of the things I've learned. In many ways, 2024 has been a good year for me, though it has had some challenges. I'll break it down into different life categories and share some thoughts on each. These are in no particular order of importance.

Work

I became a civil servant at the very beginning of 2022, getting a job as a Senior Accessibility Specialist. Towards the end of that year, my line manager told me he was leaving. He'd got a job in the private sector. I'll be honest, I didn't see it coming and I was really sad. He was a fantastic accessibility specialist but had come from a frontend development background. To a web-tinkerer like me, his skills were amazing and I learned so much from him. And then he was gone.

To cut a long story short, I applied to take on the Head of Accessibility role on a Temporary Duties Allowance (TDA). This meant that I got paid for doing the job but it wasn't really my job. I always knew that the permanent role would have to be advertised and I would have to apply, alongside other talented people. This went on longer than anyone intended, and in that time, I embraced the role and put everything I had into it. The longer it went on though, the more difficult it would have been to go back to my original role, if I wasn't successful. This thought weighed heavily on my mind.

In August, the permanent role was eventually advertised. I applied. It was one of the most difficult job applications I think I have ever had to write! My stress levels were through the roof! Sometimes people assume that internal applicants are favoured in some way. Certainly, there are advantages if you are already doing the job. It puts you in a strong position. But the application process is still open and fair. I've experienced this and have been on both sides of it several times. I have been unsuccessful as an internal candidate a couple of times and I have been the external candidate that takes a job that someone else has been doing. I have come to the conclusion that there are no real winners in these situations.

I did my best and on this occasion, my best was good enough. Obviously, I was over the moon that I got the job! What I didn't really think about, was how that would impact my stress levels. I had effectively felt like the past 2 years were one long and very tough interview task. In everything I did, I was always acutely aware of not upsetting anyone, always having to be at my best, not feeling able to fail at anything. The pressure was immense and now that has gone and I can just get on with the job. It is wonderful! I feel like the luckiest person on earth, having a job that I love and now knowing that it's mine until... whenever.

Learning

One of the things I love about accessibility is that there is always more to learn. I particularly enjoy learning new technical skills. This year, with the help of one of my Senior Accessibility Specialists, I have learned more about GitLab and version control. I have also continued to grow my knowledge of JavaScript and ARIA. This has helped me to get better balance between the two areas of specialism. I'll probably always be better at document accessibility but I do enjoy the web side and I want to be as confident as possible in it.

In July, I took another exam. I was already an Accessible Document Specialist (ADS). These certifications are with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). A group of us at work decided we wanted to do the Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) exam. In theory, this is the baseline certification. Most people do this first. Knowing this, I was actually surprised at how much I had to learn for it. I had to learn about international laws, treaties and related stuff. I had to learn about all the different disabilities and associated barriers and assistive technologies. It was really interesting!

I took the exam in June and passed. Two of my team also took the exam in July and August and they passed too. As well as being pleased to have succeeded in passing an exam, I'm also really proud of my team and how much they have learned and progressed this year. I know that the people I work with contribute greatly to my sense of wellbeing at work. I have a team of amazing and genuinely inspirational people.

For me, the next certification I want to take is the Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) exam. That is a biggie! There's a huge amount of technical stuff you have to know for it. I've already made a start on it. I've been learning more about the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) and also improving the breadth of assistive software that I can use for testing.

Travel

2024 has been one of my favourite years for travel. In April, we sold our old motorhome and on 1 May, we collected our new home on wheels, which we have affectionately named, Excalibur. Like most new motorhomes, Excalibur has had some teething problems. Most of these have eventually been resolved under warranty and they haven't stopped us from having some amazing holidays, as well as many weekends away.

Northern Ireland

It seems strange that neither of us had ever been to Northern Ireland. It's part of the UK, yet we'd never thought of visiting. Well, it certainly warrants further visits! What a beautiful country it is! We had such a fantastic week, visiting Belfast, Enniskillen, Derry and the Giant's Causeway.

We would love to return to Northern Ireland again in the near future, spend more time in Belfast and the Causeway coast, and then venture south into County Down, the only county we missed completely.

Stirling and Falkirk

This was never intended to be a main holiday. We have started using the August bank holiday week as a calm, quiet getaway, with less days out. We go north to avoid the heat and have few expectations. This particular holiday clashed with me doing my job application, so I had no real expectations.

We actually had a really good week! I particularly enjoyed the Falkirk Wheel. You can pay to stay the night there in a motorhome and at night, the wheel is lit up and looks really pretty. The night we were there was good weather, so we watched the sun set behind the wheel. It was one of those nights that just worked out well for us.

The following night, we had intended to do a similar thing at the Kelpies. We did visit but the evening and overnight were torrential rain and the Kelpies were out of action and not lit up. So we ended up moving on a day early and spending an extra night just outside Edinburgh, near Silverknowes Beach. That gave us another lucky break. Silverknowes Beach is fabulous! You can get onto the beach but the promenade stretches for miles in both directions with no roads in sight. It was lovely for Liggy to have a really long off-lead walk, and she was so so good!

Belgium

This holiday was one of those bucket list things. We spent the Remembrance Day weekend and early part of the week on the Western Front around Ypres. We attended the Last Post at the Menin Gate and visited Tyne Cot Cemetery, amongst other sites. It was absolutely awesome! Possibly one of the most moving holidays we have ever had. We would both love to go there again, as there were more sites that we didn't get to and we could have easily spent more time in Ypres.

