Our columnist Michael McEwan looks back at the strides forward made in the fight for human rights and visibility of disabled people in 2022, as he sets his sights on breaking down more barriers in 2023.

It's been a quick year, and there is still a lot to do moving forward to 2023. Reflecting on the past 12 months, what comes to mind is that the call for disabled people and carers' human rights still hasn’t been heard.

It's difficult to understand why people's needs aren't met. There are many organisations in Scotland to make the case for basic rights, and it's unfair that people with a disability fight for everything. That's the society we live in now. l will campaign on issues next year and beyond, until we get a fair society for all.

I am happy to say that it was Team Scotland’s most successful commonwealth game in Birmingham from a para sports perspective. It was a fantastic haul of 12 medals won across 5 different sports, with 31 athletes selected for the games in seven sports - another all-time record, with the para athletes making up 12% of Team Scotland.

The team took home an amazing 51 medals from the games, with the 12 medals won by the para athletes accounting for 23% of this total. I hope this will inspire people to take up sports. The message the games should convey is to see the person not the disability.

Another big achievement for me was the Scotland cerebral palsy football team returning to international competition for the first time in nine years .

The tournament was held in Italy and Scotland’s team were in a group with the host, Chile and South Korea. They got all the way to the final against Colombia but lost – however, what an amazing achievement to get that far. They really did the country proud. Next for the squad is the 2023 championships .

I think this year will be remembered as the first time a person with a disability training to go into space.  The European Space Agency announced in November that Paralympics sprinter John McFall was selected to be the first ESA parastronaut. Good luck to John, history is being made here.

He'll join 16 other new faces from access Europe, chosen from about 22,500 applicants, as the agency looks to diversify its pool of astronauts in its first hiring drive in more than a decade.

Another Paralympian was on Strictly Come Dancing this year, best known as gold medal winning swimmer Ellie Simmonds. She made history as the youngest British athlete at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, where she won gold in the 100m and 400m freestyle event.

Ellie did well in the competition, where she was voted out on week six with her partner Nikita Kuzmin.

As we look forward to 2023, we will continue to raise awareness of disability issues. My dream would be to see more people finding a voice and given a chance when it comes to empowering opportunities.

Michael McEwan is a freelance journalist.

Read more from Michael: Column: Work for disabled people still a barrier; Column: We still have to fight for our rights; Column: Young people finding their voice; Representation matters for Cerebral Palsy

The views of columnists and people who write other guest insights articles are their own.

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