Access All: Disability News and Mental Health

Coronavirus is making itself known globally, so Cabin Fever thought it too would hot-foot it around the world to see how disabled people are managing.Lee Kumatat left the UK on 2 January for a brand new life in San Francisco, USA. Three months later we find her trying to live in lockdown in an unfamiliar city with a guide dog....and Pip, the cat she adopted a week ago. Holly Lane in Perth, Australia is doing her best not to touch anything but says that's surprisingly hard when she's "stumbling" about all day on the sticks she uses. Being a person with cerebral palsy, she has to hold onto things around her to keep her balance. She's also cashing in on newly-discovered energy stores after cutting out her three hour commute by working from home.Presented by Emma Tracey. Produced by Beth Rose.Subscribe on BBC Sounds or say “Ask the BBC for Ouch” to your smart speaker.

Week four in isolation is proving frustrating for Kate and her family - Kate has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome whilst wife Holly is on immunosuppressants, and so is classed as high risk. Kate is disappointed with a lack of empathy towards disabled people during the COVID-19 crisis. Mummy guilts are setting in with worries that three-year-old daughter Scout may be picking up on household anxiety, whilst Holly is frustrated with Kate and her untidy Lego obsession. The community finds innovative ways to stay connected, but is anyone else going a little bit mad trying to sign in to all these online play dates and group activities? Email producer amy.elizabeth@bbc.co.uk to get a message to Kate and Holly. Subscribe to this podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

Beth and Ellen had been enjoying their moment in the spotlight as the Diabetic Duo when coronavirus came along.The type 1 diabetics had become known for their videos on the social media platform TikTok and dispelled myths around the condition, but the current pandemic and self-isolation has meant they’ve had to get creative with how they make their content.In this episode of Cabin Fever the duo reveal why diabetes is classed as High Risk in relation to Covid-19, how their emotions affect their blood sugar levels and their recent obsession with tie-dye loungewear. This week's presenters are having quite different quarantine issues. Simon Minty is a little person and says that had a stranger turned away from him in the street he would have taken it badly a few weeks ago - now it's positively welcome! And Emma feels liberated by lockdown. As a blind mum she says her house and garden are her “castle” and being at the home she knows so well means she can run about and play with her young boys independently. Produced by Beth Rose.Subscribe to Ouch on BBC Sounds and say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

As a recipient of a kidney transplant, Kate's wife Holly falls within the high risk category, so together they are spending their third week in strict isolation. Kate, who has mobility difficulties, admits to feeling guilty she can't do more to help her community or to entertain their daughter Scout. This week's highlight is The Food Delivery which creates both euphoria and a bit of a household debate. Is anyone else disinfecting every single item before allowing them into the kitchen? Plus Kate and Holly introduce a new podcast feature they call Isolation Issues - a game which will unite (or divide) households across Britain. Produced by Amy Elizabeth Subscribe to this podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

At the start of this year, 2020, barely three months ago, we all said it was going to be the year we'd all nail it. New job, getting married, holiday-of-a-lifetime, kicking any low confidence in the face, the works. Then coronavirus came along. So, now all your plans have been shelved, how do you cope with the uncertainty when you’re also just starting a new career?Blind YouTuber and freelance journalist Lucy Edwards was all set to present for Radio 1 and get married this summer, then both got cancelled, along with a calendar full of paid jobs. And while Ellis's first shift in his new job for the World Service was taken over by a small virus in a Chinese city called Wuhan, he never expected to be moving back to The Wirral and taking up hand-cycling when that virus went global ... and he also didn't imagine he’d have to school his 81-year-old grandma in the use of FaceTime.Presented by Beth Rose.Subscribe to Ouch on BBC Sounds and say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

Kate and Holly digest the latest instructions on how to keep safe against coronavirus - for them it means staying in isolation for longer than 12 weeks. Awkward conversations happen at bath-time about how much they should tell their three-year-old daughter Scout when one of her mums is put in the High Risk category.And, determined to bring people together from a distance, their neighbours find a way to lift everyone's spirits while Kate reveals how to make stale doughnuts fresh again so you can comfort eat with food you might have thrown away - BBC public service at its best, you're welcome.Subscribe to the podcast on BBC Sounds or say to your smart speaker "Ask the BBC for Ouch

In the second episode of Cabin Fever. As 1.5m people wait to receive letters classing them as High Risk in the fight against coronavirus we find out if Octavia made it safely to Somerset after her care package collapsed in London when it became impossible for her PAs to travel through the city.Bryony Hopkins is in a great place with her Crohn’s disease and raring to go, but the new drugs she’s on which make her feel better, put her squarely in the High Risk category and she must shield for 12 weeks.And screenwriter and mental health first aider John Servante says he and some friends diagnosed with Chronic Anxiety pre-pandemic are feeling distinctly average, as more and more people open up about the impact Covid-19 and isolation are having on their mental health.Presented by Beth Rose, from her kitchen table. Subscribe to the podcast on BBC Sounds or say to your smart speaker "Ask the BBC for Ouch"

‘It is scary, it is lonely, it is hard.’ Join Kate Monaghan as she navigates the emotional and practical struggles of home isolation in Yorkshire, during the coronavirus pandemic. She has Elhers Danlos syndrome whilst her wife Holly is on immunity suppressants due to having had a kidney transplant - they are very anxious that they don't get infected. The pair are also desperately trying to keep their three year old daughter Scout entertained! With brutal honesty Kate shares her most personal and intimate thoughts whilst quarantined from the world. Produced by Amy Elizabeth Subscribe to Ouch's podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.

Welcome to this new pop-up podcast to see you through the days of Covid-19. Let's get started. We've all heard the information that coronavirus can be easily managed unless "you are vulnerable and have an underlying health condition" - but what if you ARE one of those people? Among the doom and gloom of the pandemic is BBC Ouch! A bunch of journalists who will keep it real. Turns out you may have one-up on the general population if you're disabled - you might be used to self-isolating, cutting back on social occasions and working from home. Maybe this is really your time to show the world the way. Emma Tracey is in Scotland and has blind-person concerns about relying on touch so much to get around, Octavia Woodward has SMA with only 25% lung capacity and is about to flee to Somerset because her care-package has gone haywire, and fresh from receiving a food delivery is Natasha Lipman who's a-ok and totally used to working from home 99% of the time.Oh and there's Beth Rose, our token non-disabled. The least we can do is humour her worries about a touch of isolation and bring her around to our way of thinking. Subscribe to 'Ouch - The Cabin Fever Podcast' on BBC Sounds or say to your smart speaker "Ask the BBC for Ouch".

Londoner Jite Ugono never expected to find himself playing blackjack in a North Korean casino having run out of cash, but a few life-changing moments had led him there.In his 30s he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), then 10 years later in 2019 he was offered rare stem cell therapy, involving chemotherapy, on the NHS to help stall the progress of the condition.It was “hopeful”, but he didn’t want this complex treatment to become the main topic of conversation for friends and family so he decided to "do something equally rare, but opposite" and booked his trip to North Korea.But would the country be ready to accept a traveller in a wheelchair and would his guides even turn up? Presented by Beth Rose. Subscribe to Ouch Disability Talk podcast on BBC Sounds or say "Ask the BBC for Ouch" to your smart speaker.