The Sunflower Conversations

FASD with Jacob Casson-Rennie Jacob is 16 years old and lives with his parents in Ireland, who head up FASD Ireland and Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Ireland.  Jacob talks to us about living with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, FASD.  For Jacob auditory processing and memory is an issue and he explains how important it is that his peers and school are educated on the condition so that his additi...

Jen Hankin is a musician who composes, teaches and performs. Her creative skills extend to fine arts (digital and watercolour), photography, videography, fashion design and writing. Jen is also autistic and has ADHD. Jen has created a new piece of music called 'The End of Torpor', about coming out of a period of burnout related to her neurodiversity. This conversation focuses on Jen&apos...

Izzie is a journalist and is using her lived experience as a young woman with cystic fibrosis to combat ableism through her writing.  In this conversation we discuss how her chronic health condition, cystic fibrosis affects her daily life and how she manages her healthcare routine with work. Then we move on to what ableism is,  the subtleties of it as well as the directness and where it can occur,...

Chloe Francis has a range of health conditions including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourettes syndrome/Tic disorder, Sensory processing disorder, Vestibular processing disorder and Hypermobility, Anxiety disorder and Sleep disorder. In this conversation we discuss what OCD really is and what it feels like to have compulsions, we also discuss panic attacks and the affect that they have on a...

Gemma had a missed early diagnosis of bowel cancer because the doctor believed her to be too young to have cancer at the age of 30.    In the past 8 years she has undergone many operations and treatments and is now stage 4 NED. Gemma is very open about the procedures she has had and wants to use her platform to raise awareness of bowel cancer in young people and also provide a support network to p...

Tourette Syndrome and Brazilian Jui Jitsu with Khovan Hussein “With my Tourette's, sometimes my verbal tics can be stuff like swearing, or I might say something that's offensive, but obviously I can't help it. So when I wear the badge outside, it makes me comfortable knowing that... It just shows everyone that I can't help it.” Khovan and his mum Shireen join us to celebrate Kh...

Registered blind with Claire Sisk Claire had two strokes aged 29 after which she developed retinal dystrophy and is now registered blind. Following her strokes Claire has had to learn how to navigate in a sighted world and uses her Instagram account CanSeeCantSee to raise awareness of what daily life is like with sight loss and offer support and advice. Her work has recently been acknowledged with...

Tourette Syndrome and Autism with Martin Moxness Martin Moxness lives in Denmark and has many talents including being a successful Instagram a_different_spectrum and Tik Tok a_different_spectrum  influencer, along with being creatively gifted in music and photography. Martin is autistic and uses his platform to raise awareness of his health conditions which include Tourette syndrome and ADHD. Mart...

Steven Mifsud, MBE, is profoundly deaf and joined us on the Sunflower Conversations to talk about his cochlear implant. This small, complex electronic device helps provide a sense of sound that enables him to hear. Steven explains the difference between a world of silence and non-stop sound. Since his first hearing aid aged two, technological advances have come a long way, and the sounds he can no...

“And I saw that British Airways most recently became involved in the Sunflower program. And that to me makes a lot of sense” Shannon is an aviation specialist and joins us from Brisbane Australia to share his expertise and insights along with helpful tips for people with disabilities who wish to travel. Sitting on the Queensland Accessible Transport Advisory Council Shannon has a wealth of knowled...

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, FASD with Tristan Casson-Rennie and Jan Griffin Tristan is the founder of FASD Ireland, a not-for-profit charity that aims to raise awareness and provide support to families in Ireland living with FASD.  And Jan is birth mum to Rossi who was born with FASD. They are both passionate about raising awareness of the dangers of drinking alcohol during pregnancy and rem...

Autism diagnosis with Bec Street Bec works for charity Autism Spectrum Australia, as a Sunflower Advocate and is based in Sydney Australia. Since joining the charity 7 months ago Bec has discovered that she has many traits that sit on the autistic spectrum. In the conversation Bec explains how she felt as a child growing up and her previous employment experiences where adjustments weren’t made for...

Long COVID and autism with Linda Dalton Linda contracted COVID in 2020 and has been left battling the effects of Long COVID, the healthcare service and the Government in Ireland ever since. Once a great lover of the outdoors and fitness she now struggles with daily simple tasks such as answering the front door due to chronic fatigue. The brain fog that she experiences means concentrating on TV pro...

