The Way We Roll

We had a chat with regular guest Joanna Wootten and cultural critic Geoff Spink to ask them their disability or Deaf stand out moment from 2021 and what they’re excited about in 2022. We added our highlights in there too. The stand out moments for us is very broad and includes Strictly Come Dancing, Abnormally Funny People comedy at the Royal Festival Hall, the next Lewis Hamilton racing in Bahrai...

Bristol recently advertised for a Commissioner for their Disability Equality Commission. You need skills and experience and be expected to be a spokesperson. Time commitment is up to seven working weeks a year. Salary, zero. How much do we value equalities work? What value do we give to different contributions? When should we get paid, and when is it voluntary? How do we value those who help achie...

Two topics feature in this months podcast.  Gardners might use the term perennials to describe them. Others might say weeds that never quite go away. Two topics we discuss and we disagree on, but we have an enjoyable and explorative discussion getting there.  Assisted suicide, aka assisted dying, is back in the spotlight as Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill passed through the House of Lords a...

In the UK one of the first pieces of disability rights legislation was the 1970 Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act . Over the next three decades, disability rights campaigners made a distinction between illness and impairment, for understandable reasons but perhaps with hindsight, this has had unintended consequences. Language is returning to including both, so disabled people and people wi...

Delivering training on disability means you get some excellent questions on the subject. A colleague of ours was recently asked, ‘Is impotence a disability under the Equality Act?’ We try and work it out by exploring the impact and then ask, what sort of discrimination might arise to see a case? After last month’s hugely popular show about the word Ableism we move to another relatively new term -...

Have you noticed a change in how disability is discussed? For example, words like ‘ableism’ and ‘internalised ableism’ are perhaps not mainstream but more commonplace, especially on social media.  We were thrilled when Professor Fiona Kumari Campbell, Professor of Disability and Ableism Studies, University of Dundee, agreed to come on the show. In an authoritative and entertaining interview, Fiona...

A full show, we have several current topics and two brilliant guests. Author Victoria Scott has written a book that is, influenced by her relationship with her sister (who is disabled) and the family dynamics when deciding if medical intervention is the right path. Geoff Adams-Spink tells us about Netflix smash, Lupin plus a new Radio 4 show, The Confessional where celebrities admit to behaviour t...

In her recent Guardian article, Dr Frances Ryan raised concerns that ‘Remote working has been life-changing for disabled people, don’t take it away now‘  As we come out of lockdown, we know that some companies are expecting employees to be back in the office 9 to 5, seven days a week. Ryan also flags up concerns regarding cultural events. Is there a new risk that organisers might say disabled peop...

One person, many facets: disability, ethnicity, mental health, being a woman and youth. On this month's show, we are delighted to welcome Doaa Shayea. In her 22 years, she has packed in an extraordinary amount. Doaa talks frankly about her mental health challenges and what she's learned about herself and the world she lives in. Energetic, resilient and determined, she faces the future wi...

If you use the word ‘disabled’ with something you’re promoting, do people switch off? If you create a product to assist a disabled person but ignore this, are you authentic? Are products created for disabled people only used by disabled people…except the telephone, electric can openers, electric windows, pre-cut fruit, voice dictation, automatic doors…but other than these…?  Does the word ‘disabil...

Finally, Deaf people have to endure jury duty… ahem, can fulfil their civic duty like everyone else. After many years of campaigning Deaf people who use sign language, will be able to serve on juries. Common law rules ban the presence of a “stranger” in the jury deliberation room, but this will now be changed, allowing a BSL interpreter in.  Wow, last month’s show was popular! We heard from so man...

This month we explore outer space or more specifically the opportunity that some disabled people might get to become an astronaut. Clearly, the European Space Agency see disability as a positive in their quest for new talent. However, when it comes to vaccines and ‘do not resuscitate’ notices and learning disabled people, there’s evidence that they are not a priority or perhaps worse.  Would you d...

A considered show this month with Phil and Simon. We review the deeply unsettling BBC documentary ‘Targeted - the truth about disability hate crime’. You can watch it on iPlayer. On YouTube, we've posted a video of us discussing the documentary. (links to both below) Simon recently attended some equality training called Beyond Bias, delivered by Guilaine Kinouani from Race Reflections. Two el...

