Opening a surprise gift from the Vicar and his wife and my Dinner Club celebrations of my 26th birthday
Champion Climber Sets Sights On 2028 Paralympics
A paraclimber from Guildford is aiming to become one of the first athletes to compete in the sport at the Paralympics.
Matthew Phillips is a three-time time world champion in the AU2 (Upper Arm Amputation) category.
“It’s something I dreamed of when I did swimming – to get the opportunity to be one of the first paraclimbers at the Paralympics is another level,” said the 25-year-old.
“I’m hoping I can still keep at my previous level and come back, but I know the field has got so much stronger.”
Phillips, who was born with the bottom part of his right arm missing, began competing in 2016 and won world titles in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
He had retired from competitive climbing, but returned to the sport earlier this year after the announcement it would make its debut at the 2028 Paralympics.
“It raised some serious questions about whether I came back or not, but it’s the Paralympics isn’t it?” he said.
“I work with a lot of strong and incredibly talented climbers, but I can do moves they can’t do because of my arm.
“It’s shorter, I can use it as a lever, I can pull on it more, I can burn them off as such.”
Born in Farnborough in Hampshire, Phillips lives in Guildford and regularly climbs at Surrey Summit.
He also boulders all over the world as a hobby.
“It’s as much a comfortable space for me as it is a competition space, I’d come and climb if there were no competitions,” he said.
“It’s a peaceful place for me.”
‘PE Teachers Need More Education On Disabilities And Sport’
A top British wheelchair tennis player has started a campaign to make physical education (PE) more inclusive for children and young people with disabilities.
Ruby Bishop, 21, from Norwich, said she faced huge barriers to taking part in PE at school but is now rated the fourth-best player in Great Britain and has represented her country at global sporting events.
She has called on PE teachers to have a better understanding of the sports needs of children with special education needs and disabilities (Send).
A government spokeswoman said every child should benefit from quality sport both inside and outside of school, and that its Inclusion 2028 programme helped provide training for staff involved in providing PE for those with Send.
What was Bishop’s experience growing up?
Bishop said: “I have cerebral palsy. I left high school in 2020 and I myself wasn’t included in PE lessons. Too many children are left out of PE because of their disability.
“I was never invited to the sports awards, despite my success outside of school representing Great Britain. That wasn’t celebrated within the PE department and I feel that it should have been.”
She said she had worked with lots of children and there was still a lack of knowledge in schools about disabled sports.
Bishop told BBC Politics East: “PE teachers need more education on disabilities, and disabilities and sport.
“I’ve seen first-hand how discrimination in PE can impact young people’s confidence and wellbeing.”
What is she calling for?
Bishop said: “I want it to be a legal requirement that every secondary school in the UK has a sports wheelchair in their sports cupboard, like they would have a football goal or a tennis net.
“PE is not just about a match; it teaches you many life skills. It gave me a sense of purpose in life.
“The PE curriculum needs to change to mould around disability sports.
“I would love to see everybody doing a session on sitting volleyball and trying to get it as inclusive as possible.”
Her campaign has been backed by her constituency MP Alice Macdonald (Lab, Norwich North) who is raising the issue in the House of Commons.
How many people take part in wheelchair tennis?
Nearly 17,000 monthly participants across more than 600 venues in Great Britain take part in wheelchair tennis, according to the Lawn Tennis Association.
Wheelchair tennis is played in more than 100 countries worldwide, according to the International Paralympic Committee’s overview of the sport.
Great Britain has had a lot of success at wheelchair tennis with British pair Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid winning the World Team Cup in 2015, 2019, 2023 and 2024.
What does the government say in response?
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity so every child can achieve and thrive.
“Regardless of their circumstances, background and abilities, every child should have access to quality sporting opportunities both inside and outside of school.
“That’s why as part of our Plan for Change, we’re investing up to £300,000 a year to deliver the Inclusion 2028 programme which upskills teachers to deliver high quality, inclusive PE school sport and physical activity to pupils with Send.”
Christmas carnival 2025 as well as the fair at the carnival
Kyle Sieniawski Dies Aged 14 With MND
A teenager has died less than a year after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), a rare degenerative condition that typically affects adults over 50.
The family of Kyle Sieniawski, 14, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, confirmed his death in a tribute on Friday describing him as a “beautiful boy” that made them smile “a million times and more”.
“We’re absolutely heartbroken to announce that our little superhero has very sadly lost his battle with MND,” they said.
“Kyle fought with everything he had but in the end it all became too much for him and he very sadly passed away yesterday evening.”
Kyle was diagnosed with MND in January at the age of 13, after he began losing mobility in his arm. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he later became unable to use any of his limbs. He relied on a breathing mask and feeding tube.
Following his diagnosis, Kyle’s family said they were “desperate” to bring him home from hospital but were unable to do so because their property could not be adapted to meet his needs.
His parents and brother spent more than nine months living with him at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital in Cardiff.
According to the family, Kyle was moved into intensive care earlier this month after developing an infection.
They had been active on social media, sharing updates about his condition and the wider challenges faced by people living with MND on a Facebook page called Kyle’s MND Story.
In their tribute, the family added: “We’ll miss you so very much buddy and we love you more than words could ever possibly say.
“We can already picture you up there challenging your two nans and grandad to a game of Connect 4, and that you’re making them smile, just like you made us smile a million times and more.”
Celebrity Traitors Star Ruth Codd Recovering After Second Leg Amputation
Celebrity Traitors player and actress Ruth Codd has said she is recovering after a second leg amputation operation.
The Irish performer posted on TikTok, saying she is staying with family after surgery to remove her leg below the knee.
Codd had her first amputation aged 23, after injuring her foot playing football as a teenager, saying it had led to eight years of complications and pain.
Speaking about her recent operation, she said, external: “Good news, we’ve had a full-circle moment. I’m back making TikTok content in my parents’ house. Bad news, I can’t do it upstairs, because I’ve just had my second below-knee amputation.”
She added: “There’s a lot to unpack for everyone involved.”
The 29-year-old built a following posting on TikTok, before being cast in Netflix horror series The Midnight Club, her TV debut.
More recently, Celebrity Traitors viewers saw Codd share her correct suspicions about fellow player Jonathan Ross, before being murdered on the show.
Codd had spoken previously about intending to have her latest operation in an interview on YouTube channel FFTV.
“The way I use my crutches means I’m always up on my tippy-toes,” she told host Grace Neutral.
“With the second one, it was just the same situation.
“My quality of life, it’s never going to get any better from this point.”
Codd appeared in a live-action remake of How To Train Your Dragon earlier in 2025.
She played Phlegma the Fierce, a Viking warrior without part of her leg.
Around the film’s release, Codd said she was proud to play a “strong, capable” character with a limb difference.
“The amount of health problems I’ve had the last year haven’t stopped me doing anything,” she told FFTV.
“But I feel like it has hindered me and made my ability to do my job more difficult.
“I’ve been through it once before, so I think with two prosthetics, I’ll be pretty unstoppable.”
Dog Aid Charity Extends £100k Fundraising Deadline
A charity that helps adults with physical disabilities to train their own canine pet to become an assistance dog has given itself longer to raise the £100,000 it needs to stay open.
Dog Aid, which is based in Shrewsbury, said it needed the help because, like many small charities, it had suffered rising costs and a reduction in grants and donations.
When it launched its appeal last month, it set itself a deadline of 15 November to raise the money, but has now extended that to 15 January.
CEO Belinda Johnson said the charity had already raised £45,000 and she had “been blown away by people’s generosity” so far.
Since Dog Aid was founded in 1996, it has helped 476 disabled people to “train their dogs and improve their lives”.
The charity has five members of staff, and they help people with dogs to coach their own pets.
Ms Johnson said she was “optimistic and hopeful” of raising the remaining money and the charity had “received a huge amount of support from the communities of Shropshire”.
She said she hoped people might be motivated to give to the charity over the festive period.
‘Premium’ Cars Like BMW And Mercedes Cut From Motability Scheme
Disabled people who have a car through the Motability scheme will no longer be allowed “premium” vehicles such as BMWs and Mercedes.
Motability said the change would be made with immediate effect, as it announced a new ambition for half of the cars it leases to be British-built by 2035.
Ahead of Wednesday’s Budget, critics have called on the government to look at changing the scheme, which allows eligible disabled people to lease adaptable cars.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the increased use of British-built cars would “support thousands of well paid, skilled jobs” and help to boost the economy.
It comes after recent speculation over potential changes the government could make in the Budget to bring down the cost of providing the scheme to a growing number of eligible claimants.
The number of people with a Motability car has increased sharply in recent years, to 860,000. Many of the cars leased by the scheme are adapted to be accessible for wheelchair users.
The increased demand is a result of more people becoming eligible for the higher-rate mobility component of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which accounts for the greater travel and transport costs experienced by disabled people and which Motability customers put towards the lease of a car under the scheme.
Higher-end vehicles account for about 50,000 of the vehicles leased by the scheme, with customers paying the additional cost for a premium vehicle using their own money.
Motability has long argued that the scheme provides a lifeline to disabled people.
Speaking earlier in November, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, said she would be “comfortable” with removing “really high-end cars” from the scheme.
Earlier this month, Farah Black, a disabled woman in Northern Ireland, spoke to the BBC about leasing a BMW on the Motability scheme.
She was unable to drive at all for 12 years after a serious injury, which led to life-threatening sepsis and the amputation of her leg.
She said she cried when she picked up her BMW, which is adapted for her needs as a wheelchair user and which she paid the additional cost for as an advance payment.
“We should all have a choice,” she said.
“Just because I’m disabled – why can I not have a choice and drive what I want?”
Motability said it was “refocusing” which vehicles were available on the scheme, adding that it would “focus on vehicles that meet disabled people’s needs” and are “safe, reliable and affordable to run”.
As well as Mercedes and BMW, other brands being removed as part of the change include Audi, Alfa Romeo and Lexus.
The brands are no longer available to select as options on the Motability website.
But Matt Ryder, who used to work on Motability policy for the Department for Work and Pensions, said the problems with the scheme go beyond offering premium brands.
He said the scheme, which only leases brand new cars which are replaced every three years, could become more efficient by supplying nearly-new cars instead.
“A car is not a luxury, but a brand new car is a luxury purchase,” he said.
On its commitment to British-built cars, Motability said it would be working closely with manufacturers in the short term to increase the proportion of cars it leases which are made in the UK.
It wants 25% of cars on the scheme to be UK-built by 2030, up from 7% currently.
Andrew Miller, chief executive of Motability Operations, said the scheme was a “lifeline to freedom and independence” for its customers, adding that they “want to do even more to support the economy” going forward.
Hospital Staff Ask Deaf Couple, ‘What Is A BSL Interpreter?’
A health trust has apologised to a deaf couple after hospital staff did not know what a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter was.
Colleen Agnew’s husband was taken to hospital recently after an episode in which he was struggling to breathe, due to underlying health issues, at their home in Kilrea, County Londonderry.
Her son notified Causeway Hospital of their communication needs ahead of their arrival, but they were met with confusion upon arrival, Mrs Agnew said.
Apologising for the “distress caused”, the Northern Trust said information on booking BSL interpreters is regularly provided to staff and a reminder would be issued as a result of this incident.
The trust also said lanyards have been introduced which patients can wear to indicate they may need additional communication support.
The NHS has a legal responsibility to ensure its services are accessible to everyone, including the provision of interpreters.
‘No idea about deafness’
Mrs Agnew’s first language is BSL.
Upon arrival at hospital, she typed her request for an interpreter on her phone.
But the receptionist asked, ‘What is a BSL interpreter?’, Mrs Agnew said.
“They had no idea about deafness. They had no real incentive to try and sort out this problem. They just sort of froze.”
Mrs Agnew said she noted posters in reception about multiple language interpreters but none for BSL.
Not having access to an interpreter led to the couple being left, “worried”, for two hours at the hospital, their daughter, Susannah Agnew, said.
Mrs Agnew eventually obtained an interpreter, using her own contacts.
“I felt really rushed and panicked… my main priority was to make sure my husband was OK,” she said.
“All my anxieties disappeared whenever I finally got an interpreter into the hospital. It means that I could finally communicate, I could finally understand what was going on.”
How many people use BSL?
People who are born profoundly deaf, meaning they have little or no hearing, often rely on sign language rather than speech to communicate.
A BSL interpreter helps translate sign language into spoken language and vice versa.
Estimates for the number of BSL and Irish Sign Language (ISL) users in Northern Ireland vary widely.
A 2020 Stormont study said there may be as many as 18,000 people who use BSL or ISL.
While the Department of Health says approximately 8,000 people in Northern Ireland use either type of sign language.
Communication barriers
The couple’s children often have to help their parents, in terms of communication and phone calls.
Their daughter told BBC News NI that the communication barriers deaf people face are unfair.
Even before they attended hospital, Mrs Agnew said they experienced issues trying to contact the emergency services via a specialist app, set up in 2022.
The 999 BSL app, which connects users with an interpreter to relay emergency calls, repeatedly cut out when she tried to use it, she said.
However, an Ofcom report published this year found “at least two lives are saved per year due to the service”.
Matthew King, general manager at Sign Language Interactions, said they take any report of service disruption very seriously and are investigating the incident.
Deaf people can also contact emergency services by using Relay UK, a broader service that includes a text-based emergency option called Emergency SMS which users can register for by texting “register” to 999.
