Access All: Disability News and Mental Health

Kate Monaghan has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and her wife Holly is immunocompromised, meaning a year of shielding with two young children has been anything but easy! But recent government announcements mean it's all about to change again for this family – one-year-old Gracie is starting nursery and four-year-old Scout is going back to school. And it's a bag of mixed emotions for these two Mummas - rel...

With an end now possibly in sight, Kate feels she's letting Holly down. Her painful mobility issues are causing real problems for her this week - she desperately wants to play with the kids but having Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome means that even cuddles are a bit too much sometimes. Home-schooling a four-year-old and entertaining a one-year-old leaves Kate physically and emotionally exhausted, but doesn...

Dating can be tricky at the best of times, but it can come with a unique set of challenges if you have a learning disability and are LGBT. Ben Hunte, the BBC's LGBT correspondent, speaks to three people with learning disabilities and explores the social care barriers faced by the community. Shaun describes how a lack of sex education at special school meant it took him a decade to come out as bise...

After immune-compromised Holly had her vaccine last week, Kate has now been called to get hers. Excitement levels are high but she wonders how her body will react to the jab. Meanwhile, keeping four-year-old Scout and one-year-old Gracie amused is a struggle, until snow brings some welcome fun. Produced by Amy Elizabeth. If you want to message Kate or ask her a question, email amy.elizabeth@bbc.co...

After almost a year of shielding, Holly gets her Covid-19 vaccination. What's the process once you arrive at the center? How do you feel afterwards? If a family member sidles in, might they get a spare jab if they're lucky? Stand by to live vicariously through Holly and hear one ELATED family! Produced by Amy Elizabeth Subscribe to the podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your sm...

Seaneen Molloy and Mark Brown return with their witty and self-depricating take on mental health. They draw on their personal and professional experiences to talk about the awkward stuff so "you don't have to". This month they discuss feeling shame which Mark describes as his "personal existential musk". Seaneen shares what happened when her first child was born as she prepares to give birth again...

Kate Monaghan has decided to attend her grandma's funeral rather than watch online. But, because wife Holly has had her immune system suppressed, Kate must attend solo and sit in the crematorium bubbled away from her extended family After dropping Kate off, Holly remains in the car outside the crematorium but questions still loom large about whether any of the family should be attending a funeral...

Lockdown with two small children was never going to be easy but this week Kate is getting severe pain due to her impairments especially when trying to play with and cuddle their newly adopted child. Meanwhile Kate's wife Holly is on an emotional rollercoaster as she awaits a vaccine appointment. She's been shielding for 11 months because she has no immunity system due to meds she is on as a kidney...

Ahead of their new documentary, Harvey and Katie Price join Emma Tracey for a Zoom chat. While Harvey’s pasta cooks, he tells us about his love of frogs, trains and drawing. Katie describes the search for a residential college that’s best placed to support her disabled son. We also hear about Harvey’s new house, how he loves holidays and why those who know him join in with all his favourite phrase...

Kate Monaghan has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and endometriosis, whilst her wife Holly is the recipient of a kidney transplant and has been shielding since the start of the pandemic. Last spring Kate documented the personal reality of managing lockdown with the added complexity of being disabled, having a high risk family member and an energetic three-year-old daughter. This winter lockdown threatens t...

The government has finally released its recommendations on how to modernise the Mental Health Act. The act is used to detain - section - someone if they are considered to be a risk to themselves or others. Many of the recommendations focus on ensuring patients are seen as individuals who should be involved in discussions about their medication and treatment plans. Raf was sectioned at 18 and spent...

Learning disabled actress Donna Lavin has played the lead role in the hugely successful BBC Radio Four drama The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles for ten series. Each 15 minute episode follows her and husband Jamie, both with learning difficulties, as they navigate life together. The last decade has seen Darleen tackle everything from dating through to motherhood and in this series, her daughter Frankie...

Meet Mark and Seaneen, the duo who talk about the awkward stuff so you don’t have to. Seaneen Molloy lives in Belfast. She only really leaves the house for the weekly shop and antenatal checks at the moment. Mark lives alone in a WWII prefab with mice, mould and Zoom calls for company. With years of personal and professional experience of mental health difficulty, this month the friends come toget...