Two jabs Phil has had both vaccinations to protect him from Covid-19. How has it changed him? Is he wild and free at last or staying in with the windows closed?  Never one to miss a debate about one of the models of disability, Simon asks Phil what does he think of the ‘affirmative model’. Is this the answer to the charity/tragedy model of disability? If it’s valid, how can it become useful? Stick...

With skill, talent, and application Nikki Fox has become a regular face on British television. She might be presenting a piece on the nightly news bulletins as BBC News’ Disability Correspondent. Or she’s reporting on a consumer issue on BBC's Watchdog and increasingly, she randomly appears on The One Show.  Last year she was named as the most powerful disabled person in the UK. How did she d...

Welcome to our final show of 2020. Never missing a controversy, we start the show asking if Covid 19 and the move to home working, gave disabled employees an unfair advantage if employers prioritise and pay for their adjustments and not those of non-disabled colleagues. Ex-BBC TV maker, Emma West wrote an article asking “Where are we now in terms of representation of disability in popular culture?...

TV presenter, Alex Brooker started his career as a sports journalist at the Liverpool Echo. In 2012 he became part of a brand new comedy show, The Last Leg on Channel 4, now in its 20th series.  He recently made a documentary for the BBC entitled ‘Disability & Me’ which we reviewed, Alex heard that show and now he’s our guest.   We cover disability and identity, what the phrase ‘disability doe...

A tech journalist, by day, a musician by night Steve O'Hear is a quietly confident disabled person, all the time. Earlier this year, Steve released an album entitled, ‘Between Floors’. After a few listens, Simon and Phil decided that they needed to have a chat with the man in the hat. Steve has a large presence in the niche field of tech finance journalism. He's been working from home (e...

It’s the 1 to 1 show where Phil and Simon chat over the latest topics.  If you’d like to hear two liberally minded, disabled men get themselves in an academic mess, this is the show for you.  Simon mentions an academic article from the New Discourses website, that asks if radical disability studies support ‘transableism’. This is when someone who is not disabled feels that they are. They may seek...

No messing, this month our show dives headfirst into seeing whether Simon’s stresses have lifted. As a result, we drift into how Phil is and why he hasn’t been out for a while. As if that weren’t enough, Simon expresses his very biased concerns about a drug under trial called Vosoritide. Why? In essence, it will make some people with dwarfism taller. Incidentally, in case you didn't know Octo...

Being thrust into the limelight aged thirteen could mess with your head a little. Then staying at the top of your game for more than ten years, that’s a lot of pressure. Being seen as a figurehead for the Paralympic movement, a role model for youth, for young women, for people with dwarfism and with disabilities, the weight is immense. Somehow Ellie Simmonds remains the most likeable and unaffecte...

This month the one to one show has depth, sadness, reflection and frivolity. The World Health Organisation has eradicated polio in Africa. Phil got polio as a toddler. Simon asks him how does he feel about there being no more polio people? Phil talks about the impact, good and bad that it has had on the direction his life has taken. Phil has had trouble in his own backyard: parakeets, rabbits and...

Geoff Adams-Spink is a Thalidomide survivor, one of the children born in the late 1950s early 60s, with physical and sensory differences after their mother unwittingly took a drug during pregnancy that caused the impairments.  Speaking to your mum about why this happened can’t be easy, but Geoff did have that conversation. His parents had great expectations of him, his mother had a mantra to suppo...

It’s the format you tell us you love. When Phil and Simon shoot the breeze and take potshots at one another with the occasional wisecrack. This month, disability ninjas, changing places, Zoom fatigue and social care: crisis and funding.  Changing Places toilets are the larger loos in public places for those who might need more assistance, a hoist or changing station. After a consultation, the regu...

From Jazz Trumpet to Inclusive Design - John Corcoran shares his journey on The Way We Roll. John Corcoran is a man of many parts whos life and experiences have included being in a pop band, playing jazz trumpet and working as a jazz club impresario. (He once booked Ronnie Scott and Maya Angelou). He has over thirty years of experience and expertise in design, technology, brand, communication, mar...