Access All: Disability News and Mental Health

The Shalva Band were favourites to represent host country Israel at Eurovision but pulled out when the dress rehearsal was scheduled for Friday - the Jewish holy day of rest. The group of eight musicians, who all have disabilities, had been voted through on a national TV programme.Their popularity rose at the same time research revealed 90% of parents in Israel didn't want their offspring to attend after-school clubs with disabled children. The band released a campaign song called Open The Door in response to the research. It went viral and they say it's changing attitudes to disability. Vocalists Anael and Dina told BBC Ouch they are now stopped for selfies wherever they go.Despite opting out of Eurovision, The Shalva Band will perform A Million Dreams, from The Greatest Showman, during the 2nd Eurovision semi-final on Thursday.With apologies for the occasional sound difficulty on the line from Jerusalem.Subscribe now to BBC Ouch in BBC Sounds or ask for us on your smart speaker by saying "play Ouch disability talk from the BBC".

Natalie Pearson is a primary school teacher and one of a few in the world to also have Tourette's syndrome.Tourettes causes her to swear, sometimes in class, and also jerk her body - but she says her students and colleagues have embraced it The science teacher was diagnosed with late-onset Tourette's syndrome at the age of 21 and believes a traumatic rape at university was the trigger. Natalie's story was originally heard on the BBC's Multi Story podcast. Presented by Becca Bryers.Subscribe now to BBC Ouch in BBC Sounds or ask for us on your smart speaker by saying "play Ouch disability talk from the BBC".

From being a working class disabled person to waiting for that brown envelope to arrive for your benefits reassessment. This show, recorded in front of a live audience, moves from one emotion to another.Comedian Jackie Hagan describes how she went from feeling she had to prove she could still do everything and more, after having one leg amputated, to realising she didn't actually have to become a hero. Performer Conor A has fibromyalgia, an impairment usually associated with women. He reveals how he was treated by doctors and how he learned to build access needs into his own show such as a prompter for when he goes all 'fibro fog'. Presented by Simon Minty and Kate Monaghan at the I'm Here, Where Are You? festival in Cambridge. A transcript will be available soon.Subscribe now to BBC Ouch in BBC Sounds or ask for us on your smart speaker by saying "play Ouch disability talk from the BBC".

Getting rid of single-use straws is a simple way to reduce plastic waste...unless you're one of the thousands of disabled people who rely on them everyday to drink independently. From bamboo to pasta, glass to metal, there's a variety of alternatives already out there, but do any of them actually work? After a petition emerged this week calling for McDonald's to reinstate its plastic straws because the paper versions go soggy, Esther Weber, The Times political reporter and daily straw-user, gives us the lowdown on her straw-strife.This is more than just how to drink a milkshake before the straw disintegrates. Presented by Beth Rose with Emma Tracey, Niamh Hughes and Damon Rose. A transcript will be available soon.

Have you ever been lost in a passionate moment only to realise your hips are about to dislocate? Well, Xandra Lee has been in that precarious place more times than she'd like to remember and set about writing a sex and relationships manual for people with 'dodgy hips'. Diagnosed with hip dysplasia as a teenager, she quickly realised there was no information out there - medical or otherwise - for safe, painless sex, especially if, like her, you are a younger person. So, she set about changing that by writing a book: Sex, with these Hips?. The other guest on the programme is Mel Halacre, a mental health counsellor who specialises in disability. She talks to Ouch about how the constant drip drip drip of low-level discrimination can build into bigger problems, and provides useful coping strategies for listeners.Presented by Emma Tracey and Simon Minty

Martin O'Brien has lived beyond his life expectancy twice - first at the age of five, and then again at 30. He was born with the life-limiting disease, cystic fibrosis.Now aged 31, he identifies as a Zombie - half-dead and half-alive - which he tries to convey through his physical artwork - he even spent his 30th birthday in a morgue, for art's sake.Sometimes controversial, he talks about how he uses the sexual, and consensual, practice of BDSM to illustrate life with a chronic illness and where the line between raising awareness and exploitation is drawn.Presented by Beth Rose with Emma Tracey. A transcript will be available soon.Subscribe now to BBC Ouch in BBC Sounds or ask for us on your smart speaker by saying "play Ouch disability talk from the BBC".

London poet Raymond Antrobus was thought to be dyslexic with severe learning disabilities, until his deafness was discovered at the age of six - this week he won the Ted Hughes Award for new work in Poetry (hence why we're repeating this fab interview).At school, the hearing kids taunted him because he had to sit at the front to hear the teacher, and deaf kids called him a "baby signer" because he came to British Sign Language late and wasn't as proficient as the rest of them.Later, Raymond became a teacher himself and now also writes poetry about speech therapy and other experiences deaf people have.Here, he talks eloquently about his life and reads two new poems for us.With Emma Tracey, Beth Rose and Damon Rose.Subscribe now in BBC Sounds or ask for us on your smart speaker by saying "play Ouch disability talk from the BBC". Picture courtesy of Naomi Woodis.

After years on the circuit, American comedian Tim Renkow has just released his first TV series - Jerk.The BBC Three show follows a "heightened" version of Renkow, who has cerebral palsy. TV Tim is "too lazy" to sort out his own visa, so instead he plays on and uses his disability to mess with people and take advantage of every situation. Tim reveals to BBC Ouch how much truth was behind the sitcom, how he got The Soprano's actress Lorraine Bracco to play his mother and what it was like to have a fist-fight with fellow comedian and Britain's Got Talent winner, Lost Voice Guy, who also has cerebral palsy.Bashir Aziz, who has vitiligo, and Rachel Reynolds who has thousands of tumours on her body, talk about living with visible differences and what it was like to live together for 10 days in new Channel Five show, The House of Extraordinary People. Presented by Simon Minty and Kate Monaghan.Subscribe now in BBC Sounds or ask for us on your smart speaker by saying "play Ouch disability talk from the BBC". Picture courtesy of Roughcut Television Ltd.

Suzanne Bull loves live music. But after several accidents, including getting crushed at a gig, she wanted to challenge venues that weren’t accessible to her and other disabled music fans. Taking matters into her own hands she started up Attitude is Everything in 2000 - a disability-led charity that aims to improve Deaf and disabled peoples’ access to live music venues. Since then, she’s been made an MBE and was included in Music Week's Women in Music Roll of Honour. Suzanne tells BBC Ouch what it’s like to be honoured by the Queen and what being recognised as a disabled woman in the music industry tells us about the changing landscape for accessibility. She also gives us a glimpse into the organisation’s plans for the future. Presented by Niamh Hughes.Subscribe now in BBC Sounds or ask for us on your smart speaker by saying "play Ouch disability talk from the BBC".

We already knew it anyway, but the hashtag #DisabledPeopleAreHot has gone viral - about time too.People from around the world have been rocking their best looks and posting them proudly on social media for everyone to see.Originator of the hashtag, Andrew Gurza, gives us the lowdown on his hope for the movement, the 'merch' he's going to get made for it and how it's a lot more than just a flash in the pan trend.Presented by Emma Tracey with Niamh Hughes.Subscribe now in BBC Sounds or ask for us on your smart speaker by saying "play Ouch disability talk from the BBC".Image copyright: Alejandro Santiago Photography