The family are calling for more hospital staff training, clearer protocols for booking interpreters and basic sign language awareness across healthcare settings.
They also believe sign language should be taught in schools.
Seana Taylor, from the Foyle Deaf Association, is also a child of deaf adults (CODA).
She said every CODA is likely to have a story similar to the Agnews.
When Ms Taylor’s mother needed surgery recently, she said it was easier to book an interpreter herself than to try and go through the hospital.
However, she said there is a lot of good work ongoing to address issues in healthcare settings.
“It’s just about people,” she said.
“The people that are delivering the service, does everybody understand the processes, is there any further training that needs to be done?”
World First Gene Therapy For Childhood Dementia
A three-year-old boy has astounded doctors with his progress after becoming the first person in the world with his devastating disease to receive a ground-breaking gene therapy.
Oliver Chu has a rare, inherited condition called Hunter syndrome – or MPSII – which causes progressive damage to the body and brain.
In the most severe cases, patients with the disease usually die before the age of 20. The effects are sometimes described as a type of childhood dementia.
Due to a faulty gene, before the treatment Oliver was unable to produce an enzyme crucial for keeping cells healthy.
In a world first, medical staff in Manchester have tried to halt the disease, external by altering Oliver’s cells using gene therapy.
Prof Simon Jones, who is co-leading the trial tells the BBC: “I’ve been waiting 20 years to see a boy like Ollie doing as well as he is, and it’s just so exciting.”
At the centre of this remarkable story is Oliver – the first of five boys around the world to receive the treatment – and the Chu family, from California, who have put their faith in the medical team at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
A year after starting the treatment, Oliver now appears to be developing normally.
“Every time we talk about it I want to cry because it’s just so amazing,” says his mother Jingru.
The BBC has followed Oliver’s story for more than a year – including how scientists in the UK first developed the pioneering gene therapy and how the medical trial they are conducting almost didn’t get off the ground due to lack of funds.
We first meet Oliver and his dad Ricky in December 2024 at the clinical research facility at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. It’s a big day.
Since being diagnosed with Hunter syndrome in April, Oliver’s life – like that of his elder brother, Skyler, who also has the condition – has been dominated by hospital visits.
Skyler had shown some late development in speech and coordination, but this had initially been put down to being born during Covid.
Ricky tells me his sons’ diagnosis came as a complete shock.
“When you find out about Hunter syndrome, the first thing the doctor tells you is ‘Don’t go on the internet and look it up because you’ll find the worst cases and you’ll be very, very disheartened’.”
“But, like anybody, you look it up and you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, is this what’s going to happen to both my sons?'”
Children are born apparently healthy, but around the age of two they start to show symptoms of the disease.
These vary and can include changes to physical features, stiffness of the limbs and short stature. It can cause damage throughout the body, including to the heart, liver, bones and joints and in the most serious cases can lead to severe mental impairment and progressive neurological decline.
Hunter syndrome almost always occurs in boys. It’s extremely rare, affecting one in 100,000 male births in the world.
Until now, the only medicine available for Hunter syndrome was Elaprase, which costs around £300,000 per patient, per year and can slow the physical effects of the disease. The drug is unable to cross the blood-brain barrier and so does not help with cognitive symptoms.
But today, Oliver is being hooked up to a machine and having some of his cells removed – the first crucial step in trying to halt his genetic disorder in this one-off treatment.
“His blood is being passed through a fancy machine that is collecting a specific type of cell called stem cells which will be sent to a lab to be modified and then given back to him,” Dr Claire Horgan, consultant paediatric haematologist explains.
Oliver’s cells are carefully packaged and sent to a laboratory at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London.
In Hunter syndrome, a genetic error means that cells are missing the instructions for making an enzyme, iduronate-2-sulfatase (IDS), essential for breaking down large sugar molecules which over time accumulate in tissues and organs.
Scientists insert the missing IDS gene into a virus, which has its genetic material removed so that it can’t cause disease.
A similar method has been used in other gene therapies, such as the treatment for another rare inherited condition, MLD.
Dr Karen Buckland, from the Cell and Gene Therapy Service at GOSH, explains: “We use the machinery from the virus to insert a working copy of the faulty gene into each of the stem cells.
“When those go back to Oliver, they should repopulate his bone marrow and start to produce new white blood cells and each of these will hopefully start to produce the missing protein [enzyme] in his body.”
There still remains the issue of how to get enough of the missing enzyme into the brain.
To overcome this, the inserted gene is modified so that the enzyme it produces crosses the blood-brain barrier more efficiently.
We next meet Oliver back at the clinical research facility at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
This time he’s with his mum Jingru, while Ricky has stayed in California to look after Skyler.
There is a sense of anticipation as a member of the research team opens a large metal cryopreservation tank where Oliver’s gene edited stem cells are frozen, having been transported back from GOSH.
A small, clear infusion bag is removed and slowly brought to body temperature in a tray of liquid.
After multiple checks, a nurse draws the clear fluid containing around 125 million gene-modified stem cells, into a syringe.
Oliver is used to hospitals, but is fretful, and wriggles as the research nurse slowly injects the treatment, about a cup full, into a catheter in his chest.
Jingru holds Oliver steady in her arms. After 10 minutes, the infusion is done.
An hour later, a second, identical infusion is made. Oliver continues to watch cartoons on a portable screen, oblivious to the potential importance of what’s just happened.
And that’s it. The gene therapy is complete. It seems to be all over rather quickly, yet the ambition here is huge: to stop Oliver’s progressive disease in its tracks, in a one-off treatment.
After a couple of days, Oliver and Jingru fly back to California. Now the family, and the medical team must wait to see if the gene therapy has worked.
In May, Oliver is back in Manchester for crucial tests to see if the gene therapy is working. This time the whole family is here.
We meet in a park in central Manchester and it’s immediately clear that things are looking good.
Oliver is more mobile and inquisitive than I’ve seen him. Admittedly, he now has the freedom to play and is out of hospital, but he appears brighter and healthier.
Ricky is thrilled: “He’s doing really well. We have seen him progressing in his speech, and mobility. In just three months he has matured.”
The really big news is that Oliver has been able to come off the weekly infusion of the missing enzyme.
“I want to pinch myself every time I tell people that Oliver is making his own enzymes,” says Jingru. “Every time we talk about it I want to cry because it’s just so amazing.”
She tells me he is “so different” from before the treatment, is talking “a ton” and is engaging more with other children.
It is lovely to finally meet five-year-old Skyler who is very protective and caring towards his younger brother.
“My wish upon the star is for Skyler, to be able to get the same treatment,” says Ricky. “It feels like Oliver has got a reset in his life, and I want the same thing for Skyler, even though he’s a bit older.”
Initially it was thought that Oliver was too old for the trial, as the treatment cannot reverse existing damage, but tests showed he was still largely unaffected.
Skyler seems to take delight in the world around him, and is keen to hold my hand and chat as we walk to the park.
Ricky explains that Skyler has delayed development in speech and motor skills, but is undergoing infusion therapy, which gets the treatment to his body, but not his brain.
Oliver returns to Manchester every three months for a few days of follow-up tests.
In late August, further checks confirm the gene therapy is working.
Oliver is clearly thriving, and to date is now nine months post treatment.
Prof Jones, whom Oliver calls Santa because of his white beard, is beaming: “Before the transplant Ollie didn’t make any enzyme at all and now he’s making hundreds of times the normal amount.
“But more importantly, we can see he’s improving, he’s learning, he’s got new words and new skills and he’s moving around much more easily.”
However, Prof Jones exercises a degree of caution: “We need to be careful and not get carried away in the excitement of all this, but things are as good as they could be at this point in time.”
On the rooftop garden at the hospital, Oliver plays with his dad.
“He’s like a completely different child. He’s running around everywhere, he won’t stop talking,” says Ricky.
“The future for Ollie seems very bright and hopefully this means more kids will get the treatment.”
In all, five boys have been signed up for the trial, from the US, Europe and Australia. None are from the UK as patients here were diagnosed too late to qualify.
All the boys will be monitored for at least two years. If the trial is deemed a success, the hospital and university hope to partner with another biotech firm in order to get the treatment licensed.
Prof Jones says the same gene therapy approach is being applied to other gene disorders.
There are similar treatments on trial in Manchester for MPS type 1 or Hurler syndrome and MPS type 3 or Sanfilippo syndrome.
Ricky and Jingru say they are “eternally grateful” to the Manchester team for allowing Oliver to join the trial.
They say they are astonished by his progress in recent months.
Oliver’s now producing the missing enzyme and his body and brain are healthy.
“I don’t want to jinx it, but I feel like it’s gone very, very well,” says Ricky.
“His life is no longer dominated by needles and hospital visits. His speech, agility and cognitive development have all got dramatically better.
“It’s not just a slow, gradual curve as he gets older, it has shot up exponentially since the transplant.”
Researchers at the University of Manchester led by Prof Brian Bigger had spent more than 15 years working on creating the gene therapy for Hunter syndrome.
In 2020 the university announced a partnership with a small US biotech company Avrobio, to conduct a clinical trial.
But three years later the company handed back the licence to the university, following poor results from another gene therapy study and a lack of funds.
The first-in-human trial, which would soon help Oliver, was in jeopardy before it had even begun.
Prof Jones: “We had to move very quickly to try to save the whole idea and find another sponsor and another source of funding.”
It was then that British medical research charity, LifeArc, stepped in, providing £2.5m of funding.
CEO Dr Sam Barrell said: “A huge challenge for the more than 3.5 million people in the UK living with rare conditions, is getting access to effective treatments – currently 95% of conditions have none. “
The Chu family are relieved the trial didn’t come to a halt and now hope Skyler may one day benefit from the same gene therapy as his brother.
“I would walk to the end of the earth, backwards, forwards, upside down, barefoot, to make sure my kids have a better future,” says Ricky.
🪺👛👨🏼🦼👨❤️💋👨🥰🥰
Designer Told ‘Disabled People Don’t Need Fashion’
A designer who was told “disabled people don’t need fashion” says she felt so angered that she now has an adaptive clothing firm, which appeared on the catwalk at London Fashion Week.
As a student, Hanan Tantush was showcasing customised clothing for disabled people as part of her coursework – after seeing her grandad’s struggles following cancer surgery – when she heard the comment.
“That sentence made me so angry,” she says.
The 23-year-old, from Chester, says she believes the fashion industry has “evolved” but “disability is still treated as a niche”.
Her response was to build up the adaptive fashion firm Intotum – Latin for “as a whole” – which she platformed at London Fashion Week earlier this year.
‘Empowered not pitied’
The idea had been some years in the making after Hanan noticed her grandad Michael Myers struggle to find trousers he could wear with his stoma bag.
“Every pair of trousers rubbed against it or pressed on the bag,” she says.
“The only thing he could wear without pain was jogging bottoms and he hated how they looked.”
Her grandad had been a Merchant Navy engineer who wore his uniform with pride, she says.
“Every memory I have of him is of him looking sharp. Trousers pressed, shirt tucked in, shoes polished.”
But the stoma bag, she says, was affecting his lifestyle, accessibility and clothing.
“He’d often say how difficult it was to manage his stoma bag in public toilets, especially at football, and over time he stopped playing bowls for the same reason – something he’d done for 40 years.
“Seeing clothing strip away his confidence like that broke something in me.”
Hanan has since been involved in making and promoting stylish clothes tailored for people with different disabilities and neurodivergences, saying she wants them to “feel empowered, not pitied”.
About 17 million people in the UK have a disability – a quarter of the population, external – but Hanan says “disability is still treated as a niche”.
“When big brands launch ‘adaptive’ lines, they’re often just tracksuits in different colours,” she says.
“People tell me they want to feel stylish, to walk into a room and be seen for their outfit, not their condition.”
Items included wheelchair trench coats and capes, side-opening trousers and clothes with magnetic or Velcro fastenings instead of buttons.
After her grandad’s experiences, there are also items with discreet pockets for stoma bags.
“He tells everyone about my business. He knows he inspired it all,” she says.
Hanan wants to broaden her collections and eventually have branches in stores, saying: “Fashion – the very thing that should help us express who we are – has shut out an entire community.”
She says increasing the ability for disabled people to “dress without thinking twice about what they can or can’t wear” has prompted customers to contact her.
Some of those who have got in touch have told her “it’s the first time they’ve dressed independently in years”.
“That’s what success looks like,” Hanan says.
Man With CP Fundraises For AAC Technology After ITV News Report
Kind-hearted viewers of ITV Granada Reports have helped raise enough funds for a life-changing piece of technology that will allow a Liverpool fan with cerebral palsy to communicate like never before.
Ryan Edwards, from Wallasey, has required round the clock care and a breathing machine his entire life, but his family say that’s never stopped the “bright and funny” 32-year-old from being the happy person he is.
His younger sister, Samantha Edwards, said: “He’s got the most gorgeous smile. People say they wish they could just bottle up his laugh and it could be given out to everyone. He’s got such an aura about him that everyone deserves to see.”
Ryan is non-verbal and his family rely on visual cues to understand what he needs, but that all changed when he took part in a trial for a communication device that allowed him to control a computer with his eyes and have it speak aloud for him.
Samantha said: “In that time it was fantastic. He was able to tell us he loves us, he was able to tell us what he wanted to do, even things like watch TV. We were absolutely amazed.”
But after the three week trial, Ryan’s family were told he doesn’t meet the criteria for funding to keep the equipment permanently.
