Access All: Disability News and Mental Health

In a festive first we pit BBC Washington Correspondent Gary O’Donoghue against Watchdog’s Nikki Fox and BBC Ouch’s Simon Minty in a ferocious battle over disability dilemmas. Would they disturb a couple getting close in an accessible loo if they were desperate? Would they swipe left or right on a dating app if the person in question was also disabled and we get the lowdown on the horror stories of appearing on Celebrity Mastermind.Presented by Beth Rose. Produced and edited by Emma Tracey and Helen Weaver.

Chris McCausland is a stand-up comedian from Liverpool and about to take on Live at the Apollo.Some of you might know him from his acting stint on the BBC1 drama series “Moving On” or from the CBeebies show “Me Too” where he plays Rudy, the market trader.Chris is also blind and he joined Ouch’s Lucy Edwards to have a chat and a laugh about comedy, his sight loss and about his upcoming TV appearance. (Live at the Apollo on 4 January 2018 on BBC2).

Fanny Fust was a young learning disabled woman who was kidnapped and forced to marry a man who was after her fortune in 18th Century Bristol.Her tale has been rewritten by an organisation called Openstorytellers who support people with learning disabilities. They use true stories about disabled people not only from history but from their own lives as well.As part of Disability History Month, Openstorytellers Clemma Fleat and Nicola Grove chatted to Ouch’s Emma Tracey.If you have an idea for a future programme, email ouch@bbc.co.uk. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you reviewed us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.Pic: Getty Images.

Chris Young describes himself as a cuddly and warm person but says that when dissociating due to borderline personality disorder nothing feels real, the world goes “seriously fuzzy” and touching his wife becomes “like handling meat”. He’s walking and talking his way around the UK to raise awareness of the condition.Also in studio are two young stroke survivors who fell in love, and US disability rights advocate Lawrence Carter-Long on why for him, the word disabled trumps differently abled or special needs.Presented by Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty. The Producer is Emma Tracey.Please tell your friends about us. Like and share Ouch on social media, and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from.

It seems that using the acronym LGBT has allowed people to talk more openly about gay community issues more easily. So, if the disabled community replaced the D-word with some letters, what would they be and would it sweep away the worries people have about using that word. First heard in February 2015. With Damon Rose, Kate Monaghan and Lee Kumutat Please tell your friends about us. Like and share Ouch on social media, and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Robyn knows a lot about trumpet playing and Jamie watches hours of milling machine videos each night to wind down. They’re both autistic and love talking at length about what they call their “special interests” - that obsessive geekiness often considered a classic autism trait (just Google 'hacker' and 'Asperger' to get the gist).But while obsessing and learning can bring deep knowledge, its intensity can have a less positive side. (Scroll down the page to Related Links if you want to read the transcript)This is the first in a three-part series of the Robyn Jamie and Lion Show, where two autistic people and a helpful cuddly toy bring their unique perspective to BBC Ouch.

Jennifer Brea has ME, known to many as chronic fatigue syndrome, and is director of the multi-award winning documentary film Unrest. In it, she documents her personal journey by video on a smart phone - including those moments where she finds herself lying flat out on the floor. She and husband Omar spoke to the BBC's Natasha Lipman who also has the condition.

How does America’s Got Talent star Mandy Harvey hit the correct notes and tour successfully with a live band when she can’t hear? Why did a conversation in the radio studio change bipolar comedy songster Chris Smith’s stance on having children? And who were Bristol’s Brave Poor things?The latest BBC Ouch Talk Show is presented by Kate Monaghan and weather presenter Lucy Martin. Produced by Emma Tracey.

The Labour Party has suspended MP Jared O'Mara after he posted misogynistic and homophobic comments online, but who is he?BBC Ouch's Damon Rose met the MP earlier this year after O’Mara unexpectedly knocked former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg off his Sheffield Hallam seat in the general election.The 35-year-old, who was born and bred in Sheffield, has cerebral palsy and, for accessibility reasons, is the only MP to be allowed to wear a t-shirt in the House of Commons.

Ambulances were white when Damon lost his sight over 30 years ago and Lucy’s mental image of her sister, Alice, hasn’t changed since she went blind in 2013. Having been born blind, Emma has no real interest in what colour represents.The three blind journalists take a light-hearted look at what colour does and doesn’t mean to them with the help of token sighted person Beth. If you have an idea for a future programme, email ouch@bbc.co.uk. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you reviewed us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.