Access All: Disability News and Mental Health

The playwright who experiences pain as sounds and pictures, Tourettes Hero Jess Thom on performing Beckett’s play Not I, the comedian with cerebral palsy whose slow speech is part of her act and the man whose poem OCD has 62 million YouTube hits.The sounds and images in The Shape of the Pain represent how playwright Rachel Bagshaw experiences chronic pain so accurately, that watching her own show makes it worse.Rosie Jones’ slow talking speed is a feature of her stand-up comedy routine. The funny woman with cerebral palsy offers her take on this month’s disability news.Jess Thom’s relaxed performance of Beckett’s Not I has been adapted to work with her untypical brain and body. She can’t quite believe how much “a non-disabled dead man” has captured her experience of Tourettes syndrome.Neil Hilborn is a performance poet with diagnoses of bipolar and obsessive compulsive disorder. His poem OCD has 62 million YouTube hits but he performs a new piece exclusively for us at the end of the show. Presented by Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Produced by Emma Tracey, the production assistant was Paul Johnston.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Lost Voice Guy uses an iPad to speak and has become an expert handler of awkward questions as a result.“Can you really not talk?” and “have you ever tried to speak to see what would happen?” are just two questions put to the comedian with cerebral palsy by drunk people after gigs. His many witty comebacks, including pretending he has a side-line as a satellite navigation system, are revealed in the 2nd of our podcasts from the BBC Ouch storytelling night at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Also featured are Maura, an autistic woman with hair envy and “the social skills of a used teabag”, and Frank, who was rescued from a partial seizure by Al Pacino.The show is presented by Sofie Hagen and the producer is Ed Morrish.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Awkward! This week’s podcast, the first of two recorded live in Scotland, is all about a badly timed dislocation, a wheelchair user who stunned a nun by walking and the depressed man who got too good at pretending to like people. BBC Ouch recently took five listeners and two comedians to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where they told awkward tales relating to their disability or mental health difficulty to a live audience. It happened to Abbi Brown when she stunned a praying Parisian nun by getting up and walking away from her wheelchair. Angela Clarke forgot to tell a masseuse that her bones regularly dislocate, with predictably humorous consequences. Mark Granger’s social butterfly persona masks his depression and a genuine dislike of people so well that even the briefest of interactions can give them the wrong impression – especially single ladies. And awkward interactions with people won’t stop comedian Juliette Burton talking about her mental health and eating disorders at gigs.Presented by Sofie Hagen. Produced by Ed Morrish.This is the first of two podcasts from Ouch’s Storytelling Live event in Scotland. Next week we’ll meet Lost Voice Guy, an autistic woman with hair-envy and the man with a surprising Al Pacino-related strategy for combatting his non-epileptic seizures.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

No doctors, no charities, no family members - just a frank conversation between two women with chronic illness, about navigating life when energy is at a premium. Faced with a box of random questions such as “do people think you’re lazy?” researcher Catherine Hale and blogger Natasha Lipman praise left-overs for dinner, extreme flexible working and the online chronic illness community. Ironing, and suggestions like “have you ever tried telling it to just go away?” get short shrift.This podcast is one in a series of monthly Ouch take-overs, produced by Damon Rose and Emma Tracey. If you have an idea for a future take-over, email ouch@bbc.co.uk.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

With stories of running away to Skegness aged 14 and the culture-clash of going from a council estate to Cambridge University, it’s fair to say Allan Hennessy stole the show this month. He’s that visually impaired Iraqi refugee whose recent BBC video went viral after he graduated with a first class law degree.Also in the studio is autistic trumpeter Robyn Steward who sparked a lively debate on the language of disability. And playwright Jackie Hagan recalls the weeks after her leg amputation when she had to use a food bank.She was forced to leave a trail of elderflower water and custard creams behind her because the parcel was too heavy to carry home while she was using her crutches. Jackie's play, Cosmic Scallies, about disability, poverty and friendship, is at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.Presented by Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty.

Comedian John Scott was labelled schizophrenic for five years before he ended up in crisis in hospital and face-to-face with the psychologists who had gone to his show.During their night out the medics had decided the performer they were watching was definitely bipolar.The chance encounter meant the second time they met - in hospital - John was correctly diagnosed and treated. John has experienced psychotic delusions, but he doesn’t think they are talked about widely enough, so he’s made them the subject of his latest comedy show Delusions, which will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. During his interview John touches upon self-medication and some of the causes and content of his delusions, which may affect you if you're having a tricky time at the moment. With Emma Tracey and Beth Rose.Write and tell us what you're up to - email ouch@bbc.co.uk, tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook.Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Mark Neary’s recurring nightmare is that six months after his own death, son Steven who has autism and learning disabilities will end up in a residential unit similar to the one where he was detained in 2010. Later that same year, a human rights court case ruled that Steven’s detention was unlawful. Nowadays he lives independently, with support painstakingly managed by dad, Mark. It's a tough thing to have to think about. Routine is vital for Steven, so Mark hopes that a comprehensive death plan document including everything from details on paying staff to instructions for making compilation tapes, will ensure Steven thrives after he’s gone.With Emma Tracey.Write and tell us what you're up to - Email ouch@bbc.co.uk tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Dr Hannah Barham-Brown made the news recently after revealing she couldn't afford the fairly modest £2,000 wheelchair she wanted but managed to raise the money through online crowdfunding in just 24 hours. She says what was being offered for free wasn’t fit for purpose. Barham-Brown talks about navigating a busy hospital on wheels and how she is very used to talking about disability because many of her family were disabled but not with the same impairment as her, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (which she explains in fulll on the programme). She has learnt some unexpected things in 18 months of using a wheelchair, including the fact that it can make your boobs bigger.With Emma Tracey.Write and tell us what you're up to - Email ouch@bbc.co.uk tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Meet heavyweight boxer Joe Joyce who was born almost 30 years ago to his mum Marvel Opara, then a teenager with a visual impairment. The mother and son combo from London have done many challenges together but have now gone solo - Joe won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics and Marvel is about to climb Kilimanjaro. Glaswegian comedian Ray Bradshaw is a child of deaf adults - also known as a CODA. His 2017 Edinburgh Fringe show, Deaf Comedy Fam, is about growing up with parents who can't hear and he plans to simultaneously sign and speak it which is even harder than you might imagine, apparently. From helping pay the bills through to pointing out the right bus, Joe and Ray trade stories on life with disabled parents.Also, Samantha Renke discusses accessible housing in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster and Naomi Lawson-Jacobs tells us about Autistic Pride Day. Plus Kate Monaghan saves someone's life this month. Presented by Simon Minty and Kate Monaghan. Produced by Emma Tracey.Write and tell us what you're up to - Email ouch@bbc.co.uk tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you could review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us.

Meet Jared O'Mara. He's the MP who knocked former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg off his Sheffield Hallam seat in the recent General Election. It was one of the most talked about scalpings from the early hours of 9 June and O'Mara himself didn't expect to win.[Find a full transcript in the Related Links section below]The 35 year-old was born and bred in Sheffield and has cerebral palsy. A former activist, he knows his disability politics well and proudly says his impairment is part of him and it has helped create the man he is. With Damon Rose and Beth Rose. Write and tell us what you're up to - Email ouch@bbc.co.uk tweet @bbcouch or find us on Facebook. Subscribe to Ouch as a weekly podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, we'd be delighted if you review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from - it helps other people find us. Share and like Ouch too. Thanks. Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty are back next week with another installment of their hour-long monthly talk show. That's all on this feed.