Samantha said: “It’s really frustrating… but we woke up one day and just thought you know what? We’re going to get it. We’re going to fight for it.”
Ryan’s family set up a fundraiser to secure the £12,000 they need to pay for a permanent Smartbox eye gaze communication device.
Hundreds of people donated money, exceeding the target by more than £5,000 after Ryan’s story aired on Tuesday evening.
Reacting to the news, Samantha said: “We are over the moon. We didn’t honestly expect anything near what’s happened, it’s amazing.
“We’ve been crying for the past hour, not knowing what to do, shaking. Honestly we couldn’t thank people enough, everyone’s been so generous.”
Samantha has dedicated herself to helping Ryan as a member of his 24 hour care team, and says the device will change everything.
Samantha said: “It will open his world completely. Just being able to communicate as any 32 year old adult would. He’s got so much in his brain that needs to get out, but he can’t without this technology.
“There’s such an opportunity to express his thoughts. Being able to know the littlest things will change everything for him.”
Ryan’s family now hope they will be able to buy the device to allow him to share his happy personality with even more people.
“We never thought it would happen,” Samantha added. “It doesn’t feel real.”
And she had a special message for viewers: “You’ve made Ryan’s Christmas. For Christmas he’s going to have his voice. Thank you so much.
“We’re absolutely flabbergasted.”
London Marathon Will Be My Everest, Says Hampson
Taking on the London Marathon will be “my Everest”, says former England rugby player Matt Hampson.
He was an up-and-coming 20-year-old prop at the Leicester Tigers when he was left paralysed from the neck down after a scrum collapsed in a training session with the England Under-21 squad in 2005.
He set up the Matt Hampson Foundation six years later to support and rehabilitate other young people seriously injured through sport.
Now Hampson, of Oakham, in Rutland, is planning to raise £100,000 in the 2026 London Marathon, using a specialist racing chair pushed by a team of runners.
He said the money raised would support his foundation and expand its Get Busy Living Centre near Melton Mowbray.
“London is my chance to raise funds for the foundation and also to raise awareness of what we do and who we support,” he said.
“The pressure’s on, because I’ve set a time to get under five hours, so it’s hopefully a realistic target.
“I’ve weighed up the options and weighed up the risk of the challenge, and I think it’s worth that risk.”
Hampson, 41, said: “I want to practice what we preach here, which is get busy living, and we’ve got so many beneficiaries who inspire me every day.
“I want to raise awareness of the foundation, and raise vital funds to keep us up running and doing what we do.”
He said he was excited to see and feel the specialist racing chair, adding: “I always need a challenge and I always need something to channel my energy into – and this is it.”
Hampson will be trained alongside his team, which includes a longstanding member of his care team, as well as a personal trainer from the foundation and two of his best friends.
Due to him being on a ventilator in order to breathe, a number of precautions will need to be in place during the race.
Tilly Cummings, clinical lead at the Matt Hampson Foundation, said: “If his ventilator pops off, he can’t breathe for himself, which obviously is fairly critical. So they will have to run with a backup ventilator as well.”
Ms Cummings also said Hampson would face the risk of pressure sores and would need to maintain his body temperature or risk autonomic dysreflexia – a condition which can increase the risk of brain haemorrhages and strokes.
AI To Help Improve Technology For Disabled People
People with disabilities who use technology to communicate and carry out everyday tasks say they want it to become more personalised and versatile.
Students at National Star College in Gloucestershire met executives from a global tech company to talk about how AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices can improve.
Aid Holmes told the delegates from Smartbox that he used to hate his AAC as a child, but it has since become an essential part of his life.
“Now I take my AAC everywhere I go because I feel naked without it. It would be like someone ripping your voice box out of your body. This is my voice.”
Mr Holmes said a simple solution that would make a big difference would be an AAC device which lasts for 24 hours, “so I can talk all day without charging”.
AACs are varied but many work by people programming phrases using a screen.
It can then create phrases using an artificial voice, operate computers and apps or control devices where they live.
Hannah Hadley has cerebral palsy and controls her device using what is known as Eye Gaze – which tracks her eye movements to navigate the screen.
She told the panel that she would like an app to run her a bath for a sense of independence, and to use her device to pursue her dream of designing adapted fairground rides for disabled people.
Emily Harris, speech and language therapist at National Star College, says despite their transformative life changing potential, the speed of using the equipment is restrictive.
“They’re very difficult to use,” she said. “They’re often slow, and so trying to bridge that gap between a typical conversation – in terms of speed and content – and the equipment that the AAC users have available to them is the next big challenge that would make a huge difference.”
As technology develops, experts say the ability of working faster, having increased autonomy and independence will be helped by artificial intelligence (AI).
Dougal Hawes, the CEO of SmartBox, said: “AI is often seen or viewed with fear but in our world AI is a real force for good.
“We were talking to students about tools that will really speed up their rate of communication so you help them with correcting their typing, help them use acronyms to say things quicker.
“We also use an AI technology for voice cloning so people can get a personalised voice that sounds like them and where they’re from in the country, their age and it really reflects them and their personality so that is now a feature of our products.”
Andy Perrygrove uses technology that tracks a dot on his glasses to play the guitar and he regularly joins in at open mic nights in Gloucester.
His key worker, Dave Stokes, says it can go further.
“Andy’s always been a fan of music so to be able to engage in music, something that he’s not really been able to do because of his disabilities, has opened up so much for him,” he said.
“He’s using it to sing as well – it can translate what he’s doing using AI to actually create a voice and singing lyrics as well, which is phenomenal.”
Chief operating officer of Talk To Me Technologies in the US, Kate Dunning, said what they heard means that they have to keep challenging themselves and making technology even more personalised.
“Never automating for automations sake,” she said.
“Always thinking about that end user and using the idea of ‘what do they have to say’ and ‘how will they best to say it’.”
The family of Birds of a Feather actress Pauline Quirke have spoken of their “disbelief” at her 2021 dementia diagnosis.
Although the family are unsure what stage she is at, they said: “She’s still funny, she’s talking, she’s happy.”
Despite being “very private”, they told BBC Breakfast they wanted to raise awareness and funds for the condition.
“My mum has always been a charitable person. It’s what she would want me to do,” said her son, Charlie Quirke.
Best-known for playing Sharon Theodopolopodous in long-running sitcom Birds of a Feather, 66-year-old Quirke was also nominated for a Bafta in 1997 for playing a convicted murderer in BBC drama The Sculptress.
In 2022, she was made an MBE for services to the entertainment industry, young people, and charities.
But earlier this year her husband, Steve Sheen, who she married in 1996, had to announce her retirement.
This ended both her 50-year acting career, along with her role as head of Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts, which has about 250 academies, and more than 15,000 young students across the UK.
Steve said they first got an inkling something might be wrong with Quirke in November 2020, after she received a script.
“She started reading it and she phoned me on that day and said, the words are not going in. That’s where it started,” he said.
Their reaction after the diagnosis was “disbelief, really”.
“We looked at each other and went, ‘Can’t be, it’s long Covid. Got the flu’.”
Charlie added he was “quite surprised that this was possible in a woman in her 60s, and it can happen to people in their 50s, people in their 40s, so it’s something you have to deal with and learn about”.
Dementia is described as “young onset” when symptoms develop before the age of 65. It most often develops in people between the ages of 45 and 65 but can affect people of any age.
Asked what stage Quirke is at in her dementia journey, Steve said: “We don’t know. She’s still funny. She’s talking. She’s happy.”
“Is it four years, eight years, 10 years, 12 years, 20, who knows?”
Charlie added: “And that’s the problem, no one tells you.
“My mum knows exactly who we are. Every time she sees all of us, she smiles, laughs, says ‘I love you’, says ‘hello’.”
They spoke about why they were sharing their experience, and what they had learned so far.
“Unfortunately we are not in the state where we can do much about it,” Steve said.
“Just take every day and try and take the best moment out of that day you can.
“It’s a long journey. If we can just help a little bit by using Pauline as the catalyst to make more people aware, then we should, to use her to boost awareness and raise funds for dementia research.”
Steve said the impact of the condition hit them slowly.
“It’s so gradual that for the first year, two years, you’re thinking, ah, she’s alright.
“Now, we’re three or four years in, it’s a little bit different. This is why awareness is important. We didn’t know how long it lasts or how long you have with it, or how bad it is or how quick it is.”
Charlie added that it “progresses and changes every day, but so do we – we change and progress, and so we’re forever learning”.
The NHS website states dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) “associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning”.
Next month, Charlie is doing a fundraising walk for Alzheimer’s Research UK, going 140 kilometres to places that shaped his mother’s life, including homes she has lived in, theatres and TV studios she has worked at.
It will also include the Buckinghamshire headquarters of her children’s drama academy.
“This is my mum’s legacy,” he said.
“This is going to be one of the stops on my trek, because she wanted to nurture the next generation of young actors.”
Steve paid tribute to his wife, saying: “What you see is what you get. Loving. Brilliant. She’s an iconic actress because her talent is immense.”
Charlie added: “She is an incredible, strong, courageous woman that’s been through a lot and she keeps going.
“She’s a fighter and it’s incredible to see, yeah, very proud of her.”
Australian Paralympic Gold Medallist Paige Greco Dies At 28
Australian Paralympic gold medallist Paige Greco has died at the age of 28.
The para-cyclist, who clinched her country’s first gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, died on Sunday at her home in Adelaide after a “sudden medical episode”, said AusCycling, the sport’s national governing body.
Greco’s family is “devastated by her loss, [but] incredibly proud of the person she was and the way she represented Australia”, her mother Natalie said in a statement published by AusCycling.
“Paige meant everything to us. Her kindness, her determination and her warmth touched our family every single day,” Mrs Greco said.
Greco, who had cerebral palsy, started out as a track-and-field athlete before turning to cycling in 2018.
Throughout her career, she won several World Championship titles and World Cup medals.
At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games she broke the record for the women’s C1–3 3,000m individual pursuit, a track event where cyclists race head-to-head on opposite sides of the track.
She went on to win bronze medals in the women’s C1-3 road race and time trial at the Games.
Greco sat out of selection rounds for last year’s Games held in Paris because of health issues, but returned to elite competition this year, The Guardian reported.
In August, she won another bronze medal at the para-cycling World Championships in Belgium, this time for the C3 road race event.
Tributes poured in from various corners of Australia’s sporting community following news of Greco’s death.
AusCycling’s chief executive officer Marne Fechner called her an “extraordinary athlete who achieved outstanding accomplishments at the highest levels of [the] sport”.
“Much more than that, she touched the lives of everyone around her with her positive spirit and courageous outlook,” Fechner said.
Paralympics Australia’s chief executive officer Cameron Murray said “Paige’s achievements on the international stage were exceptional, but it was her kindness, her quiet determination and the way she uplifted people around her that will stay with us all”.
“She had a rare ability to make people feel included and supported, and her influence will no doubt leave a lasting impression on so many,” he said.
Strangers Mocked Me In My Wheelchair For ‘Tongue Out’ Trend On TikTok. Nobody Intervened
“Stop them!” I shouted, as I sped through London’s Finsbury Park station in my electric wheelchair. I was surrounded by commuters. Nobody intervened.
I had been travelling alone and was checking my route home in a passageway, when suddenly I felt someone looming over me.
I’d looked up to find a man standing inches from my face, staring down at me. He was motionless, and looking me dead in the eye. I froze – I thought I was about to be mugged.
The man smirked, stuck out his tongue, and pulled a vacant expression. Then I noticed someone was filming me from behind. As I spun around in my wheelchair, more of their group joined them through the turnstiles.
Furious, I gave chase, hoping to make them delete the video. But just as I got close, the men ran up a stairwell, laughing. That was the last I ever saw of them.
I’d become the latest victim of the “tongue-out” TikTok prank, where people stick their tongue out at strangers while pulling a face, and film their reaction – but this time twisted to mock me for my disability.
The situation felt familiar. A year ago, I wrote about facing TikTok-inspired disability harassment from school kids who shouted “Timmy” at me outside my local train station.
This referenced a disabled character from satire series South Park, who uses a wheelchair and can only shout his own name, usually loudly and uncontrollably. Revived on TikTok decades later and stripped of comedic context, mimicking Timmy has again become a way to mock disabled people.
That time I chose to call the kids out directly in conversation – hoping it could be a learning experience to challenge their prejudices.
This time, in Finsbury Park, I took action.
Fed up of feeling powerless, I immediately reported the incident as a hate crime – now defined in the UK by law to include perceived hostile acts toward protected characteristics like disability.
The British Transport Police (BTP) confirmed my experience was similar to a spate of other incidents that seemed to have been fuelled by the TikTok craze.
People being targeted in person by those chasing online clout is an area of “growing concern”, according to Ciaran O’Connor from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a think tank focusing on online hate.
He says social media algorithms “prioritise shock, confrontations and adversarial encounters” – or, as many of us know it, “ragebait” – over empathy.
Online hate ‘to go viral’
The original tongue-out TikTok prank, copied by the men who targeted me, isn’t quite as sinister as you might expect. It was popularised by young US influencers like Pink Cardigan this summer, who amassed millions of likes by staring, tongue out, at bemused customers through shop and diner windows, external.
The comedy hinges on the reactions of people who “aren’t in on the joke”, explains Aidan Walker, whose videos about internet culture have amassed millions of views on TikTok. The tongue-out trend, like many of its kind, began as something “obnoxious and inconsiderate, rather than inherently hostile”, he says.