Meniere’s disease with Lorna Thomas Lorna Thomas is a musician and has Meniere’s disease which is a long term, progressive condition affecting the balance and hearing parts of the inner ear. Symptoms are acute attacks of vertigo (severe dizziness), fluctuating tinnitus, increasing deafness, and a feeling of pressure in the ear. During the conversation Lorna explains how her Meniere’s has increased...

Kidney Disease with Ayesha Edmondson Ayesha is a Peer Educator for Kidney Research UK, and she advocates for kidney donors from minority ethnic groups. After experiencing preeclampsia during the pregnancy of her first son Ayesha was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, FSGS. She explains what a crucial organ the kidney is for the human body and the functions it performs, as well as s...

Endometriosis with Gemma Beswick and Aimee Gill Gemma is a Volunteer Leader for the charity Endometriosis UK. Because of her lived experience of endometriosis she is passionate about supporting people who are waiting for a diagnosis and joins us to answer our questions. Aimee is a Sunflower wearer, who is now 18 years old but first started experiencing symptoms when she was 11, at 14 she received...

Marc Powell, RNIB talks about NaviLens and Kellogg's If you have a visual impairment how do you know what you are buying, whether it is suitable for your needs, does it contain nuts or other allergens? These are only some of the questions that are never answered for blind and partially sighted people. NaviLens technology is changing the landscape of communication and giving people with visual...

Crohns’ disease and Takayasu's with Artie Carden We caught up with Artie who joined us in a Sunflower Conversation back 2020. Artie has hypermobility syndrome, Crohn’s disease and Takayasu's arteritis. After extended bouts of sickness and diarrhoea Artie sought a medical diagnosis, unfortunately it was this was a misdiagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome which was later changed to a Crohn...

Acquired brain injury with Brooke Simon TRIGGER WARNING, in this podcast we discuss domestic violence. Brooke acquired her brain injury at the hands of persistent domestic violence. The trauma she experienced resulted in her losing her sight in one eye, and partially blind in other. She is also partially deaf and uses hearing aids, additionally her mobility has been affected. Overcoming the extens...

Epilepsy and surgery with Hannah Wilson  Hannah has focal impaired awareness seizures and since we last spoke, 12 months ago, they have got progressively worse. Increasing in frequency and duration. They have also become tonic clonic. The seizures leave Hannah, bruised, sore and emotionally and physically wiped out. Because of this Hannah has been undergoing to tests which have revealed that she h...

Cerebral palsy, learning difficulties, and anxiety with Bryony Moss Bryony has cerebral palsy and right hemiplegia, which is a paralysis of the right side of the body. She also has learning disabilities, anxiety and non-epileptic seizures. After receiving her diagnosis when she was academic year two Bryony was given splints to aid her walking along with physiotherapy and educational support which...

Dyspraxia, dyslexia and dyscalculia with Fire Phoenix Rising  Fire Phoenix Rising  is a poet and has dyspraxia, dyslexia and dyscalculia – or the triple D’s as she affectionately refers to them. The dyspraxia went undiagnosed during her formative primary school years until her mum read an article about a dyspraxic child and recognised the similarities. Fire Phoenix Rising finds that she has no fil...

The Sunflower Conversations – Cerebral Palsy with Peta Hooke Peta has cerebral palsy which affects her mobility. Peta uses a wheelchair as she cannot stand or walk independently, she also uses a hoist to shower. The cerebral palsy was caused at birth when she experienced a lack of oxygen for few seconds. At 12 Peta had an operation which went wrong and stretched her nerves too much resulting in ch...

Desmoid tumour with MaryBeth Eiler MaryBeth has a rare, aggressive tumour which is called a Desmoid Tumour.  In this conversation we hear about the different types of chemotherapy MaryBeth received and had how the tumour severely affected her mobility. MaryBeth also talks us through the workplace adjustments that her employer made to accommodate her health condition. In spite of the anxiety she ca...

The Sunflower Conversations podcast - Vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome  with Erica Baldwin Erica has Vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (VEDS) – a genetic condition which wasn’t diagnosed until adulthood. In this conversation we hear how the VEDS affects her body, in particular her internal organs, which caused her to have a major ruptured colon. During childbirth Erica’s body struggled to cope and sh...