Category: Annual event

National Puzzle Day recognises the value of puzzles and how they can benefit our mental development. Whether it’s a crossword, jigsaw, word search, Sudoku puzzle or brain teaser, puzzles are a great way to put our minds to work. Regularly spending time working on puzzles can improve: memory cognitive function problem-solving skills logic and reasoning critical thinking vocabulary … Continue reading “National Puzzle Day 29 January”

World AIDS Day takes place on 1 December each year. It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day. … Continue reading “World AIDS Day 1 December”

Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott; its success launched nationwide efforts to end racial segregation of public facilities. On December 1, 1955, Parks was arrested for refusing a … Continue reading “Rosa Parks Day 1 December”

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance that honours the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honour the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who … Continue reading “Transgender Day of Remembrance (20 Nov)”

The theme for this year’s UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) is: Health and Wellbeing The pandemic across the UK and around the world has shown just how fragile are the rights disabled people have secured for themselves, with young people with learning difficulties being at the sharp end with up to 20x the death rate … Continue reading “Disability History Month UK 16 Nov-16 Dec”

Remembrance Day is an annual event, where we remember all the people who have lost their lives while serving in the armed forces. It’s also called Armistice Day or Poppy Day. It is commemorated on this day because the First World War ended “at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month”.  … Continue reading “Remembrance Day (11 Nov)”

Intersex Day of Remembrance, also known as Intersex Solidarity Day, is an internationally observed civil awareness day designed to highlight issues faced by intersex people. It marks the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French intersex person whose memoirs were later published by Michel Foucault in Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-century French Hermaphrodite.

International Pronouns Day, 19 October [occurring annually on the third Wednesday in October], seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace. Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity. Being referred to by the wrong pronouns particularly affects transgender and gender nonconforming people. Together, we can … Continue reading “International Pronouns Day 19 October 2022”

The theme of 2022’s World Mental Health Day, set by the World Federation for Mental Health, is ‘Make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority‘. The last couple of years have brought many challenges for all of us but, in particular, for people with mental health conditions, many of whom have been experiencing … Continue reading “World Mental Health Day 10 October 2022”

October is Menopause Awareness Month, with 18 October designated as ‘World Menopause Day’ and this year’s theme being ‘Cognition and Mood’. The menopause is a natural stage of life that affects all women. Medically speaking, it is where a woman ceases to ovulate and their periods eventually stop, caused by a change in hormone levels. … Continue reading “Menopause Awareness Month (October) and World Menopause Day (18 October)”