When I was harassed, the adult men, seemingly in their early 20s, chose to use the trend to mock disability – perhaps to set apart their upload. They likely “performed with the intention to go viral”, adds Mr O’Connor.
I am yet to find footage of my incident uploaded to TikTok, or other social media platforms – but this does not diminish the likely intent.
TikTok says the vast majority of content uploaded of the trend is not targeted or hateful and therefore does not violate its policies.
The platform’s community guidelines prohibit hate speech, hateful behaviour, or promotion of hateful ideologies, including discrimination on the basis of disability.
When BBC News reported a video of teenagers appearing to target a man with Down’s syndrome by adopting the tongue-out pose outside his window, moderators removed the video.
Reluctance to report
Mr O’Connor says viral trends have been twisted to target other minority groups too, including LGBTQ+ people and migrants, with content creators motivated by an endless hunt for engagement.
Home Office statistics, external for England and Wales show hate crime continued to rise this year, driven by racial and religious offences.
While recorded disability hate crime fell by 8% in 2025, this follows sharp rises in recent years, and disability charities warn of a distorted picture.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last year described disability hate crime, external as one of the “most pervasive and under-reported” forms of discrimination.
The apparent fall in disability hate crime reports reflects “a lack of confidence in reporting, not a reduction in hostility”, says Ali Gunn from disability charity United Response.
The charity’s research suggests, external just 29.9% of disabled people report crimes against them, with only 2% of public order offences resulting in convictions – the lowest of any minority group.
I experienced these difficulties first hand when reporting my incident. Despite the definition of disability hate crime covering a broad range of perceived hostile acts – far beyond verbal abuse – I was initially told the case would not be pursued because CCTV would not have audio and no ableist or derogatory language had been used.
I pushed back – emphasising the targeted intimidation of being surrounded in my wheelchair, and asked whether the CCTV had been studied. It was only then my case was re-opened and taken on by another officer.
The footage has since been analysed, with stills of the suspects passed on to BTP’s investigative team.
TfL apologised for the incident and the way BTP initially handled it. TfL commissioner Andy Lord wrote to me to express his disgust at the harassment I faced and affirm TfL’s commitment to improving the reporting and awareness of disability hate crime.
Journey to change?
The need to tackle hate crime on and around public transport is clear. TfL data shows overall hate crime reports on its services rose 39.7% between 2022/23 and 2024/25, with a slight drop between 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Last month, comedian Rosie Jones, who has cerebral palsy, had wine thrown over her during what she described as an “ableist and homophobic attack”, external on the train home from a gig with fellow comic Lee Peart.
“They mocked our voices, shouted slurs at us and even threw a wine bottle (plastic, thankfully),” Jones wrote in a post on Instagram. “It was a stark reminder that my cerebral palsy makes me stand out, and is often used as a weapon against me.”
Since my experience at Finsbury Park, what has stayed with me, perhaps more than the filming, is how passersby failed to step in.
It made me realise that bystanders can feel incredibly conflicted about taking action.
It is this hesitance to step in that lies at the heart of TfL’s new Act Like A Friend campaign, which encourages passengers to strike up a conversation with the person being targeted, and behave as if they know each other.
The network encourages customers to report all incidents they believe are motivated by hate and hostility to the police, including hate filming.
“Everyone deserves to be and feel safe when travelling on our network,” says Siwan Hayward, TfL’s director of security policing enforcement. “The behaviour that Alex describes is deplorable”.
United Response’s Gunn called hate filming a growing and deeply distressing trend for disabled people.
He urged social media companies to “strengthen moderation” around viral challenges by improving systems for victims or their advocates to flag harmful content.
This includes not only removing offending content, but ensuring users who post it face tougher sanctions.
“Being mocked or secretly filmed strips people of dignity and reinforces the message that public spaces aren’t safe or welcoming,” he says. “These incidents sit alongside more overt forms of disability hate crimes and share the same underlying problem of hostility and exclusion.”
Four months on from what happened, I am quite dispirited. While I’m pleased I took action as far as I could, the harassment I’ve experienced in recent years has left me acutely aware that the fight now takes place on two fronts – online and in the real world.
So, what to do? Clearly, there needs to be bigger-picture change to tackle hate in either sphere. But on an individual level, nothing is more powerful than looking out for each other, beyond screens. Hate thrives on invisibility.
me posing outside the canal boat trip boat before boarding it when I went on the canal boat with Friday club which we do annually
gift list
Check out this Gift List I just created. https://www.amazon.co.uk/registries/gl/guest-view/1UQ0DPDQ3O0L0?
GoFundMe and Amazon wish list links for you all. Thank you
QEF To Close After 90 Years
A charity supporting people with disabilities, which was opened by the Queen Mother (then Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York), has announced it will close after more than 90 years.
The Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People (QEF), in Leatherhead, was founded in 1934 by Dame Georgiana Buller and Stanley Evans, and supports nearly 10,000 people a year.
The charity said in a statement: “It is with immense sadness and regret we inform you that QEF will commence a wind down programme from 11 November.
“We have worked tirelessly over the last year to try and save the charity and improve its finances.
“Unfortunately there wasn’t a viable solution that met all the necessary requirements to overcome the challenging financial situation QEF faced.”
The charity added the wind-down programme was expected to take 28 days to allow time for alternative placements to be located for residential clients at its Care and Rehabilitation Centre.
Following this, the charity said QEF intended to file for administration.
“It has been our privilege to support disabled people for more than 90 years, providing expert services that have changed many lives, and we are deeply saddened that it cannot continue,” the charity said.
‘Cornerstone of our community’
Helen Maguire, MP for Epsom and Ewell, said she was “deeply saddened” over the closure of QEF.
“QEF has been a cornerstone of our community in Leatherhead, offering wonderful care that has seen thousands of people rebuild their independence,” she said.
“I saw first-hand the incredible work of their staff when I visited earlier this year, and my thoughts right now are with them and their clients during what will likely be a very difficult time.”
Maguire added she was in contact with the charity to “seek urgent clarity on the implications of the closure”.
‘My Son, 4, Has Childhood Dementia – I’m Heartbroken’
The mother of a four-year-old boy has said her “heart is broken” after he was diagnosed with a form of childhood dementia.
Tammy McDaid, from Swansea, said her son Tate has Sanfilippo Syndrome and is not expected to survive to adulthood.
She has set an £11,000 fundraising target for her “handsome little man” to potentially take part in clinical trials abroad in the hope of slowing the development of the disease.
Tammy, 33, said her main focus was on making precious memories with her son, as there is currently no cure for his condition.
Sanfilippo Syndrome Type A, also known as Mucopolysaccharidosis type III (MPS III), causes the gradual loss of abilities, such as walking and eating.
Because of its neurodegenerative nature, Sanfilippo Syndrome is often called “childhood Alzheimer’s” or “childhood dementia.”
According to the Society for Mucopolysaccharide Diseases (MPS Society), a charity which helps children living with Sanfilippo Syndrome, about 140 children in the UK have the condition.
Tate, who has always been non-verbal, was diagnosed with autism at the age of two.
“Deep down I always suspected there was something more,” said Tammy.
Tate underwent an MRI scan in March 2024, when medics found spaces in his brain which were a sign of dementia, Tammy said.
He was then referred to Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital in Cardiff, where the MPS III diagnosis was made.
She added that her “little sidekick” made her “a very proud mum”.
“From day one he really has been the most happy and content little boy,” she said.
“He enjoys the simple things in life and he has the most contagious smile.
“I am so blessed and proud of him. Even though he can’t talk, he hugs and kisses me.”
Tammy said Tate loves to run and climb, and she hoped clinical trials “can slow down the regression of [Tate’s] mobility, as that is what is going to hit me the hardest”.
“He could climb before he could walk. I just want him to be able to do this for as long as possible,” she said.
“My handsome little man won’t live to see his 18th birthday. My heart is broken and honestly, I am one drained mumma.”
After setting up a GoFundMe page and receiving thousands of pounds within days, Tammy said it was “the first time in a long while I have felt hope”.
“This time last week I couldn’t talk about him without crying,” she said, adding she was grateful for the support of the Ty Hafan children’s hospice and the local community.
Tammy said she had contacted the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation to see if Tate could be accepted on to any clinical trials abroad.
She said she “didn’t have time to waste” as she had been told that children with the condition can start to deteriorate from the age of five or six – and Tate turns five at the end of this month.
“I got the diagnosis and got told basically to come back when he starts deteriorating because there is nothing they [medics] can do,” said Tammy.
“The next year is quite critical in Tate’s life as it’s around now that things start to show.”
If Tate is not accepted on to a trial, Tammy said she wanted to use the money raised “to travel to as many countries as possible with him”.
Ahead of World Sanfilippo Awareness Day on Sunday, she said she also wanted to raise awareness of the condition, as both she and Tate’s father carried the Sanfilippo syndrome gene.
face paint for the light night which was a local community celebration. Community Light Night 2025
Call To Create Official Register Of Assistance Dogs
Groups representing assistance dog users are calling for “stronger legal protections” to protect disabled people who say they are being discriminated against in public spaces.
Campaigners, lead by Assistance Dogs UK (ADUK), say they are often refused access to shops, restaurants, public transport and other services because of their assistance dogs.
Vicky Worthington, executive director of ADUK, said: “Current laws fall short of providing the clarity, protection and consistency needed to ensure fair treatment.”
A government spokesperson said it was illegal for a premises to refuse entry to someone with an assistance dog “with very few exceptions”.
Garry Botterill, a former Sussex Police officer and founder of Service Dogs UK, said there should be a mandatory assistance dog register to give bars, restaurants and other facilities the reassurance that they are legitimate.
“The definition of assistance dogs isn’t great in law, there is no requirement for people to train their dogs to a high standard, to be under an umbrella organisation,” he said.
Mr Botterill explained that people will buy jackets for their dogs to make it appear as though they are service animals.
“That makes it really difficult for service providers to recognise what is a well-trained assistance dog and what is someone utilising something from the internet to make their dog looks like an assistance dog,” he said.
Jordan Chapman, who lives in Coulsdon, Surrey, is a British Army veteran and paramedic who has been partnered with PTSD assistance dog Teddy for three years.
He agrees there should be a database of assistance dogs.
“We have to be sensible with how we apply that, but absolutely there should be a national register to meet a minimum standard of training,” he said.
Mr Chapman explained how he was refused entry to a restaurant, which he regularly visited before having Teddy, because of their dog policy.
“Unfortunately, that’s just a normal thing,” he said.
Toni Brown Griffin, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, said she was sometimes “shadowed” by security staff when walking around stores or has been refused entry to certain premises altogether.
“It can be quite intimidating,” she said.
Ms Brown Griffin said there was an increasing problem with pet dogs making a nuisance of themselves to working dogs.
She said businesses react to poorly-trained dogs “yapping and weeing” by banning all dogs.
Research from Assistance Dogs International and the International Guide Dog Federation found 43% of assistance dog handlers were refused access to a premises in the past year and 65% reported problems caused by dogs misrepresented as assistance dogs.
Campaigners are heading to parliament on Tuesday to ask the government to strengthen legislation, including by “clearly defining assistance dogs in law, ensuring consistent expectations for training, behaviour and welfare”.
ADUK said it wanted legislative change, but was not calling for a register at this time.
The government spokesperson said: “No one deserves to be held back or treated unfairly because of their disability and the Equality Act 2010 protects everyone against discrimination and ensures disabled people have the right to be treated equally.
“It is illegal to refuse entry to a disabled person with an assistance dog – with very few exceptions.
“Where individuals are concerned they have been a victim of discrimination, there is advice available through the Equality Advisory and Support Service.”
When my TikTok team celebrated Halloween and one of my team members decided that minions are part of Halloween
Geoff Holt Awarded Honorary Degree
A record-breaking disabled sailor paralysed at the age of 18 after diving into shallow water has been presented with an honorary degree.
Geoff Holt MBE, from Wallington near Fareham, Hampshire was the first quadriplegic sailor to cross the Atlantic and went on to set up Wetwheels, a charity that provides specially-designed accessible boats to disabled people.
Bournemouth University said the Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration was in recognition of his courage and resilience in rebuilding his life.
At a graduation ceremony held at the Bournemouth International Centre Mr Holt said it was a “tremendous honour…it’s just wonderful to be recognised”.
After the graduation ceremony Mr Holt said: “It’s just wonderful to be recognised not just for me but for my wife too who is part of my team.”
Mr Holt credits his achievements to his wife Elaine. They met while she was working as a nurse at the hospital where he was treated following his accident.
His advice to students was to focus on what you can change, rather than get bogged down in what you can’t.
He said: “To use a nautical metaphor, it’s about the journey. Things change at sea, the weather changes, the sea state changes and that can be said about the world we live in.
“Things change, and you have to be able to adapt.”
During the 40 years since his accident, Mr Holt has earned numerous honours, including an MBE for his work in disabled sailing, a BBC South Sports Personality of the Year award, and the Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs.
He circumnavigated Great Britain in a power boat in May-June 2024 and continues to inspire and support others through his involvement with the RNLI and RYA Sailability.
Please Support Us, Deaf Athlete Urges Government
A north London footballer is pleading with the government to help give deaf athletes the same opportunities as other athletes.
Lucindha Lawson from Crouch End is due to represent Great Britain in the 2025 Deaflympics in Tokyo next week – the deaf equivalent of the Olympics – after raising the £4,000 entry cost through donations.
