Access All: Disability News and Mental Health

While millions of people might dream about space travel, with the exacting requirements often expected of astronauts some disabled people might have counted themselves out...until now.Mission: AstroAccess - a crew of disabled scientists, students and artists based in America - has just launched to make space travel accessible for all the right reasons.Wouldn't it make sense if a shuttle could be navigated by a blind person so, if the lights went down, everyone could get around? And what about making sign language a requirement so everyone could be in on the conversation? Then again, how does signing work when you're floating upside down?Mary Cooper, who has a prosthetic leg, and Sina Bahram, who is blind, are two of the crew members who set out to find answers to these questions on board Mission: AstroAccess's first parabolic flight where they floated around in zero gravity. Presented by Beth Rose.Subscribe to this podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.Picture credit: Al Powers at Zero Gravity Corporation

With COP26, the big UN climate conference, kicking off in Glasgow next week, the BBC Ouch team got wondering - how will the one billion disabled people living around the world be impacted by the climate emergency?Whether it's heatwaves, hurricanes or rising sea levels there is plenty to think about. From escape routes being inaccessible to vital medication which makes it difficult for the body to moderate heat, research suggests that 20% of those most vulnerable to climate change are disabled.So why is this? And what's being done about it?Professor Sébastien Jodoin, from McGill University in Montreal, and Dr Mary Keogh, the disability inclusion director for charity CBM Global, join us on this episode alongside cameos from a 'lockdown' puppy and a hammering builder - Happy Halloween! Presented by Keiligh Baker. Produced by Damon Rose and Emma Tracey.Useful links if you’d like to learn more: https://www.disabilityinclusiveclimate.orghttps://ukcop26.org/the-conference/green-zone-programme-of-events/https://www.cbmuk.org.uk/news/disability-inclusion-in-climate-action-new-guide-published/https://cbm-global.org/news/disability-and-climate-change-report/

Presenters Seaneen and Mark trade their own war stories about work. Joining them is CEO of the Business Disability Forum, Diane Lightfoot, who helps big companies employ (and keep) disabled staff. Disability Passports, advance statements and reasonable adjustments - learn the jargon and how to use it at work. Our new catchily named feature Maladaptive Coping Strategy of the Month has an airing. Plus, um, chip shops. With Mark Brown and Seaneen Molloy. Produced by Emma Tracey

Aruba had never had a Paralympic team until Shardea Arias de la Cruz, a student in her 20s, decided to make it happen.From finding her first athlete at the supermarket, to his sudden disappearance at the Rio Games, it has been a story of jeopardy, hustling and absolute belief. The charismatic Elliott Loonstra is the island's hope for Tokyo 2020. After working at a scuba dive shop at the weekends and spending his week-days training on Aruba's idyllic beaches, Elliott's ready to take on Tokyo in the para-taekwondo. And it's the first time the sport has featured at a Paralympic Games.Presented by Beth Rose.Subscribe to this podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

Libby Clegg MBE and Samantha Kinghorn, two of Britain’s top female Paralympians, describe their journeys to Tokyo 2020. Libby Clegg won gold at Rio 2016 then dealt with mental health difficulties directly afterwards. She’s defending her Athletics Women's 200m T11 title. Samantha Kinghorn became disabled aged 14 and started wheelchair racing to look cool in front of her friends. She lost out at the 2016 Paralympics because she wasn’t mentally prepared but has already won a bronze medal in the Athletics Women's 100m T53 at Tokyo. She will also race in the 400m and 800m . Samantha and Libby spoke to disabled sports fan Michael McEwan for BBC Radio Scotland.

Boccia is not just a sport, but a family affair for the McCowan family.Brothers, Scott and Jamie, who both have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, play Boccia for ParaGB while their parents, Gary and Linda, are their ramp assistants.It's created quite the competition between the brothers - especially during lockdown when they turned their living room into a Boccia court so they could continue training.But what's it like to live with your biggest rival? How often do they argue over match results? And what happens when husband and wife are pitted against each other in a match? Presented by Beth RoseSubscribe to this podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

Caz Walton was just 17 when she competed at the 1964 Paralympic Games in Tokyo and won gold for Great Britain. From the wheelchair slalom to organiser of athletes, Paralympic legend Caz Walkon has had quite the sports career. After a memorable opening ceremony in Japan with Crown Prince Akihito, Caz went on to win several gold medals, notably in the wheelchair dash and wheelchair slalom - two sports that no longer appear in the Games. Over the next four decades she won 10 gold medals ... and a mysterious 11th has just come to light... Now aged 74, Caz still works for ParaGB and is out in Tokyo supporting this year's team. Presented by Beth Rose Edited by Drew Miller Hindman Subscribe to this podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

The world's eyes are on Tokyo with the Paralympic Games taking place - but what's it like to live in Japan if you're disabled? Mizuki Hsu grew up in Kyoto as a wheelchair-user. Now a mother-of-two and working for Google she says job hunting in Japan can be fraught if you disclose you're disabled - which you have to for its quota system. Josh Grisdale was born and raised in Canada, but became a Japanese citizen a few years ago. He says the accessible bathroom situation and electronic toilets in Japan are tip-top but accessible escalators are terrifying contraptions. From house-hunting to nights out, we've got it covered in this whistle-stop tour of Japan. Presented by Beth Rose. Produced by Damon Rose. Subscribe to this podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

With just days to go before the Tokyo Paralympics, an international campaign called WeThe15 has been launched to improve the lives of the 1.2bn disabled people around the world. Meet South African Eddie Ndopu. He is an internationally acclaimed writer, or “mover and shaker”, who also works for the United Nations. Eddie, disabled himself, gives us the lowdown of WeThe15 on this podcast. You’ll love him.He also hopes to become the first disabled person in space. While he might have signed several NDAs on these “imminent” plans, Eddie couldn’t help but spill some of the secrets to BBC Ouch. According to the World Health Organisation, 15% of the world’s population is disabled, hence WeThe15. Spearheaded by the International Paralympic Committee and International Disability Alliance, the project has brought together organisations from Unesco to The Valuable 500 big businesses for the first time.Presented by Beth Rose and Emma Tracey.

Indy car driver Sam Schmidt was paralysed from the shoulders down when he reversed into a wall at 200 miles an hour.This summer, and more than 20 years after his accident, Sam made his second racing debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.He drives using a special straw that he “sips and puffs” to accelerate and brake, and cameras that use his head movements to steer.BBC Disability Correspondent Nikki Fox chats to Sam about learning to drive again and how this technology could help other disabled people get behind the wheel.Produced by Drew Miller Hyndman.Subscribe to this podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.