The Wheelchair Activist

Tanni Grey-Thompson realised at age 13 that Wheelchair Racing was her sport of choice. Tanni's first Paralympics was Seoul in 1988, where she won a bronze medal in the 400m. Her fifth and last Paralympic Games were in Athens (2004) where she won two gold medals in wheelchair racing in the 100m and 400m. In total in her Paralympic career she won 16 medals (11 gold, four silver and a bronze) and...

Shani Dhanda is a multi-award-winning inclusion specialist and social entrepreneur listed as one of the UK's most influential disabled people by the Shaw Trust and BBC's 100 Women List 2020. As a keynote speaker and practitioner for inclusion across business, government, non-profit and wider society, Shani helps organisations break barriers and integrate inclusion into their business frame...

Emma is a Labour MP and the first female representative for South Shields in Parliament, having been elected in 2013. Prior to her election, Emma was as a local Councillor and a child protection social worker. She is committed to supporting vulnerable people across her constituency alongside many other important issues. Emma was diagnosed with dyspraxia at the age of 27 and is proud to be a disabl...

In this episode, Emma interviews Toby Mildon, a Diversity & Inclusion Architect and founder of Mildon , a consultancy and advisory business. Toby works with businesses to devise diversity and inclusion strategies, re-engineer processes and systems to minimise the impact of bias and build a culture of inclusion. Toby is the author of the Amazon bestselling book Inclusive Growth : futureproof yo...

Vicky Foxcroft has been the Member of Parliament for Lewisham Deptford since 2015. Prior to her election, she served as a local councillor in the constituency and worked for a trade union for over a decade.  Vicky served as an opposition whip for almost four years before becoming Shadow Minister for Civil Society in 2019. When Keir Starmer took over as Labour leader in April 2020, he made Vicky hi...

In our season premiere, Emma interviews Dr Hannah-Barham Brown. Named as one of the Health Service Journal’s 100 Most Influential People in Health, Hannah is a Deputy Leader of the UK Women’s Equality Party, GP trainee in Yorkshire, a Governor of the Motability Foundation, and a Council Member of the British Medical Association. Hannah has given two TEDx talks (TEDxNHS and TEDxExeter) on the need...

Samantha Renke is an actress, presenter, speaker, writer and disability rights campaigner who was named as number 3 in The Shaw Trust Power 100 List of 2020 – a list of the UK’s most influential disabled people. She is a guest speaker in this year’s Happy Place Festival and her debut book, You Are The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread, will be published in July by Penguin Books under its Happy Place B...

This week, Emma interviews the inspiration for this podcast, colleague Paul Fuller. Paul is the Executive Director of Partnerships for charity Scope , responsible for shaping and delivering impact, funding and reach for campaigns and services. His primary goal is finding Corporate Partners to help Scope amplify the need for everyday equality for the 14m disabled people living in the UK. He has rec...

Today's episode of The Wheelchair Activist is with the unstoppable mentor and disability consultant Kay Ashton MBE. In this episode we discuss Kay's journey to pregnancy using IVF. At the end of today's episode we ask listeners to donate to Planned Parenthood . This episode was recorded before the recent decision taken by The Supreme Court in the U.S to overturn abortion rights, but we...

This week Emma interviews Chris Fry, a Disability Rights Lawyer, Disruptor and Innovator with cases which make changes to everyday life. He represents Deaf and disabled people who face barriers with access to services, advice, information and education, and has been at the forefront of disability rights work for the last 10 years. You can check out his website at www.frylegal.co.uk Donate to The W...

Liam O’Dell is a Deaf, dyspraxic and autistic journalist and campaigner with OCD. He also identifies as asexual. He writes regularly for Indy100 (part of The Independent), Metro and The Limping Chicken, which is a popular Deaf news website. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Verge and the BBC amongst others, and he is regularly approached for interviews on Deaf issues. He reviews London th...

In this episode, Emma talks to childhood best friend Lanie Berk. Lanie, who has known Emma for over 20 years, is a Child Life Specialist in Chicago. She helps reduce stress and anxiety for children and families and bring some fun in to the hospital setting. Her passion for child life sparked from her relationship with the wheelchair activist and growing up with a disabled best friend. Donate to Th...

Emma interviews Roxanne Steel. Roxanne Steel is a proud disabled feminist campaigner, content creator, trained activist, speaker and media consultant, who also works with D&A as an Accessibility and Inclusion Specialist. All views are her own. In this episode we're discussing all things intersectional feminism, workplace barriers and even Zoom calls with Matt Hancock. Donate to The Wheelch...

Emma interviews Lucy Webster, a writer, political journalist, and disability advocate. Lucy is a full time wheelchair user. We discuss the social model, Lucy's advocate work, the disability community, ableism and even eating cake for breakfast. You can subscribe to Lucy's wonderful newsletter The View From Down Here by going to https://lucywebster.substack.com/  Producers: Emma Vogelmann...

Emma interviews Jason Bates, Lead Communication and Engagement Manager at Tesco Maintenance and former Chair of Disability at Tesco. Jason has cerebral palsy and is a wheelchair user. All views are those of Jason Bates and do not represent those of Tesco or its affiliates. Producers: Emma Vogelmann & Isabelle Anderson Editor: Theo Watt Go Fund Me: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-wheelchair-acti...

Emma interviews Nina Tame, a disability mentor, content creator and influencer. Nina is a full-time wheelchair user. Producers: Emma Vogelmann & Isabelle Anderson Editor: Theo Watt *Please note there are expletives in this episode* Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bon...

Emma interviews Chloe Timms, a disability rights campaigner, podcaster and writer. She has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Donate to this cause on Go Fund Me at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-wheelchair-activist or sign up to our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/the_wheelchair_activist . "Thus far, this project is self-funded. We want to continue to invest in accessibility of the website and the po...

Emma interviews disability charity Scope's Accessibility Specialist, Elisabeth Ward. Elisabeth is an amputee from birth who also has chronic migraines. Head to https://youtu.be/J63RIGgqwoA to watch with full transcript. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes,...

Emma Vogelmann is a disability activist working with organisations such as  Muscular Dystrophy UK ,  Amnesty International ,  SMA UK  and  Scope  to raise the profile of issues facing the disabled community. Emma is 28 years old and has a condition called  spinal muscular atrophy  which causes her to use an electric wheelchair. In 2009, Emma contracted the swine flu whilst living in Chicago which...