Archive for July, 2015

This terrible affliction could severely damage my quality of life, but I can’t sacrifice the thing that makes me happiest

I have not been able to hear silence for about four years now. The high-pitched whining that you may temporarily hear after you leave a gig is, for me, a permanent fixture. The worst thing about this is that regardless of the ear protection that I use religiously when DJing these days, I will never be able to repair the damage that’s been done. In fact, if I continue to DJ, my condition will deteriorate: I find this terrifying.

Even mild tinnitus can alter your outlook and push you to make the wrong decision

Related: Dr Luisa Dillner’s guide to . . . Tinnitus

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Assistive technology is giving disabled people more control over their lives, but businesses and charities have a long way to go on accessibility and affordability

In the UK, more than 11 million people live with a limiting long-term illness, impairment or disability, according to government statistics. More than one in four disabled people, meanwhile, say that they don’t have choice and control over their daily lives.

For those who need it, a bionic limb can cost up to £80,000 and take three months to make. However, by using 3D scanning and printing, a Bristol-based start-up reckons it can provide an amputee with a bionic hand for less than £2,000 in less than a week.

Related: The innovators: the customised robotic hand you can print out at home

Related: The bionic suit helping wheelchair users get back on their feet

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Demonstrations will still take place against Scottish comic’s appearance in republican west Belfast after jokes about disabled people divided community

An attempt in republican west Belfast to quell public protests against comedian Frankie Boyle attending Europe’s largest community festival next week have failed.

Despite talks between the festival organisers and local disability campaigners, as well as the intervention of the Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams, demonstrations will still take place criticising the Scottish comic’s presence at a sellout show in Falls Park.

Related: Frankie Boyle: ‘I only agreed to do the V festival because I thought it was something to do with Valium’

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Don’t feel sorry for us, we don’t need it. Just treat us like everyone else, says star of The Unbreakables, a TV programme about students with complex disabilities

I have a disability – but that doesn’t make me special. Special is a term for someone out of the ordinary. That’s not me, or any of the disabled people I know.

I have cerebral palsy. I didn’t ask for it. Because of my disability I’ve got little choice about where I go to school, where I live, and how I live.

Mr Cameron is just hiding in government and not seeing the outside world

Related: A wheelchair-user’s guide to picking a university

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In this clip from BBC Three’s ‘The Unbreakables’, Bradley is asked to become a student ambassador for the school. The programme is set at National Star College in Gloucestershire, which only accepts students with disabilities, and follows the lives, lo…

In this clip from BBC Three’s ‘The Unbreakables’, Ed asks college newcomer Beth on a date. The programme is set at National Star College in Gloucestershire, which only accepts students with disabilities, and follows the lives, loves and friendships of …

My wife and I met the disability activist Duncan Watson and his first wife, Mercia, on a holiday tour of South Africa in 1997 where we were the only people who enjoyed pre- or post-dinner drinks. Discussing the day’s events, Duncan would say “today we saw”, Mercia being his eyes. They were a remarkable couple, and excellent company.

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One in 20 children in the UK have a disability but major commercial channels such as Disney and Nickelodeon don’t feature any prominent disabled characters

Fireman Sam and How to Train Your Dragon feature the only disabled characters currently on long-running children’s television franchises.

Other characters crop up here and there – the Disney Channel introduced double-amputee Aussie explorer, Wildlife Will to its Doc McStuffins show, and it featured wheelchair user Johnny McBride (voiced by Shia LaBeouf) in The Proud Family – but both appeared for one episode only.

We need to get away from this idea of ‘perfection’, the handsome prince and beautiful princess

Related: BBC, ITV and Sky get green kick up the arts with new sustainability mark

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Beach wheelchairs could help disabled people like me access British beaches and make a splash while on holiday, so why don’t we have more of them?

I’m a big fan of beach holidays, and although in a wheelchair with primary progressive multiple sclerosis, I have always found a way to get to the water. Summers in south Devon often involve sweating mates and family, improbable terrain, me hanging on to someone’s back or perching precariously in my chair, before I’m ritually offloaded into the surf and the bracing waters of the Channel. Fifteen minutes later, I’ll be dragged out again, like a drowned seal. On one hand it’s a truly invigorating experience; on the other it can be quite humiliating.

It’s worse with Julie, my wife. One for foreign shores, she’s only too happy to dump me out of my wheelchair and into the pool, to the astonishment of fellow holidaymakers.

Related: Wheelchair users to launch challenge to improve NHS service

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Unfair application processes are still excluding me, and many other blind jobseekers, from graduate rolesI have a genetic eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa and I have around 2% remaining vision. I have a first-class degree in languages and a di…