This year’s Ouch Christmas quiz features some very topical dilemmas and questions based on the biggest disability news and events of 2020. Actor Mat Fraser, comedian Rosie Jones and Paralympian ‘Hurricane’ Hannah Cockcroft fight it out for no prizes whatsoever as they share their take on the last 12 months. You’re shielding but your flatmate brings a stranger home from their work Christmas party....

The first week of November saw the clocks go back and the highest levels of loneliness since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to the Office for National Statistics. It said 4.2million people felt “always and often lonely” during that week, but previous studies have found disabled people are far more likely to feel lonely than non-disabled people. So, how do you battle feelings of isolatio...

The 1800 Seconds on Autism podcast is back by popular demand. Here’s the first episode, which is based on listener emails. Presenter Jamie's assistant Oli gets some appreciation, Jamie describes his game-changing new truck and we talk about paintball - a sport which allows you to REALLY focus: "Whilst you're out on the field playing, nobody is going to come and ask whether you want a sandwich." Wi...

On the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act, BBC News Correspondent Nikki Fox asks three generations of disabled people about the impact it has had on their lives. Holly Scott-Gardner is a visually impaired student and campaigner who was a baby when the DDA came in. She has used disability rights law, now embodied in the Equality Act in most of the UK, and calls the process compli...

It's 1968 and Sue is in the toilet at a pop festival. Abortion, which has just been legalised, provides a moment of liberation. But for wheelchair user Sue, it also throws up difficult questions about her body and her beliefs. A whirlwind romance has left her pregnant. What should she do now? This story is part of CripTales, a series of fictional monologues, based on factual research and the lived...

In this monologue starring Liz Carr, Meg thinks her neighbour is a benefits cheat. She is compiling details about him in order to shop him for fraud. But, unexpectedly, he forges a friendship with her and encourages her to claim more benefits for herself. The Real Deal is part of CripTales, a series of fictional monologues based on factual research and the lived experience of disabled people spann...

In this monologue from the series CripTales, disabled actor Mat Fraser sits in the waiting room before an audition, dreading how it will turn out. He relives some of his best and worst moments in auditions in the past, taking us back to his childhood, where he unlocks the reasons for his fears, before finding the way to triumph. Or does he? CripTales is a series of fictional monologues, based on f...

In 2004 BBC journalist and author Frank Gardner was shot six times by Islamist extremists while on a reporting job in Saudi Arabia. Against all the odds, he survived. His cameraman, Simon Cumbers, was killed. Nearly two decades on Frank revisits this part of his life to explore what it's like to suddenly become disabled, the physical pain he still feels in his legs 16 years on and how he manages t...

A crash in Morgan Fox's final season as a cyclist left him with fractured ribs and a collapsed lung. Then, an overdose of antibiotics given during his treatment led to almost total hearing loss. Fox says his engineering background helped him cope with deafness, then with learning to hear with a cochlear implant. Now he runs Ireland's first professional cycling programme where reasonable adjustment...

From online learning to entire halls of residences being placed in lockdown, students across the country have found themselves at university in extremely testing circumstances. Those with a disability could potentially find it extra tough. BBC Ouch’s Keiligh Baker speaks to students from the University of Aberdeen, where more than 100 people tested positive for Covid-19 at the start of October. Be...

Starting University can be incredibly exciting but also daunting – especially given the current Covid-19 restrictions. And what if you have a disability to manage too? Are you worried it might hold you back from enjoying the full experience? – Pippa and Matt don’t think it will! Taking soon-to-be fresher Tom* under their wings, Pippa Stacey - author of University and Chronic Illness: A Survival Gu...

As working from home becomes the new normal, is it really all its cracked up to be? Or could it actually be making the situation worse for disabled staff? Simon Minty chats with Nana Marfo who lives with a permanent tracheostomy tube and has been working from home since March. He misses catching up with colleagues, but on the plus side; no commute means a lie-in! Lilu Wheeler has found working fro...