Ouch: Disability Talk

Why are celebrities now choosing to talk openly about their mental health?Is it because social media gives us more access to all aspects of their day-to-day lives? Or is stigma decreasing? (a transcript of this programme can be found in the Related Links on this page. Scroll down to find it) To mull it over, we are joined by blogger Seaneen Molloy-Vaughan and social enterprise director Mark Brown. They have lived-experience of mental health struggles and can empathise with celebrities, like Zayn Malik, who has had to cancel shows due to anxiety.With Damon Rose, Beth Rose and Emma Tracey.email ouch@bbc.co.uk tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. Join in, tell us what you think of this weekly podcast hurl us suggestions for other topics or guests you'd like to hear on the programme. Oh and tell your friends about us.

On this month's talk show from Ouch: Tilley Milburn had a late diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome which meant she received assistance later than was helpful, and found herself living in a care home. She talks about the comic she has created for disability art group Heart and Soul, her performances and how she sometimes speaks to the world via her toy pig Del.James Leadbitter, also known as artist The Vacuum Cleaner, has struggled with his mental health over time. He returns to the programme to talk about the outcome of the Madlove project where he and collaborator Hannah Hull asked people to send in ideas to help them create the most ideal and healthy psychiatric ward. In a wide-ranging discussion James also talks about having experienced the controversial practice of face-down restraint. Visually impaired YouTube vlogger Holly Scott-Gardner joins us to run through some recent stories which may have weedled their way onto your social media timeline. Presenters: Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty. Producer: Emma Trac

Meet Matt King. He’s an engineer who works at Facebook HQ in California. He’s one of the people on a team who works towards making the big social network accessible. King explains the recent AI innovation on Facebook which describes photos to blind people. He talks about future aspirations and tells us what you can get to eat on Facebook campus, for free, at lunchtime. His favourite is a huge big salad, hence the title of this podcast.Presented by Damon Rose.If you want to contact us, share your views or anything else, email ouch@bbc.co.uk Tweet: @bbcouch or find us on Facebook.

The internet is becoming increasingly visual. How do blind people experience emoji's and is digital communication becoming more inaccessible? This episode was originally podcast in October 2015.

New research by charity Scope says 38 percent of us do it, but why? Emily Shanahan hid her Asperger’s and dyspraxia because she was being bullied at school. The London 2012 Paralympics helped her feel more positive about her impairments, and support dog Magic has given her confidence. Emily spoke to Emma Tracey.

Transport for London are trialing a badge which asks travellers to give their seats to passengers with invisible mobility impairments. Alan Benson from campaign organisation Transport For All gives us the background, and we find out what happened when presenter Kate Monaghan wore it on the tube.In Bite Me, a one-woman show about having therapy for bulimia, Joanne McNally ‘s eating disorder physically manifests itself as Louis Walsh. The Dublin-based comedian talks us through the nuts and bolts of the illness and describes her journey from binging and purging all day every day, to being in recovery and sharing the funny side of her “dark” and “scary” experience.Jack Binstead joins us with his social media update, and there’s music by blind singer songwriter Joe Kenny. Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty present.

The 17-year-old comedian with cerebral palsy talks to Emma about politics, osteopathy and his time on Britain's Got Talent.

Nils Bergstrand lost his leg when he was shot in a pub in Thailand ten years ago. From his experiences he says he has "made the show he would have wanted to see" when he first became an amputee. It's presently on at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. (scroll down for a transcript of this programme in the Related Links section) Presented by Emma Tracey. Find BBC Ouch on Facebook, tweet @bbcouch or email ouch@bbc.co.uk

Two comedians at this years Edinburgh Fringe have shows about being blind. Jamie MacDonald is gradually going blind whereas Georgie Morrell lost her sight for a year before regaining it. (scroll down for a transcript in the Related Links section of this page) From people's low expectations through to spiders, taxi drivers and the beautiful Spanish phrase for "disabled toilet". In-depth humorous discussion presented by Emma Tracey. Like us on Facebook tweet @bbcouch or email ouch@bbc.co.uk Subscribe to Ouch's podcast and receive our programme every Friday.

What do puppets and disabled people have in common? Quite a lot as it happens. In a play about a two-foot-tall cloth puppet Fred, threatened cuts to his Puppetry Living Allowance mean he loses one of his three puppeteers and can no-longer live independently. (for a transcript, scroll down to the Related Links section) Emma caught up with Fred at the Edinburgh Fringe and heard about his troubles at the job centre ... and why he isn’t fond of the Muppets.

Mat Fraser and Kiruna Stamell cheekily read through a benefits application form. And Kiruna talks about a tandem skydive she recently did. Funny and fast-paced archive from 2008. (scroll down to find a transcript in the Related Links section of this page) Email ouch@bbc.co.uk, tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. You can also take part in our new live video interviews on Facebook Live so go ahead and 'like' us. Introduced by Damon Rose. Be sure to come back next week for one of our Edinburgh Fringe special shows featuring some of the great disabled acts at the festival this year.

What might help disabled people’s hospital stays go more smoothly? You'll find a transcript in the related links section.Stacy is blind and in kidney failure but has been handed leaflets detailing her dialysis and transplant options in print, which she can’t read. Will the new NHS England Accessible Information Standard, which comes into full effect on 31 July, help her?Steph’s disabled daughter Daisy spends lots of time in hospital too. She often gets examined without being spoken to properly first. They are going to try wearing #hellomynameis badges to see if it makes a positive difference. Listen as Stacy and Steph compare notes on their hospital experiences.With Emma Tracey and Kathleen Hawkins.