Unlike Olympic and Paralympic athletes, Deaflympics competitors are not eligible for grants and must self-fund their participation.
The government said it was “dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including deaf people”.
‘Very stressful’
Lawson has represented her country four times at the Deaflympics, a multi-sports event for elite deaf athletes who compete at an international level that takes place every four years.
Speaking to BBC London before reaching her fundraising goal, she said it was “stressful” and “difficult” to raise the money needed to compete.
“We have to ask local communities, charities, businesses to try and raise the money ourselves,” she told BBC London.
“It does affect my career in football.
“It’s very stressful, I am always thinking about the financial aspect, so I might forget about training and it might steer me off the wrong way, whereas if I didn’t have the financial constraints I could just continue (with football).”
She said UK Deaf Sport was going to pay for her to take part, but she would be required to pay back the sum it spends or face being barred from future events.
“I would have to make a repayment plan and pay it out of my own pocket, which really I shouldn’t have to do,” she said.
“I’m representing my country so it’s really disappointing.”
Although she is “really proud” to represent Great Britain, she said she felt “in bit of a trap”.
Being deaf, she is not permitted to take part in the Paralympics and therefore she cannot apply for funding.
Lawson urged the government to “please support us”.
“The Deaflympics is really important to the deaf community,” she said. “This was set up before the Paralympics… but it doesn’t seem like it’s recognised by the government, or world federations.
“Why aren’t we getting funding, because we should all have the same equal opportunities?”
‘Shameful’
Funding for UK Olympians and Paralympians primarily comes from UK Sport, which distributes government and National Lottery money to national governing bodies.
Athletes then receive individual funding through these programmes.
However, there is currently no funding for elite deaf athletes in the UK.
UK Deaf Sport chief executive Chris Ratcliffe told MPs this month it was “shameful” that deaf athletes were missing out on funding.
The government said it could not provide extra funding to high-performance athletes outside of what it already gives “to support Olympic and Paralympic success”.
But it said it did provide £1.2m each year for grassroots activities in deaf sports.
Dressing up for the Halloween at Wacky Wheels. I hope you all had a happy Halloween 2025.
Winter Canal Boat Trip with Friday Club
Balls With Wacky Wheels
Balls with Wacky Wheels
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me on live doing my agency battle some of the gifts I received such as roses, friendship necklaces and more a few weeks ago
Campaign Aims To Help Deaf Children Access Football
A grassroots football club has started a campaign to raise awareness of the inclusion of deaf children in the game.
HS Sports, run by Harvey Scholes in Swindon, has made minor adjustments to its communication, which has allowed two young players to play alongside their hearing team-mates.
The campaign has been backed by Swindon Town FC manager, Ian Holloway, who said “it’s about time”, adding there is “no reason a deaf boy or girl couldn’t end up playing top flight football”.
Mr Scholes, who wants other clubs to follow their lead, said he wanted to share the journey of “talented” Stanley and Jacob to show what is possible.
Nine-year-old Stanley was born deaf and received cochlear implants at 14 months old. He plays for three teams, including the England deaf football team.
“I want to get to the level they [Premier League players] are, and work harder and harder,” he said.
He plays alongside Jacob, 10, who wears hearing aids and also plays for three teams – and dreams of playing in the Premier League.
Jacob admitted that it can sometimes be difficult on the pitch with information coming from all directions, but that it has not affected his love for the game.
“Sometimes you mishear your coach, or your players, and sometimes what you need to do,” he said.
They feature in a video made and shared on social media by Mr Scholes, and which has been viewed thousands of times.
Jacob’s dad, Aarron, said he hopes this will stop talented young players with hearing loss being overlooked.
“The looks he gets due to having hearing aids, what we find is they’re seen as a barrier,” he said.
“Just because he has a disability, it doesn’t make a difference. There’s no inability in his work.”
Mr Holloway, who has three deaf children, said being deaf is “something to be proud of”, but added “unfortunately the rest of the world doesn’t always buy into it”.
He said that provided football clubs approach inclusivity correctly, it should not stop young players achieving their goals.
“You need written things everywhere, so they can point at it,” he said.
“As long as we do it correctly… there’s no reason a deaf boy or girl couldn’t end up playing top flight football.”
hair Saturday with a face mask and all wall sitting in my armchair
Shops Need ‘Mindset Change’ On Disabled Access
Millions of pounds a month are lost by UK shops and businesses because they are not accessible to people with disabilities, according to an awareness campaign.
Purple Tuesday, which says a “mindset change” is needed, is urging retailers to consider new ways of improving inclusion such as adapting sensory experiences for neurodivergent people.
Some 16 million people in the UK have a disability, and 90% of disabled people found their shopping experience was affected by a lack of accessibility, according to the Business Disability Forum.
Mike Adams, the founder of Purple Tuesday, says retailers and others who offer services need to make changes to the way they operate to attract disabled shoppers.
Purple Tuesday trains businesses and organisations to improve their accessibility and inclusion standards in shops, restaurants and public spaces.
Campaigners gathered in Piccadilly Circus in central London to watch the screens turn purple to celebrate Purple Tuesday, which is also marked in several other countries.
Mr Adams told BBC London: “In terms of the disability population, wheelchair users comprise 8%.
“So we need to think about how businesses can support the other 92% – people with mental health, neurodiversity, long-term health conditions – where some of the accessibility changes that are required aren’t physical ramps and lifts but are more mindset changes that actually cost very little or nothing.”
Jamie Kerroosh, chief healthcare officer at Boots’ Piccadilly shop, said the health and beauty retailer had partnered with Purple Tuesday in the past year to make improvements to increase accessibility.
He told BBC London: “We have done British Sign Language training for all of our colleagues – 52,000 people now with a bit more ability to talk to all of our customers, just simple phrases but still showing a warmer welcome.
“We have partnered with Purple to work on some inclusive packaging.
“That means for those customers that have got either physical challenges or those neurodivergent customers, we now have a bit more understanding through some research we did with Purple on how we can make opening products, using products a little bit easier.”
Purple Tuesday, which is in its eighth year, said research from the University of Bristol and the Money Advice Trust revealed the combined spending power of disabled households in the UK is £446bn a year.
Government research published in July on the accessibility of private-sector products and services for disabled people in the UK found that 88% of people with disabilities had to use workaround solutions, external or compromises when accessing retail businesses.
The Business Disability Forum said in its response to the research that businesses “are putting up barriers which prevent more disabled people spending more money with them”.
The advocacy group added: “Adjustments and accessibility here are really about removing a difficulty which gets in the way of someone spending money with a business.
“If the legal and moral case that every human being is valuable and of equal worth in society doesn’t land with businesses, the profit case certainly should.
Footballer Heartbroken Over MND Diagnosis
A woman who has played football since she was a child is calling for more research into potential links between the sport and motor neurone disease (MND).
Stacy Whittle, 37, from Worcester, was diagnosed with MND in July 2025 having started to experience symptoms last September.
Ms Whittle began with neck pain and an inability to raise her arms above her head, and later her breathing became laboured.
She can no longer walk and uses a ventilator at night, and said it was heartbreaking to know she would not be around to see her two children grow up.
Ms Whittle started playing football aged eight, including for West Bromwich Albion when she was 16 as well as several local teams, and only stopped playing in the season before she was diagnosed.
“More and more sporty people and younger people are being diagnosed with it, and to me it seems like there might be a link,” she said, stressing the need for fundraising for more research to find a cure or treatment.
MND is a degenerative condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.
“No family should have to go through what we are… we’re trying to get through every day.”
Given that her children, aged 11 and 16, play football and rugby, Ms Whittle said they had discussed whether she would have played football had she known she might get MND in the future.
“I said I wouldn’t change it, as growing up playing football are some of the best memories that I have, and I absolutely love it.
“It’s just unbelievable that this is happening to me, I’m only 37, my boys are so young.
“It’s hard to deal with the fact that I’m not going to be there for them growing up, it’s heartbreaking.”
Players from her club, Areley Kings Ladies FC in Kidderminster, set themselves a challenge of covering 2,000 miles in October through walking, cycling, running and swimming with an aim to raise £2,000 for the MND Association.
Team-mate Kat Webster said the MND diagnosis had been devastating for Ms Whittle and her family, and they had wanted to do something positive, and raise money and awareness for the charity.
England Win Thriller To Clinch Wheelchair Ashes
Joe Coyd scored a try two minutes from time as England produced a stunning second-half fightback to beat Australia in the final Test and win the Wheelchair Rugby League Ashes.
Australia led 30-18 at half-time, but England scored six tries after the break to clinch the series 2-0 at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre in Queensland.
England also came from behind to win the first Test 56-28 on Thursday.
Diab Karim opened the scoring for Australia with a try after two minutes of the second Test.
Two tries from England’s Rob Hawkins, who scored a hat-trick in the opening Test, and one from Finlay O’Neill were cancelled out by two Bayley McKenna scores, and Adam Tannock and Dan Anstey tries.
Jack Brown instigated England’s fightback in the second half, scoring twice and setting up two tries for captain Lewis King, who ended with a hat-trick.
Tries from Zac Schumacher and Anstey brought Australia level at 42-42 before England substitute Mason Billington’s cool final pass sent Coyd over for the winner.
Australia host the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup in 2026.
England and France have dominated the tournament since its inception in 2008, but the ‘Wheelaroos’ showed their development in this series.
‘Lack Of Interpreters Meant I Believed I Had HIV For Two Days’
A deaf man mistakenly believed he had tested positive for HIV because he couldn’t get access to an interpreter in hospital.
Richard MacQueen, a father-of-three from Dundee, was being treated in A&E for pneumonia and misunderstood the nurse when he was given his test results.
The 42-year-old is profoundly deaf and British Sign Language (BSL) is his first language.
He said he had asked for an interpreter in hospital several times.
“My father was there. He was really the only hearing person in my family who was willing to help but he doesn’t have advanced BSL skills at all and I really needed an interpreter,” he said.
“The doctor brought a nurse, who was a very nice person, but she had very basic sign language skills.
“He used her as a communication method and they were talking about my HIV results, and she did this thumbs up sign and I thought, ‘Well what does that mean?’ Does that mean that I have it? That I am HIV positive, or I’m OK because I’m negative?”
Mr McQueen was confused and upset.
“I was worried about whether I had HIV or not, whether I would face a lifetime of treatment, whether I might die from this. I had no idea how I was going to tell my family.”
Richard says it took two days for a qualified interpreter to arrive and explain he had been given the all-clear.
“If an interpreter was provided initially, I would never have had to have gone through all that,” he said.
Richard is now sharing his experience to launch a new app – the first of its kind in the UK – which links deaf people and BSL users with interpreters.
He hopes it will mean mistakes like the one he experienced won’t happen to anyone else.
SignPort, which has been described as ‘Uber for BSL interpreters’, was developed by the Edinburgh-based charity Deaf Action with the support of a Scottish government innovation scheme.
Richard, who took part in a 10-month pilot for the app, says it’s a huge step forward for the deaf community.
“You can use it all the way from the workplace to a wedding. It’s going to make a massive change for us as deaf people. Finally, we can connect directly to interpreters in one place.
“Always in the past we had to consult with a number of different agencies and service providers – email them, search all this stuff out for ourselves, try to contact interpreters direct and you were really in the dark.
“It was very time consuming, very stressful because you never knew if you were going to have an interpreter.”
The new app brings everything into one place. Users can easily see which interpreters are available.
According to Scotland’s 2022 Census,more than 100,000 people in Scotland can speak BSL. And up to a million have some form of hearing loss.
Phillip Gerrard, chief executive of Deaf Action, said the app would be a “game changer” for BSL users.
“Scotland is indeed leading the way in providing this innovative service. Scotland has a really great tradition of innovation in many areas, but especially for the deaf community and by the deaf community.
“This is going to make a huge difference, not only for Scotland but for the whole of the UK, because as soon as the rest of the UK see what’s here they’re going to want the same.”
The app is free to download and use for deaf BSL users and interpreters, with interpreter fees paid by the person or organisation who makes the booking.
It comes after a review commissioned by the Scottish government in 2019 found the struggle to find interpreters wasn’t always due to a shortage of trained professionals, but because the existing booking system was fragmented and time consuming, leading to missed appointments and barriers to education.
SignPort took two years to develop, with Deaf Action working alongside technology firm Burrotech through the Scottish government’s CivTech programme.
The Scottish government is encouraging businesses to sign up to the app.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said: “This app builds on our commitment to make Scotland a more inclusive place for deaf people. It also represents exactly the kind of innovation we want to see through our CivTech programme – technology that transforms lives and removes barriers.
“This app addresses challenges that have persisted for too long. As a social enterprise, SignPort will reinvest in the very communities it serves, creating lasting change beyond improving bookings. This is community-led innovation at its best.”
Blind Women Launch Naked Calendar To Tackle Stigma
A group of blind women have created a nude calendar to challenge the stigma surrounding vision loss and to show they are “normal women, with normal lives”.
The images for the Weston-super-Mare Blind Naked Calendar 2026 feature nude models’ portraits with a filter, to help depict their own vision loss conditions and will raise money for the charity Deafblind UK.
Josephine Boulter, who is Miss August and November in the calendar, said she came up with the idea after someone made a “patronising” comment while she was on holiday in Butlins.
She said: “It was like he was surprised I could have fun. Then it hit me – let’s do a calendar. Something that says, ‘here we are’.”
She said on the holiday a “patronising” person patted her on the shoulder and said, “well done you. You enjoy yourself”.