At the end of the week, we had a couple of days in Bruges. This really contrasted with the early part of the week. Bruges is a vibrant city with so much to see and do. We ate waffles, fries and chocolate (not all together) and just enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere of the place. Again, we would happily do a return visit.

Liggy

I don't talk much about Liggy online. Liggy is my Canine Partner, my assistance dog. We were partnered in 2017, when she was a lively, very cheeky adolescent young dog. Like humans, all dogs are different. They have their own personalities, quirks, likes and dislikes. Liggy has always been quite a character. She has allergies. She is allergic to so many things, I find it easier to just tell people what she isn't allergic to.

I have to say that Canine Partners prepared me well for partnership. The 2-week onsite training covered so many aspects of life with an assistance dog and how to work together. What I never even thought about was life with an aging dog.

Like us, Liggy is getting on in years. She's 8 and a half now and beginning to show her age a bit. There are some things she is still great at: most of her task work, her love of fireworks and other loud noises, her sociability. There are some things she finds more difficult though. She really doesn't like shadows and low light conditions. She is more easily spooked by things that don't look familiar. She gets tired more easily after exercise.

Rather than learning new tasks, we are now at the stage of learning new ways of doing old tasks. We've been working on fitness and staying physically in good shape. We play lots of confidence boosting games to help her to stay mentally on her game. In some ways, this phase has come as a bit of a shock but in others, I'm really enjoying working with her through a new life stage. For the first few years of our partnership, it always felt like Liggy was doing all the hard work. Now, I'm helping her more and it feels more of a two-way partnership. We really have to look after each other. We need each other.

Social media

For years, I was active on 3 social media platforms. I used Facebook for family and friends, Twitter to connect with the disabled community, and LinkedIn as a professional platform. Twitter was the first to go. I can't remember now when I deleted my account... a year or more ago. I haven't missed it. It had become quite a toxic environment. Rather than being a supportive community, it had begun to feel competitive and judgemental. I didn't need this. Then it became X and that was the last straw. I pulled out.

LinkedIn was harder. Until recently, it had always felt like a professional environment, where I could connect with and learn from other accessibility professionals. This gradually began to change. I started getting constant private messages, mostly from PDF accessibility specialists, trying to sell me their services. I found it quite irritating and a little baffling. Why would they try to sell accessibility services to an accessibility specialist? It was like trying to sell cups of coffee to Starbucks!

Then, around the time I was applying for my job, the same kind of toxic, nasty posts and comments started to bother me. They were probably there before but it just began to bother me more. I hibernated my account for a month and realised that I felt much happier. So I've never reactivated it. At some point, I will completely delete it.

I have considered dropping Facebook too but this is my only connection to many friends. I'm in quite a few groups that I do generally find useful, and for the most part, it is easier to control what I see in Facebook. So, for now at least, I'm sticking with it.

That said, there are a few red lines that I've decided on over the years... things I don't do on Facebook or Messenger:

• Accepting friend requests - unless I consider you to be family or a friend, I won't be connecting with you on Facebook. Work colleagues are wonderful but they are separate to my personal life, so don't belong in my Facebook world. Total strangers don't belong there either.
• Clicking links - Facebook bombards us with adverts and selling. If I want to buy something, I will locate the best deal for myself. I've found that most Facebook ads are scams or at least dodgy. They often lead to more ads and more pressure to buy stuff I don't want or need.
• Opening videos - I have lost track of the number of my Facebook friends that have had their account hacked. Often this has happened because someone has sent them a private message with a link to a video. They've clicked it, had their account hacked and then their account has sent the same message to all their friends. Some people have fallen for this multiple times. Unless I absolutely know what you've sent me and I'm expecting it, I won't be clicking to see your video or surprise message.
• Sharing the answers to security questions - It used to be those posts with loads of questions about your favourite things, first teacher, that kind of thing. Now it's posts that tempt you to respond by implying that you can't remember something. They go like this, "Most people can't remember the name of their first pet. I'll wait!" And hundreds and thousands of people comment to prove them wrong. And now that is a security question that they know the answer to.

Social media has the potential to do so much good but it often fails to do so. It can become a negative, toxic, even dangerous place, where people are put down, expoited and scammed. I'm becoming more sceptical of it, as time goes on. I don't want to abandon it completely but I do want to keep myself and my loved ones safe.

Summary

So 2024 was a pretty good year. Not perfect but not bad at all. I'm looking forward to 2025, to another year of doing the job that I love so much, another year of exciting and adventurous travel, and another year of doing life with Neil and Liggy.

We've got a few holidays planned: Somerset, the Shetland Islands, Wales, and the Netherlands. We're planning to take Liggy to visit her puppy parents and the home where she was raised. I want to enjoy as much stunning scenery as I can possibly find and photograph. We're going to attempt a couple of overnight ferries - another first with the motorhome, a wheelchair and Liggy. I'm going to attempt to learn a little Dutch, to build on the miniscule amount of Flemish I learned for going to Belgium. And at some point, I will begin to think about destinations for 2026.

All that remains is to wish you all a very happy new year! I pray every blessing on my family and friends and anyone who is reading this blog. Be kind to yourself and to others. Show love to your nearest and dearest and to the stranger. Take time to enjoy the world around us and appreciate the beauty of nature. Have a wonderful 2025!