Prime minister May has had type one diabetes since 2013 and, as such, a more complicated lifestyle in order to maintain her good health. A full transcript is available in the related links section.This week we meet Leonie Watson, an accessibility engineer who has had the same type of diabetes since she was a small child. She discusses how she can eat the occasional pudding by adjusting her insulin dosage, how to have the occasional drink plus explains the technology she uses to measure the sugar in her blood. You'll learn more than you expected in a candid and enlightening interview.With Damon Rose and Emma Tracey.If you want to get in touch, email ouch@bbc.co.uk, tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. Please rate and review this programme on whichever service you get your podcasts from - it helps other people, who might also enjoy the programme, to find it.

Some of the creatures in the new mobile online gaming phenomenon Pokemon Go are not accessible if you're mobility impaired. But on the flip side of accessibility, some say the game is great for your mental health because it gets you outdoors while you attempt to capture the Pokemon in your local area. (go to the Related Links section of this page to find a transcript)Visually impaired gamer Jemma Brown joins the Ouch team to tell us how she plays the game. The programme features Ouch regulars Damon Rose, Kathleen Hawkins and Emma Tracey.Tell us about your gaming experiences by emailing ouch@bbc.co.uk, find us on Facebook or tweet @bbcouch If you like this podcast, please rate and review it on your podcast delivery service so that others can find it.

Blind, visually impaired and other disabled people could benefit hugely from the new breed of automated cars that we hear such a lot about. But will this group of people be automatically permitted to drive them when the cars are legally allowed on the roads? (a transcript of this programme can be found in the Related Links section on this page) We discovered in the last week that the first death has happened which involves driverless technology, a man using autopilot mode on a Tesla car. Does this change the desire of some blind and disabled people to want to travel in a computer controled car and gain that much-needed independence? Might the tragic incident put lawmakers off? These and other questions are discussed in this edition of Inside Ouch featuring AbilityNet's Robin Christopherson and Hugh Huddy who considers policy at a big charity which supports visually impaired people. With Damon Rose and Emma Tracey. email Ouch@bbc.co.uk tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook if you want to tell us about your th

This programme contains discussions about mental health, halucinations and suicide. If you're not in the right mood to hear it, skip the episode and we'll be back next week with another show. Discussions range from: questionable special school classes on dating etiquette, the lack of disabled emojis, and seeing floating cats which may or may not be real. (a transcript of this programme can be found in the Related Links section on this page) With guests Laurence Clark (comedian with cerebral palsy), Harriet Dyer (a comic who has bipolar and who runs her own club night for comedians with mental health difficulties), and wheelchair usin' Jack Binstead from BBC sitcom Bad Education. Email ouch@bbc.co.uk, tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook to be part of the conversation.. Or just tell us what you think of the show. This hour-long show is presented by Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty. The producer was Damon Rose.If any discussions in this programme cause you distress, please reach out to your friends, family or sup

Tiffany Joiner describes her legs as “80 per cent paralysed” due to a balcony fall six years ago. It took a long time for the former yoga teacher to get "back on the mat" but now her Instagram photos and videos have earned the UK-based American a loyal following by disabled "yogis". Her handle is @yogaplegic. (for a transcript, look in the Related Links section on this page) Tiffany joins Kathleen, Damon and Emma to chat about yoga and life in general. Find out why she duct tapes her feet together before practicing, how a year of solo travel around Latin America helped her recovery and what advice she'd give to other disabled people keen to try yoga or another physical activity.

Pictures of Oscar Pistorius were beamed around the globe this week as he attempted to show how vulnerable he could be in prison as a double below knee amputee. The convicted murderer was overcome with emotion as he showed judges the alternative side of his superhuman persona. On this week's programme, the Ouch team discuss dignity, vulnerability and reflect on personal matters of accessibility and pride. Email ouch@bbc.co.uk or tweet @bbcouch if you want to be part of the conversation. A transcript of this episode is now available.

Warning: this programme contains discussion of a sexual nature. The team are joined by disabled writer and performer Penny Pepper. (see Related Links, below, for a transcript) This week she wrote an article in The Guardian about how she's sick of disabled people being portrayed as asexual in film and TV. Cue a long and fascinating discussion about her first experiences of love and physical intimacy. As Penny is a wheelchair user and has arthritis, she has to do things quite differently.

Interview guests, music, and Ouch's famous Vegetable Vegetable or Vegetable parlour game returns on the hour-long show for June. (See 'Related links' for a transcript)One-handed concert pianist Nicholas McCarthy got to #7 in the classical music charts. Here, he reveals what he does with his less-able or “little arm” - the one he doesn't make music with. Hear him play to celebrate BBC Music Day. And be sure to click below for a video of blind Ouch producer Emma trying to find Nicholas’s speedy left hand as he tickles the ivories.Ruth Madeley was nominated for a BAFTA for her part in BBC Three's Don’t Take My Baby, a drama exploring the scrutiny some disabled people experience from social services on becoming parents. The drama is back on BBC iPlayer until August, and Ruth joins us from Manchester to chat about her break-out role. She was born disabled, but that’s not what she always tells inquisitive strangers. Hear the elaborate tale she told Ouch when she came in on work experience 10 years ago when she was