Ouch: Disability Talk

It seems that using the acronym LGBT has allowed people to talk more openly about gay community issues more easily. So, if the disabled community replaced the D-word with some letters, what would they be and would it sweep away the worries people have about using that word. First heard in February 2015. With Damon Rose, Kate Monaghan and Lee Kumutat Please tell your friends about us. Like and share Ouch on social media, and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Robyn knows a lot about trumpet playing and Jamie watches hours of milling machine videos each night to wind down. They’re both autistic and love talking at length about what they call their “special interests” - that obsessive geekiness often considered a classic autism trait (just Google 'hacker' and 'Asperger' to get the gist).But while obsessing and learning can bring deep knowledge, its intensity can have a less positive side. (Scroll down the page to Related Links if you want to read the transcript)This is the first in a three-part series of the Robyn Jamie and Lion Show, where two autistic people and a helpful cuddly toy bring their unique perspective to BBC Ouch.

Jennifer Brea has ME, known to many as chronic fatigue syndrome, and is director of the multi-award winning documentary film Unrest. In it, she documents her personal journey by video on a smart phone - including those moments where she finds herself lying flat out on the floor. She and husband Omar spoke to the BBC's Natasha Lipman who also has the condition.

How does America’s Got Talent star Mandy Harvey hit the correct notes and tour successfully with a live band when she can’t hear? Why did a conversation in the radio studio change bipolar comedy songster Chris Smith’s stance on having children? And who were Bristol’s Brave Poor things?The latest BBC Ouch Talk Show is presented by Kate Monaghan and weather presenter Lucy Martin. Produced by Emma Tracey.

The Labour Party has suspended MP Jared O'Mara after he posted misogynistic and homophobic comments online, but who is he?BBC Ouch's Damon Rose met the MP earlier this year after O’Mara unexpectedly knocked former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg off his Sheffield Hallam seat in the general election.The 35-year-old, who was born and bred in Sheffield, has cerebral palsy and, for accessibility reasons, is the only MP to be allowed to wear a t-shirt in the House of Commons.

Ambulances were white when Damon lost his sight over 30 years ago and Lucy’s mental image of her sister, Alice, hasn’t changed since she went blind in 2013. Having been born blind, Emma has no real interest in what colour represents.The three blind journalists take a light-hearted look at what colour does and doesn’t mean to them with the help of token sighted person Beth. If you have an idea for a future programme, email ouch@bbc.co.uk. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you reviewed us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Is Robyn the only autistic person who doesn’t love fidget-spinners? And what's this about Jamie's T-shirt?We gave two autistic people free rein in a studio with a tin full of questions only “neurotypicals” would ask. The result is an entertaining and enlightening chat about stimming, social gatherings and sensory overload.This podcast is one of a series of takeovers, produced by Damon Rose and Emma Tracey. If you have an idea for a future programme, email ouch@bbc.co.uk.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you reviewed us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

They're talked about a lot at the moment, but can "sex robots" help disabled people? Also, the disabled teen punk who left home to find an independent life for herself in the less-accessible 80s. And the action movie where sign language is a super-power. Presented by Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty. Subscribe to the Ouch podcast and have our programmes delivered to your device every week. And please like, review and share Ouch so that others can find it more easily.

Vlogger Charles Michael Duke, 22, posts comedy songs and videos about life with cystic fibrosis on YouTube. People with CF shouldn’t meet face to face due to fear of cross-contamination. So they hang out online, where Charles feeds the community with his niche CF references such as having fingers like ET and potent flatulence caused by a low-functioning pancreas.The Southampton-based actor has been waiting two and a half years for a double lung transplant and is working hard to stay well enough for the operation.Interview by Emma TraceySubscribe to Ouch, share it on social media and be sure to review it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from, so that others who are interested in disability and mental health can find us more easily.

Being part of the male gay scene can be tricky when you “wobble and spasm like I do” says Robert Softley Gale.The actor with cerebral palsy says there is also a lack of accessibility in "queer" pubs and clubs. But for now Robert has a big enough challenge putting on tights in his new touring stage show Blanche and Butch, where he plays a drag queen.Interview by Emma Tracey.Subscribe to Ouch, share it on social media and be sure to review it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from, so that others who are interested in disability and mental health can find us more easily.

Ria found herself in prison after she set light to her home when she was in it.She had been suffering from psychosis brought on by distress at the death of a friend. While on remand, she worked hard to make herself better. With Beth Rose and Damon RoseSubscribe to Ouch, share it on social media and be sure to review it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from so that others who are interested in disability and mental health can find us more easily.

Warning: this programme contains discussion of a sexual nature. Disabled writer and performer Penny Pepper join the team this week. (see Related Links for a transcript) This is a replay of a fascinating interview from early 2016. Pepper talks openly about how she found out about the joys of sex thanks to friends at a hospital boarding school she was at in the 1970s. Though the interview is full of humour and tips, Pepper has some serious messages for disabled people about intimacy with those you can trust. There's also a surprising revelation about cotton buds that we'll gloss over now but you can hear in full on the podcast. We're going red just thinking about it. Rate us, review us, share us. It's the disability podcast everyone should hear.