“I want to raise awareness that people are more than their sight loss, and hopefully raise a bit of money for Deafblind UK too,” she said.
“I’m fiercely independent, [I] take care of myself.”
Ms Boulter said she was unaware of her vision loss until she was diagnosed at the age of 39 with Bonnet syndrome – a condition in which the brain compensates for missing visual information by filling in the gaps.
“We need people to see us for us, we’re really capable, when you can’t do something you find another way, if you can’t accept it – you move forward,” she added.
Rita Coles, who is Miss April, said she was “proud” she featured in the calendar.
“It was nerve-wracking, but it was good fun,” she added.
Rod Cullen, deputy CEO of Deafblind UK, said when he heard the idea, he thought it was “perfect”.
The charity, which supports people living with a combination of sight and hearing loss, said deafblindness affects 450,000 people in the UK.
When describing the calendar, Mr Cullen said he thought it was “fantastic”.
“To cut through and find something that really resonates with people is a challenge.
“I hope this calendar has done that, and it’s a big challenge for next year to find something else to go along with,” he added.
Guide Dog User Says Access Refusals Are Rising
A guide dog user wrongly turned away from a hotel says such incidents are on the increase.
Kim Milward, from Northampton, said she and her guide dog Woody were stopped from entering the town’s Westone Manor Hotel, where they had been due to stay on Tuesday last week.
Ms Milward, 55, said she was spoken to “through the crack of a door” as she was turned away. She said she told staff the refusal was unlawful, but no senior manager was on site to intervene.
The hotel offered its “sincere apology” and said the situation arose due to a “misunderstanding by a new and junior member of staff”, adding that it would implement extra training.
Ms Milward, who has used a guide dog since 1995, said while she acknowledged the hotel’s apology, she still felt disappointed by the “level of incompetence” it had displayed.
“It’s not just about me, it’s about the next person,” she said.
“Mistakes can happen, but you shouldn’t put people out who aren’t fully qualified.
“Access refusal [for assistance dog users] seems to be happening more. I’m speaking out because I don’t want it to happen to someone else.”
In England, Wales and Scotland, the Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate against a disabled person because they have an assistance dog with them when accessing businesses or services.
In a statement, the hotel, in the Weston Favell area of Northampton, said: “This was entirely our responsibility, and we deeply regret the distress and inconvenience caused to the guest involved.
“As soon as the matter was brought to our attention, we apologised to the guest and have processed a full refund through the agency with which the booking was made.”
Journalist and former BBC presenter Mark Mardell was left feeling “humiliated” after he was told he could not board a Turkish Airlines flight due to having Parkinson’s disease and no doctor’s report.
The broadcaster was unaware of this requirement and was shocked when he could not board his flight home from Istanbul to Gatwick.
“Let’s be clear: this isn’t about paperwork. It’s prejudice dressed up as policy. It’s ignorant, insulting, and frankly medieval,” Mr Mardell wrote on Facebook.
The BBC has approached Turkish Airlines for comment.
“I’d like to stress they are only the airline that had any mention of Parkinson’s,” he told the BBC.
Mr Mardell is a former radio and television journalist who spent 25 years reporting and analysing major world events, notably for BBC Radio 4 and other radio outlets.
In his Facebook post, Mr Mardell said he had checked in his suitcasebut before he could get through security he was told he was not considered fit to fly.
“Rest assured, I wasn’t drunk, violent, or even late. No, my sin was having Parkinson’s,” he said.
“They told us I couldn’t board without a doctor’s letter. At first, I thought they wanted proof that I had Parkinson’s, which was absurd enough. But no – the letter had to say I was safe to fly.
“Apparently, Turkish Airlines has decided that people with Parkinson’s are a danger to themselves or others.”
Mr Mardell had taken the trip to Istanbul with his son Jake and used assisted boarding due to his condition, which he says has resulted in no boarding issues with other airlines.
“Parkinson’s is the fastest-growing neurological condition on the planet. If you think that means we shouldn’t be allowed on planes, you’ve got a problem – and it’s not neurological,” he wrote in his Facebook post.
The Turkish Airlines website states: “Passengers who have Parkinson’s disease are admitted to the flight with a doctor’s report stating that ‘there is no harm in traveling by plane’.
“The report must include a statement specifying that the passenger can travel accompanied or unaccompanied,” the website adds.
A doctor’s report provided must be recent and usually compiled within the last 10 days.
But Mr Mardell listed British Airways, Lufthansa, American, Emirates, and Qantas as examples of major airlines that do not require a doctor’s report if the passenger has Parkinson’s.
“Turkish Airlines stands alone in demanding people with Parkinson’s must bring a doctor’s note. That’s not ‘assistance’; that’s a barrier,” Mr Mardell said.
The journalist said he found most of the Turkish Airlines staff he encountered unhelpful and they left him “staggering” around the airport alone for hours trying to find his suitcase.
Eventually, a helpful member of staff and a member of the public helped him and he located his bag.
Mr Mardell has since returned home to the UK, flying back the following day with Wizz Air.
He posted about his ordeal on Facebook to highlight what has happened in the hope other people with Parkinson’s wouldn’t encounter the same problem.
“I had to rebook, stay in a hotel, and spend the night stranded, all because I have a medical condition, not a contagious disease,” he said.
“People with Parkinson’s everywhere need to know about this Airline’s outrageous policy.”
Yorkshire Buildings To Light Up For Purple Tuesday On 4th November
Buildings in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire are to be lit up in purple to advocate for disabled people.
The global initiative, Purple Tuesday, will take place on 4 November, with Hull City Hall, Hull Minster, and Bridlington Spa lighting up from 16:00 GMT to show solidarity.
Visit Hull and East Yorkshire (VHEY) is calling on other organisations across the region to join in.
Enid Adams, who is severely visually impaired and requires a guide dog, said: “Accessibility is important so I can take part in recreational events that others take for granted.
The international movement is aimed at improving the customer experience for disabled people everywhere.
Councillor Nick Coultish, portfolio holder for culture, leisure and tourism at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “From accessible entrances and clear signage to sensory-friendly spaces and staff training, small actions can transform someone’s experience.
“We want to see our towns and villages shining purple and showing that Hull and East Yorkshire truly are for everyone.”
Richard Smelczerczy is autistic with a severe learning disability, as well as having epilepsy and requires one-to-one support at all times.
He said: “Accessibility is not always about physical adaptations.
“Adjusting the noise and light settings can be all that is required for some disabled visitors, to help them feel welcome.”
Self Driving Cars Coming To London
The first driverless taxis are coming to London in 2026 courtesy of Google’s sister company, Waymo. They’ll be on trial in the capital, but will they become an access wonder or woe?
Emma Tracey and Paul Carter quiz Amanda Ventura from Waymo on all the ins and outs on what the new vehicles could mean for disabled people. We also speak to American tech journalist, Steve Aquino, who as a man with anxiety and a visual impairment loves using them to get out and about. And we find out if Emma Vogelmann, the co-CEO of Transport for All, and a powerchair user, would take one for a spin.
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Nabil Shaban, Co Founder Of Graeae Theatre Company And Sil From Dr Who Dies Aged 72
Same Difference has just heard with sadness of the death of disability campaigner and disabled actor Nabil Shaban.
We share the link to the tribute below with many thanks to his friend Simon Mckeown:
Employment Advisors Move Into GP Surgeries
With many thanks to Benefits And Work.
The government have announced that employment advisors will be moving into GP surgeries and mental health services in nine areas of England, in order to help disabled claimants move into work.
£167 million has been invested in the Connect to Work programme in the following areas:
- North East
- Buckinghamshire
- Oxfordshire
- West Sussex and Brighton
- Berkshire
- Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay
- South Midlands
- York and North Yorkshire
According to the DWP, the programme provides “intensive, personalised help including individual coaching from employment specialists, job matching services, and ongoing support for both participants and employers to ensure sustainable employment outcomes.”
Connect to Work is voluntary, claimants can decline to be referred or to take part.
The support provided in this round of funding includes:
- Using Virtual Reality immersive classrooms to support people with interview practice.
- Running workshops to improve participants’ confidence and communication skills.
- Helping parents and families access affordable childcare so they can re-enter the workforce.
However, at the same time as the DWP announced the latest stage of the roll-out of Connect to Work, the British Standards Institution reported that 31% of employers are turning to AI rather than taking on entry level employees.
This is an issue that is only likely to grow in the coming years. For many claimants who have been out of the jobs market for a long period, but who wish to try to return, entry level jobs may be their only option.
It is hard to see how initiatives like Connect to Work can succeed unless significant encouragement and support, including financial support, is provided to employers. This, however, does not appear to be forthcoming.
In fact, stealth cuts to Access to Work will simply make it less likely that employers will consider taking on disabled employees.
But the team at the DWP remain ever positive, with minister for health Stephen Kinnock saying “This investment is just what the doctor ordered and will help thousands more find the help they need to get back into a job.”
Whilst secretary of state Pat McFadden assured the public “We are giving people a hand up, not a handout, realising their potential and providing them with the skills to succeed as part of our Plan for Change.”
There’s more information on Connect to Work in this DWP press release.
Disability Charity Helps Interns To Self-Employment
A disability charity supporting people with additional needs into self-employment says the project will just “grow and grow”.
SAMEE, which stands for Support and Mentoring Enabling Entrepreneurship, helps about 20 people explore and develop self-employment opportunities.
It is based in Bournemouth but also mentors people remotely and is looking to roll out to other parts of the country.
Project lead Rob Amey said: “These guys and girls have real talent. it just needs people to help bring that out of them… and hopefully make a sustainable business.”
SAMEE started in 2016 to address a lack of support for people who are neurodivergent or who face other challenges.
Speaking on BBC Radio Solent, Mr Amey said: “For many people a nine-to-five job is never going to work.
“When you are considering self-employment, you can fit your work hours around your health needs and your processing needs and how many hours you are comfortable to work at a time.
“We are very bespoke but focused on every aspect of our intern’s life, not just their business.”
Artist Logan, who is a second-year intern, said: “I would sit in my room doing artwork ranging from dark art, scrap modelling and Celtic jewellery.
“At the moment they are helping me overcome my own personal challenges and well as the usual challenges of day-to-day life.”
Logan and his fellow cohort of interns recently held an exhibition at Poole Lighthouse to showcase their skills.
He said: “It can be overwhelming, being an introvert. I’ve always kept my arts and crafts to myself and never really shown it to the public before.”
Mr Amey added: “It’s about everybody feeling valued and if you do have life challenges not being steered down a particular path.
“It’s such a unique opportunity because nobody really teaches self-employment skills.”
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‘Delighted’ Woman Played Clarinet In Brain Surgery
A woman with Parkinson’s disease who played a clarinet while undergoing brain stimulation said she was “delighted” with how it went.
Denise Bacon, 65, from Crowborough in East Sussex, experienced instant improvement in her finger movements as the electrical current was delivered to her brain, doctors at King’s College Hospital said.
The retired speech and language therapist underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS) after suffering symptoms of Parkinson’s.
She was diagnosed with the disease in 2014 and it has affected her ability to walk, swim, dance and play her clarinet.
During a four-hour operation at King’s College Hospital, Keyoumars Ashkan, a professor of neurosurgery, performed DBS to help relieve symptoms while Ms Bacon stayed awake.
DBS is a surgical procedure using electrodes implanted in the brain and is suitable for some patients with disorders such as Parkinson’s.
Ms Bacon was given a local anaesthetic to numb her scalp and skull and had immediate improvement in her fingers on the operating table, allowing her to play the clarinet easily.
She previously played clarinet in the East Grinstead Concert Band until she had to stop five years ago due to her Parkinson’s symptoms.
“I remember my right hand being able to move with much more ease once the stimulation was applied, and this in turn improved my ability to play the clarinet, which I was delighted with,” she said.
“I’m already experiencing improvements in my ability to walk, and I’m keen to get back in the swimming pool, and on the dance floor to see if my abilities have improved there.”
Prof Ashkan said holes half the size of a five pence piece had been made in her skull, after a frame with precise co-ordinates was placed on Ms Bacon’s head “acting as a sat nav” to guide them to the correct positions to implant the electrode.
“We were delighted to see an instant improvement in her hand movements, and therefore her ability to play, once stimulation was delivered to the brain,” he said.
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‘Massive Concern’ Over Rising Costs Of Guide Dogs
An aspiring Paralympian who went blind seven years ago has said he is “massively concerned” about the rising cost of guide dogs.
Scott Bailey, 36, was partnered with his labrador Milo through charity Guide Dogs after he lost his sight due to suffering diabetic retinopathy – high blood sugar damaging the back of the eye.
The former dairy farmer said Milo, now five years old, had changed his life after his condition left him “stuck inside”.
But Mr Bailey, from Crewe, in Cheshire, said he was worried the high costs of raising guide dogs could lead to longer waiting times for people who need them.
“It’s a massive concern, with me and Milo as well because Milo is getting older, so I’m going to be on the dreaded waiting list soon,” Mr Bailey said.
“With the cost of raising the puppies going up, the waiting lists are going to get longer and it’s going to get more difficult for Guide Dogs to fund these amazing animals.”
According to Guide Dogs, the cost of raising a dog before it is partnered with an owner has risen from £35,000 to £77,000 over the past five years.
The charity said it also cost about £25,000 to support the dog through its working life until it retired, usually at about nine years old Mr Bailey said, which took the total to £102,000 per dog.