The playwright who experiences pain as sounds and pictures, Tourettes Hero Jess Thom on performing Beckett’s play Not I, the comedian with cerebral palsy whose slow speech is part of her act and the man whose poem OCD has 62 million YouTube hits.The sounds and images in The Shape of the Pain represent how playwright Rachel Bagshaw experiences chronic pain so accurately, that watching her own show makes it worse.Rosie Jones’ slow talking speed is a feature of her stand-up comedy routine. The funny woman with cerebral palsy offers her take on this month’s disability news.Jess Thom’s relaxed performance of Beckett’s Not I has been adapted to work with her untypical brain and body. She can’t quite believe how much “a non-disabled dead man” has captured her experience of Tourettes syndrome.Neil Hilborn is a performance poet with diagnoses of bipolar and obsessive compulsive disorder. His poem OCD has 62 million YouTube hits but he performs a new piece exclusively for us at the end of the show. Presented by Kate Mo

Lost Voice Guy uses an iPad to speak and has become an expert handler of awkward questions as a result.“Can you really not talk?” and “have you ever tried to speak to see what would happen?” are just two questions put to the comedian with cerebral palsy by drunk people after gigs. His many witty comebacks, including pretending he has a side-line as a satellite navigation system, are revealed in the 2nd of our podcasts from the BBC Ouch storytelling night at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Also featured are Maura, an autistic woman with hair envy and “the social skills of a used teabag”, and Frank, who was rescued from a partial seizure by Al Pacino.The show is presented by Sofie Hagen and the producer is Ed Morrish.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Awkward! This week’s podcast, the first of two recorded live in Scotland, is all about a badly timed dislocation, a wheelchair user who stunned a nun by walking and the depressed man who got too good at pretending to like people. BBC Ouch recently took five listeners and two comedians to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where they told awkward tales relating to their disability or mental health difficulty to a live audience. It happened to Abbi Brown when she stunned a praying Parisian nun by getting up and walking away from her wheelchair. Angela Clarke forgot to tell a masseuse that her bones regularly dislocate, with predictably humorous consequences. Mark Granger’s social butterfly persona masks his depression and a genuine dislike of people so well that even the briefest of interactions can give them the wrong impression – especially single ladies. And awkward interactions with people won’t stop comedian Juliette Burton talking about her mental health and eating disorders at gigs.Presented by Sofie Hagen.

No doctors, no charities, no family members - just a frank conversation between two women with chronic illness, about navigating life when energy is at a premium. Faced with a box of random questions such as “do people think you’re lazy?” researcher Catherine Hale and blogger Natasha Lipman praise left-overs for dinner, extreme flexible working and the online chronic illness community. Ironing, and suggestions like “have you ever tried telling it to just go away?” get short shrift.This podcast is one in a series of monthly Ouch take-overs, produced by Damon Rose and Emma Tracey. If you have an idea for a future take-over, email ouch@bbc.co.uk.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

With stories of running away to Skegness aged 14 and the culture-clash of going from a council estate to Cambridge University, it’s fair to say Allan Hennessy stole the show this month. He’s that visually impaired Iraqi refugee whose recent BBC video went viral after he graduated with a first class law degree.Also in the studio is autistic trumpeter Robyn Steward who sparked a lively debate on the language of disability. And playwright Jackie Hagan recalls the weeks after her leg amputation when she had to use a food bank.She was forced to leave a trail of elderflower water and custard creams behind her because the parcel was too heavy to carry home while she was using her crutches. Jackie's play, Cosmic Scallies, about disability, poverty and friendship, is at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.Presented by Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty.

Comedian John Scott was labelled schizophrenic for five years before he ended up in crisis in hospital and face-to-face with the psychologists who had gone to his show.During their night out the medics had decided the performer they were watching was definitely bipolar.The chance encounter meant the second time they met - in hospital - John was correctly diagnosed and treated. John has experienced psychotic delusions, but he doesn’t think they are talked about widely enough, so he’s made them the subject of his latest comedy show Delusions, which will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. During his interview John touches upon self-medication and some of the causes and content of his delusions, which may affect you if you're having a tricky time at the moment. With Emma Tracey and Beth Rose.Write and tell us what you're up to - email ouch@bbc.co.uk, tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple

Mark Neary’s recurring nightmare is that six months after his own death, son Steven who has autism and learning disabilities will end up in a residential unit similar to the one where he was detained in 2010. Later that same year, a human rights court case ruled that Steven’s detention was unlawful. Nowadays he lives independently, with support painstakingly managed by dad, Mark. It's a tough thing to have to think about. Routine is vital for Steven, so Mark hopes that a comprehensive death plan document including everything from details on paying staff to instructions for making compilation tapes, will ensure Steven thrives after he’s gone.With Emma Tracey.Write and tell us what you're up to - Email ouch@bbc.co.uk tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Dr Hannah Barham-Brown made the news recently after revealing she couldn't afford the fairly modest £2,000 wheelchair she wanted but managed to raise the money through online crowdfunding in just 24 hours. She says what was being offered for free wasn’t fit for purpose. Barham-Brown talks about navigating a busy hospital on wheels and how she is very used to talking about disability because many of her family were disabled but not with the same impairment as her, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (which she explains in fulll on the programme). She has learnt some unexpected things in 18 months of using a wheelchair, including the fact that it can make your boobs bigger.With Emma Tracey.Write and tell us what you're up to - Email ouch@bbc.co.uk tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.