Mr Bailey, a judo competitor hoping to compete at the Los Angeles Paralympic Games in 2028, said the partnership with Milo had had a big impact on his life.
“I always said he’s enabled me to be the girls’ dad again and a better husband,” he said.
“When I lost my sight, I didn’t want to be here. I felt useless and in the way. I couldn’t cope being stuck inside, but Milo gave me that purpose.”
Mr Bailey said he understood the public had long supported Guide Dogs and it had become “one of the most-loved charities in the world”.
Life-Changing Eye Implant Helps Blind Patients Read Again
A group of blind patients can now read again after being fitted with a life-changing implant at the back of the eye.
A surgeon who inserted the microchips in five patients at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London says the results of the international trial are “astounding”.
Sheila Irvine, 70, who is registered blind, told the BBC it was “out of this world” to be able to read and do crosswords again. “It’s beautiful, wonderful. It gives me such pleasure.”
The technology offers hope to people with an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), called geographic atrophy (GA), which affects more than 250,000 people in the UK and five million worldwide.
In those with the condition, cells in a tiny area of the retina at the back of the eye gradually become damaged and die, resulting in blurred or distorted central vision. Colour and fine detail are often lost.
The new procedure involves inserting a tiny 2mm-square photovoltaic microchip, with the thickness of a human hair, under the retina.
Patients then put on glasses with a built-in video camera. The camera sends an infrared beam of video images to the implant at the back of the eye, which sends them on to a small pocket processor to be enhanced and made clearer.
The images are then sent back to the patient’s brain, via the implant and optic nerve, giving them some vision again.
The patients spent months learning how to interpret the images.
Mahi Muqit, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, who led the UK arm of the trial, told the BBC it was “pioneering and life-changing technology”.
“This is the first implant that’s been demonstrated to give patients meaningful vision that they can use in their daily life, such as reading, writing.
“I think this is a major advance,” he said.
How the implant technology works
For the research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, external, 38 patients with geographic atrophy in five European countries took part in the trial of the Prima implant, which is made by California biotech Science Corporation.
Of 32 patients given the implant, 27 were able to read again using their central vision. After a year, this equated to an improvement of 25 letters, or five lines, on an eye chart.
For Sheila, from Wiltshire, the improvement is even more dramatic. Without the implant, she is completely unable to read.
But when we filmed Sheila reading an eye chart at Moorfields Hospital, she did not make a single error. After completing it, she punched the air and cheered.
‘I am one happy bunny’
The task took huge concentration. Sheila had to put a pillow under her chin in order to steady the feed from the camera, which can focus on just one or two letters at a time. At some points she needed the device switched to magnification mode, especially to distinguish between the letters C and O.
Sheila began losing her central vision more than 30 years ago, due to loss of cells in the retina. She describes her vision as like having two black discs in each eye.
Sheila gets around using a white cane because her very limited peripheral vision is completely blurred. She is unable to read even the largest street signs when outdoors.
When she had to give up her driving licence, she says she cried.
But after having an implant fitted around three years ago, she is delighted by her progress, as is the medical team at Moorfields.
“I am able to read my post, books, and do crosswords and Sudoku,” she says.
When asked if she ever thought she’d read again, Sheila replied: “Not on your nelly!”
“It is amazing. I am one happy bunny,” she adds.
“Technology is moving so fast, it’s amazing that I am part of it.”
Sheila doesn’t wear the device when outdoors. In part, this is because it requires great concentration – her head has to be held very still in order to read. She also does not want to become over-reliant on the device.
Instead, she says she “rushes her chores” at home each day before sitting down and putting on the special glasses.
The Prima implant is not yet licensed so is not available outside of clinical trials, and it’s unclear how much it may eventually cost.
Nonetheless, Mahi Muqit said he hoped it would be available to some NHS patients “within a few years.”
Dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), external is the most common cause of sight loss in old age. It’s hoped the technology could be used to help people with other eye conditions in the future.
Dr Peter Bloomfield, director of research at Macular Society, says the results are “encouraging” and “fantastic news” for those who currently have no treatment options.
“Artificial vision may offer a lot of hope to many, particularly after previous disappointments in the world of dry AMD treatment.
“We are now watching closely to see if the Prima implant will be approved for use here in the UK, and crucially whether it could be made available on the NHS.”
The implant would not help restore sight in people born blind, because they don’t have a functioning optic nerve to pass signals to the brain.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdW2dpKd/
a video of a TikTok battle which I took a few weeks ago and was appreciative of every single gift, including the heart breather one of my Team sent me
Baek Se-hee, the South Korean author of the bestselling memoir I Want to Die but I Want To Eat Tteokbokki has died at the age of 35.
Her 2018 book, a compilation of conversations with her psychiatrist about her depression, was a cultural phenomenon with its themes of mental health resonating with readers across the world.
Originally written in Korean, it found international acclaim after its English translation was published in 2022.
The details surrounding her death are unclear.
Baek donated her organs – her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys – which have helped to save five lives, the Korean Organ Donation Agency said in a statement on Friday.
The statement also included comments from her sister, which said that Baek had wanted to “share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope”.
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, published in 2018, has sold more than a million copies worldwide and been translated in 25 countries.
The runaway bestseller was celebrated for normalising mental health conversations and its nuanced take on inner struggles – most notably, the author’s personal conflict between depressive thoughts and her appreciation for simple joys.
“The human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too,” goes the book’s most famous line. Tteokbokki, which are tubular chewy rice cakes usually eaten with a spicy sauce or stew, is a popular snack in Korean cuisine.
Born in 1990, Baek Se-hee took creative writing in university and worked for five years at a publishing house, according to her short biography on Bloomsbury Publishing, which produced the English version of her 2018 memoir.
Anton Hur, who had translated Baek’s book into English, wrote on Instagram that her organs have saved five people but “her readers will know she touched yet millions of lives more with her writing”.
“My thoughts are with her family,” he wrote.
For a decade she received treatment for dysthymia, a mild but long-lasting type of depression, which formed the basis of her bestseller, said her Bloomsbury bio.
A sequel, I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki, was published in Korean in 2019. Its English translation was published in 2024.
Tributes have poured in on social media. “Rest softly,” reads a comment on Baek’s Instagram page. “Thank you for saving us with your honesty.”
Another Instagram user said each time they read Baek’s memoir they found “deep comfort in every sentence and grew alongside it”.
“To create a single book that can lift people up… is no easy task, and I have indescribable respect for you for achieving that,” they wrote.
So Care Saturday lavender body batter to enrich self-care experience
winter fashion item for your Friday
Fridays quote’s are back
Disability Hate Crime: ‘It’s The Worst I’ve Experienced It’
Steven Lacey had gone his whole life without being the target of hate crime, until this last year, in which he has already been abused four times.
The 52-year-old, from London, is physically disabled. He has a cleft hand, a missing fibula and a shortened tibia.
Steven says the last 12 months have been the worst he has experienced in terms of discrimination, and he says he thinks it is not going to improve any time soon.
The latest Home Office figures indicate disability related hate crime is down – but Steven’s lived experience says otherwise.
Throughout his life, Steven has had to deal with stares, patronising attitudes, and being asked “what is wrong with you?”, but he “never felt like it was at a hate crime level”.
Last December, in Brentford, Steven suddenly found himself surrounded by a large group of 14 to 15 year olds who started filming and laughing at him.
“It was terrifying, it was a really intimidating situation. I didn’t know if they wanted to rob me or attack me,” he says.
In February, while Steven was standing outside a hotel bar in Twickenham, a young man came up to him and asked if he was “legless”.
Then, in May, while he was in the foyer of a high-end Manchester hotel, a man in his 30s came up to Steven and asked what hand he masturbated with.
Two weeks ago in Feltham, two older teenage boys approached Steven and asked if his parents were related, and if “you had a baby would it look like you?”.
“The incidents have varied from moments of real unkindness to moments when I’ve felt physically threatened.”
Steven has not reported any of the incidents to the police as he has no faith they will investigate.
“You just feel like you’re going to become another statistic rather than that something will actually be done.”
He feels that hate crime against disabled people is on the rise, pointing to an increasingly polarised Britain and a toxic narrative based on misconceptions about both disability and the benefit system.
“People think, ‘they’ve got a blue badge, lots of entitlement, they are abusing the system and getting more than I am’,” says Steven, who runs a cultural insight agency which specialises in disability and other marginalised groups.
“All these things layer up to this sense of ugliness. It’s created this sense of outrage against disabled people.”
Despite Steven’s experiences, official Home Office figures show recorded disability hate crimes in England and Wales fell by 8% in the year to March 2025.
Offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police are not included in this year’s figures due to changes in how the force records crimes.
Persistently unreported
Rose Simkins, chief executive of Stop Hate, which runs a helpline for victims of hate crime, says the official statistics do not paint the full picture.
“What we know is that people are experiencing more incidents, but it is not coming out in the figures,” she says.
Echoing Steven, Rose says there is a pervasive feeling that the police are too busy to investigate hate crimes against disabled people and fear they will not be taken seriously.
“It’s a huge thing to talk to the police and for many disabled people life is tough enough without adding that burden on top,” she says.
“Sometimes police officers are embarrassed about asking people about their disability, so even if a crime gets recorded, it might not get the label of disability hate crime.”
She points out disability hate crime can also manifest itself in indirect ways that go unrecorded, such as false allegations of benefit fraud.
“Once an allegation has been made it has to be investigated, so you can make somebody’s life really horrendous and you can do it anonymously,” she says.
‘There is more to be done’
Rose says there is often also a lack of understanding around what constitutes a disability hate crime among victims themselves.
Disabled people may see the abuse as just another thing they have to put up with, a view often reinforced by well-meaning family and carers who tell them to ignore it.
“A lot of people think this is just life, there’s nothing to be done.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told the BBC that officers received specialist training on reporting and investigating hate crimes targeting disabled people.
But, they said, “there is more to be done”, adding they continue to work to “improve the service”.
“We will not tolerate hate crime and want to empower anyone who experiences it to make a report, so we can take appropriate action,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Steven is determined to push back.
“That’s why I’m speaking out,” he says.
“I’m a strong-willed person, I’ve got a successful job, but if that happened to someone else they might not leave the house again.”
Man ‘Scared’ To Book Taxis After Guide Dog Incident
A partially sighted man who uses a guide dog says he feels scared to book taxis after an “upsetting” experience with a driver.
Samuel Willder, 24, from Swindon, relies on his dog, Bryony, for mobility and independence.
He booked a taxi at night from the company Veezu in the Penhill area in September, but claims the driver initially refused to let him into the vehicle. By the end of the journey, he says he was left feeling frightened at the roadside with oncoming traffic.
A Veezu spokesperson said the company took the allegation extremely seriously and had acted immediately by reminding the driver of his legal obligations.
Describing the driver’s reaction when he first saw Bryony, Mr Willder said: “He refused and said, ‘I’m not allowing any dogs into my car’.
“I explained that she’s a guide dog and helps me with my vision, but he still said, ‘No, I’m not allowing guide dogs’.”
Mr Willder said that after informing the driver it was illegal to refuse a guide dog, he was eventually allowed into the vehicle, but the journey was unpleasant.
He claimed during the journey had an “argumentative mood” and was swearing.
Mr Willder added that the driver refused to help him out of the car and dropped him at the wrong location.
He said: “A car was very close to us when we got out, which could have been avoided if he’d helped me…I had to go and find a nearby site to see exactly where I was in town and then struggled to find myself back home.”
Mr Willder said the experience has left him feeling unsafe and scared to use taxis again.
“I don’t want another taxi to treat me the same way,” he said.
Jessica Luke is regional policy and campaigns manager at charity Guide Dogs and a guide dog user.
She said: “It’s almost always illegal to refuse a a guide dog. It’s a deeply harmful form of discrimination.
“It’s prevented me from getting to to work on time, to medical appointments, social events.
“I think it’s really important that staff training includes awareness of the rights of assistance dog owners.”
A Veezu spokesperson said the company was committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for all passengers.
“The drivers conduct fell short of expectations and he has been reminded of his legal obligations and duty of care towards all passengers,” they said.
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I Swear- A Review
I Swear is a biographical film which follows John Davidson from Scotland to Buckingham Palace.
As a teenage boy John messes up a chance with a football scout because his early Tourettes Syndrome, which no one yet recognises as a disability, takes hold on the pitch- to everyone’s confusion. His parents, at this moment and many others, lack understanding and consider him rude and foolish.
Viewers are taken through his diffcult secondary school life to his twenties, where a chance meeting with a schoolfriend in a supermarket changes his life for the better. His friend’s mother, Dottie, takes him in and shows him care and understanding. She arranges a job for him with Tommy, who almost ignores his Tourettes and simply asks him to make tea as part of the interview (disabled adults, take note for your future PAs!).
Tommy encourages John to educate the world about Tourettes. Eventually John becomes a campaigner who supports young people and their families who are living with Tourettes as well as educating organisations and authorities. He recieves an MBE for his campaigning and swears at The Queen!
As the title suggests, the film contains a lot of swearing. The good news is that in 2025, unlike 1975, everyone knows that the swearing and tics are completely unintentional and caused by a recognised medical condition.
I’m very glad I went to see this film. I came away with admiration for John Davidson and new information about the history of Tourettes. I recommend it highly.
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AI Sensors Help Hundreds Live Independently At Home
Hundreds of people are now able to live more safely and independently at home in Medway thanks to new care technology.
The system, called Lilli, uses small, discreet sensors and artificial intelligence to understand a person’s daily routines, helping people stay in their homes and avoid unnecessary moves into residential care.
Medway Council said the technology had already helped save £1.6m in its first year.
Brett Burnell, whose father Keith lives with dementia and has the system installed in his flat, said: “I can check that he’s safe within his home and it allows him to continue to be at home for the foreseeable future.”
The programme is delivered by the council’s wholly owned tech partner Kyndi and supports “national health and care goals to move services into communities – and use digital tools to improve care”.
Mr Burnell said: “My dad’s obviously frail and getting older. It means that I can know what my dad is doing on certain occasions.”
He added that both he and his sister have the Lilli app which monitors their father’s activity, and “obviously I can check that he’s eating when the fridge is opened and I know that he’s awake and that he’s able to get everything”.
Councillor Teresa Murray, deputy leader of Medway Council, said the data was “helping us to transform how we deliver care”.
She said that in some cases the data has shown that an individual was no longer able to live alone, but it had also given “much-needed reassurance to families that their loved ones are safe to stay in their homes and communities, which is where they want to be”.
The technology works without cameras or microphones. Instead, small sensors track movement, eating, sleeping, bathroom use and home temperature.
The system learns what is normal for each person and flags anything unusual, such as signs of illness, reduced mobility, or wandering at night.
This helps carers respond earlier and tailor support to individual needs.
Medway is one of several councils trialling the system in response to growing demand for care.
The local authority said it was already helping older people and adults with learning disabilities get faster assessments and avoid health crises.
Evidence produced by the company suggests that for every £1 spent councils can save £45 and free up thousands of carer hours.
Clare Burgess, CEO of Kyndi, said that as well as the financial advantage the technology would offer a “social impact within Medway as people are more connected to their communities”.
“This really makes a difference to people’s lives,” she added.
I Swear- New Film About Tourettes
An actor starring in a film about Tourette’s syndrome said it was the “biggest challenge” of his career.
Robert Aramayo, who is from Hull, plays John Davidson, who became the reluctant poster boy for the condition in 1989 when he was 16.
The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones actor said he spent a lot of time with Mr Davidson during filming of I Swear.
“It was a real challenge, probably the biggest challenge I’ve done. Having John there and having his guidance and help was invaluable,” Aramayo said.
‘Pinch yourself moments’
Tourette’s syndrome is an incurable condition, external that causes someone to make sudden, repetitive sounds or movements, known as tics.
Mr Davidson, now 54, is credited as the person who introduced it to many people through a series of documentaries, beginning with John’s Not Mad in 1989.
He was later appointed MBE for his campaigning.
The comedy-drama film by Kirk Jones also features Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson and Peter Mullan.
While speaking to BBC Radio Humberside, Aramayo praised his colleagues and described them as “incredible actors”.
He said there were “pinch yourself moments” while working with “legends”.
“It was intimidating but also the focus was on telling the best story that we could and that’s why they’re all amazing at what they do,” the actor added.
Aramayo said it was a “surreal experience” when he returned to his home city for a screening of the film, where his history teacher was in the audience.
“It was really, really lovely to be back in the Odeon where I used to go and see all kinds of films there when I was a kid,” he said.
He advised those in Hull who wanted to act to “just go for it”.
“I was lucky enough to be involved in Hull Truck Theatre and they’re amazing and I’m sure there’s loads of groups like that,” he said.
“If you believe it, just go with it.”
I Swear is in UK cinemas from 10 October.
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DWP Privately Admits Phone Delays May Be Driving Rise In Risk Of Claimant Self-Harm
With many thanks to Benefits And Work.
The DWP has privately admitted to stakeholders in the last few weeks that ESA phone delays may be contributing to a rise in the risk of claimants harming themselves. This is in stark contrast to hugely positive findings of the DWP’s customer experience survey, released last week.
The DWP have sent out an appeal to “stakeholders” – groups such as advice agencies and charities – asking for help solving the problem of “pain points” experienced by ESA claimants trying to get through on the phone:
“We are interested in identifying the pain points faced by ESA customers communicating with DWP, particularly issues surrounding telephony and the pain points our customers face when contacting DWP by phone.”
The DWP say that the number of ESA calls they are receiving is increasing and that “unresolved backlogs” are a key factor. But, says the DWP, “the link between backlog management, operational decisions, and customer behaviour isn’t fully understood.”
Additionally, the department is worried that efforts to clear the backlog “may unintentionally drive more customer contact, creating a cycle that strains resources and affects service delivery.”
In other words, they are worried that if they try to clear the backlog, they may make it even worse.
Even more concerningly, the DWP admit that “Additionally, 6 Point plan intervention during these phone calls are rising across all service lines, potentially due to delays impacting the customer experience.”
The 6 Point plan is a series of steps DWP staff are supposed to follow when a claimant says “that they intend to harm or kill themselves”. It includes summoning a colleague to act as a support partner, gathering information to gauge the level of risk and either providing referral advice or summoning the emergency services.
For the DWP to admit that delays in dealing with benefits enquiries could be causing claimant’s such distress that they may harm themselves is, to say the least, unusual.
It is also a very far cry from the findings of the wildly upbeat customer experience survey published last week, which found that:
76 per cent of customers agreed that it was easy to contact DWP about their benefit claim.
80 per cent of customers agreed that it was easy to use DWP services.
80 per cent of customers were satisfied with the time it took DWP to tell them the outcome of their new claim or change of circumstances.
There is no mention whatsoever in the survey results of some claimants becoming so distressed by the difficulties they experience using DWP services that they are at risk of harming themselves.
In their email to stakeholders, the DWP say that “We believe that our shared clients’ experiences are crucial to shaping a better system. Their stories of dealing with DWP processes will help us identify not only practical pain points but also the emotional toll that service delays can have on their lives. We are especially interested in capturing their feelings, anxieties, and any challenges they’ve faced when interacting with these systems.”
The department is asking stakeholders to tell them, in particular, about:
- “Contacting ESA/New Style ESA telephony service lines
- Any difficulties or frustrations they’ve had when interacting with ESA
- Any barriers or challenges faced when liaising with ESA
- Their feelings, anxieties, or positive experiences with these systems and services.
- Suggestions on how these processes could be made more accessible, user-friendly, and emotionally supportive.”
It is a positive thing that the DWP are trying to find ways to make their service more emotionally supportive.
The fact that they are being so secretive about the problem and their apparent reluctance to make the most obvious change of investing more resources in ESA telephony is very concerning, however.
And the chances of any of the findings of this research being made public by the DWP is almost certainly zero.
Disabled Strongwoman Hopes To Tackle Gym Stigmas
A personal trainer (PT) who is the country’s strongest disabled woman is calling for more people with disabilities to lift weights to tackle stigmas.
Louise Greer, who is a PT in Gloucester, said the assumptions she faced discouraged her when she first started lifting weights, but in September won Britain’s Strongest Disabled Man & Woman for the third consecutive year.
Ms Greer had meningitis and sepsis at two years old, resulting in her legs, left arm and her most of the fingers on her right hand being amputated.
The 28-year-old said: “When I started lifting there were no disabled PTs I knew of, especially not in the South West. So I said ‘you know what, I’m going to change that’. So I did.”
Strongman is a sport which sees athletes use raw strength and endurance to lifting, carrying and pulling awkward objects such as logs and stones.
Ms Greer said she discovered her love for the gym while at Hartpury University, but able-bodied PTs would “wrap me up in cotton wool”, telling her to “stay away from weights and stick to cardio-based machines”.
“When I started in the gym scene it was like ‘awh, the disabled kid is trying to get fitter’. I’m like ‘no, I want to bash records’,” she told BBC’s Extra Time programme .
“They said ‘are you ever going to get your PT qualification? Can you?’.”
She has also qualified for the World’s Strongest Disabled Woman, which takes place in Texas in November, and is raising money via a crowdfunder for her trip as she does not receive funding.
Ms Greer, who is originally from Northern Ireland, hopes to inspire more people with disabilities to try lifting weights in the gym.
“Go for it, you’re never going to know. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I went in saying ‘I will make this work’,” she said.
‘Do your own thing’
“If you want it, there’s going to be a way around it. If you know there’s a sport on and there’s a disabled person, go watch it. You’ll get ideas from it.
“There’s always ways around, If there’s a will there’s a way.”
Gary Clarke, who is the Britain’s first disabled strongman and is a key organiser in the event Ms Greer won, said he’s been training for 32 years after “biting the bullet and not worry what anybody else thought”.
“I knew I had a goal in mind to get bigger and stronger. To to be honest it’s the best thing I’ve done,” the 48-year-old from Chard, Somerset, said.
“Get out and do it, don’t worry about what other people think and do your own thing.”
Fashion item of the day
I appreciate every single purchase through my affiliate links. Here is your fashion item for today happy Wednesday to all.
Job centre work coaches say they are struggling to find employers who can accommodate disabled people and get them into work.
The BBC spoke to two work coaches, who said opportunities are hardest to come by for those with long-term health conditions who may require a level of flexibility or additional support.
It comes as new data obtained by the BBC from the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) suggests that the number of job seekers finding work each month is falling.
The DWP says they are “reforming a broken system by shifting our focus from welfare to work, skills and opportunities – backed by £1bn a year for employment support by the end of the decade”.
Mark Byers, a work coach of 15 years and a Public and Commercial Services Union rep, says there is a lack of employers able to provide support in the workplace for those with long-term health conditions.
He says work coaches are being stretched as they try to manage their caseloads, adding that his own workload has increased dramatically since he started the job.
“It feels like you are fighting with one arm behind your back,” he says.
“All appointments are 10 minutes, and once you’ve got through the security checks there is not much time. These short appointments mean you’re just being a benefits policeman.”
According to latest estimates, just over half (53%) of working-age disabled people are employed, compared with more than four in five (82%) non-disabled people.
The disability employment rate has not improved since 2019.
Overall, the average proportion of benefits claimants successfully finding work each month – known as the into-work rate – has fallen too.
It was 7.6% in the year to April 2025, below pre-pandemic levels and down from almost 10% in mid-2022.
There were 16,640 work coaches employed by the DWP in August, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request – the lowest number since March last year and well below the Covid peak of more than 23,000 in 2021.
But the DWP now projects that it has more work coaches than it needs, having estimated a shortfall of thousands earlier in the year.
It has created spare capacity by reducing the amount of support for claimants across the country, including shortening initial meetings and cutting the number of follow-up appointments.
Previously, the Public Accounts Committee criticised what it called the DWP’s “seemingly complacent assurances that this reduction in support has had minimal impact on claimants”.
In March, the government said it wanted to redeploy 1,000 work coaches to provide personalised and “intensive” support to thousands of sick and disabled people.
The redeployed work coaches are not new recruits, but ministers hope they will help with the government’s ambition to achieve an 80% overall employment rate and cut the rising cost of health and disability benefits.
Saul Cahill, a work coach at a busy job centre in Gateshead and another PCS Union rep, says people with health conditions and disabled people are often the most difficult to support into work.
He says delays in other services like the NHS mean it can take longer to find someone suitable employment.
One person he has been supporting, who he says has been “really engaged” in their search for work – despite having a long-term health condition which means they are not required to do so – has been in his caseload since he started four years ago.
Many employers are simply not able to accommodate some disabilities, Saul says, while time constraints also mean he can not help them as much as he would like.
“I might be sitting with someone who is, on paper, doing all the right things and doesn’t seem to be getting any response,” he says.
“I’d love to sit down with them [and] go through the job applications together, and that’s not necessarily possible.
“People get very frustrated.”
Around 1.6 million universal credit claimants are in what’s known as the “intensive work search” category.
They are fit and able to work, but are either not working or working with very low earnings.
These claimants require significant support from a work coach, including meeting weekly for the first 13 weeks of their claim, and either weekly or fortnightly after that.
Almost 300,000 intensive work search claimants have been job-seeking for more than five years, 18% of the total.
Data from August shows there were 95 intensive work search claimants for every work coach.
Job centre funding allows for an average caseload of around 100, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
But there are regional differences in the average caseloads being managed by work coaches around the country.
Caseloads were highest in Birmingham and Solihull, with an average 115 claimants per work coach, and lowest in South West Wales with 79.
Across Great Britain, the number of people claiming universal credit with no requirement to work – including those deemed unable to work due to ill health – has surged from fewer than 700,000 in January 2020 to more than 3.8 million in August 2025.
Part of the rise in claims is due to people moving on to universal credit from previous benefits, such as employment and support allowance (ESA).
But analysis by the Resolution Foundation think tank shows there has also been a genuine rise in the number of people out of work due to ill health.
In September, the new work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said reform of the welfare system “must happen” to support people into work and address the rising cost of benefits.
Over the summer, the government walked back on its attempt to cut nearly £5bn off the disability and health-related benefits bill as it faced a rebellion of Labour MPs.
Many of the more significant changes are now subject to a review by disability minister Sir Stephen Timms.
But McFadden said welfare reform was “happening all the time”, adding that he would not rule out any changes.
The current system is “not getting the help to people who could work”, he added.
A DWP spokesperson said ministers were “delivering the biggest reforms to job centres since the early 2000s to end the tick box culture, giving staff the flexibility to offer a more personalised service to jobseekers and help them into good, secure jobs”.
“To help areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity we are rolling out a programme to connect offers of work, health and skills support for the people who need it.”
Same Difference 