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Walter Now - A play about independent living
- 7 Jan 09, 12:55 PM
The Saturday Play on Radio 4 is Walter Now. This radio play tells the story of Walter, played by Sir Ian McKellen, a character with learning disabilities, who has been through the psychiatric care system. Now a pensioner, he hears of a house share with three other people with learning disabilities. But with Walter being more than twice their age, the play asks: will he be accepted? And will he cope with independent-living?
The play also stars Edmund Davies and Anna-Marie Heslop, actors with learning disabilities from the Mind The Gap Theatre Company.
For those Ouch'ers old enough to remember, the play sees Ian McKellen reprising the role of Walter after 26 years, first seen in a controversial film shown on the opening night of Channel 4 in 1982.
Back to the present, Walter Now is on Radio 4 this Saturday at 2:30pm. You can also catch it for the following 7 days using the link on the programme page.
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Dangerous disabled people?
- 7 Jan 09, 10:26 AM
Here's something worth your reading time. We constantly hear a lot about disability role models - disabled people whom we should look up to and seek to be more like. But what about, well, those disabled people whom you absolutely don't want to be more like?
That's the subject of Victoria Brignell's new three-part series as part of her Crip's Column in the New Statesman. She's going to be looking at those disabled people who were sinners, baddies, disreputable and - as she frankly describes it - "the most dangerous disabled people of all time". She's starting with Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda and one of the most significant figures in Nazi Germany.
A new book from Andre
- 7 Jan 09, 09:37 AM
Those of you who follow the weekly Dear Disabled Friend cartoons by our cult doodler Andre Jordan will be sad to hear that the series is now at an end. Fear not, however, because we've got TWO brand new series of doodles from our king of the felt tip pen starting very soon.
In the meantime, those of you who are on the other side of the pond in the USA might like to know that a new book of Andre's doodles has just been published by HarperCollins. It's called Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, and it's a reworked and expanded version of his book If You're Happy And You Know It, which came out in the UK in November 2007.
Available now in all good (American) bookshops, as they say ...
Ian Rankin talks Braille on You and Yours
- 6 Jan 09, 11:15 AM
Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin is best known for his Inspector Rebus novels. But this week he's got his finger on a new case, raising awareness of Braille. Ian has a personal interest both as a bestselling author and because his son Kit is blind, attending the Royal School for the Blind in Edinburgh. It's all part of a campaign launched alongside the 200th anniversary celebrations, marking two centuries since the creation of the language by Louis Braille.
In this You and Yours Podcast, Ian talks about having his latest novel printed in Braille and the many uses of the language from soup tins to bank statements. Download it now!
Row over Paralympic honours
- 5 Jan 09, 10:04 AM
Happy new year, Ouchers. While we've been away toasting the start of 2009, it seems that there's been a row brewing over the awards given to various Paralympians in the New Year Honours list (which I wrote about in the last entry).
Although it seemed like many of the gold medal-winning Paralympic athletes from Team GB were given honours of some kind, a closer look at the figures revealed that whilst every Olympic gold medallist was featured in the New Year Honours list, only 18 of the 35 British Paralympic champions secured a gong of some sort.
In The Daily Telegraph last Friday, no less a figure than multi medal-winning Paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson appeared to criticise this "lack of parity", and suggested the Government should give equal recognition to the achievements of both non-disabled and disabled athletes when London hosts the 2012 Games.
She is quoted as saying:
The reality - and it is surely not right - at the moment is that you have to multi-medal at the Paralympic Games to get a New Years Honours list award. By the time 2012 comes around, we need to get this in order. There is a lack of parity, and we are playing catch-up. When I got my MBE after 1992 [after three gold and one silver medal at the Paralympic Games in Barcelona] there were hardly any Paralympians who ever received honours.
The Telegraph report goes on to reveal some interesting facts and figures Whilst Team GB's Paralympics squad finished second in the medals table with 42 golds - beaten only by China, the host nation - Great Britain's able-bodied Olympians, for all the acclaim they received, came fourth with 19 gold medals. Individual comparisons can be made between Chris Hoy, who received a knighthood for winning three Olympic cycling golds in Beijing, whilst his Paralympic counterpart Darren Kenny, who secured four gold medals, received the lesser award of an OBE. Meanwhile, Rebecca Adlington received an OBE for her two Olympic golds in the pool, but Paralympian swimmer Eleanor Simmonds was given an MBE for her two Olympic golds.
However, after this news report was published, Dame Tanni denied having concerns about the Paralympics standing within the honours system, telling BBC Wales:
This is how the honours system works. I've been hugely honoured in that I've received three honours through the system. I'm hugely supportive of the honours system, I'm part of the decision-making process, albeit at a fairly low level. I think there's an assumption by the public that they look at medals and think, this person has been awarded this medal therefore this is the award they should get. I don't think it works like that. I don't think there's any right or wrong when it comes to the honours system. It all depends on where you are in your career, the magnitude of what's been achieved, whether you'll be around in another four years.
So what do you think? Do you think that Team GB's Paralympians have fared noticeably worse in the New Year Honours list than their Olympic counterparts? Should gold medallists necessarily receive an honour anyway? Share your views in the comments.
The New Year Honours (disability) list
- 31 Dec 08, 12:04 PM
Hello Ouchers - I hope you're all enjoying your Christmas and New Year holiday. We're just breaking our seasonal blog silence here for a moment to let you know about all the disabled people who have been awarded shiny gongs and medals in the Queen's New Year Honours list - because whatever you think of these awards, whether you disapprove of them or think they're a valuable recognition of a person's achievements, there's no doubting that it seems to be a bumper crop for disability as the start of 2009 dawns. That's mostly down to the huge success of Team GB in the Beijing Paralympics over summer, of course.
Perhaps the biggest news is that Eleanor Simmonds, who won two swimming golds in Beijing, has been awarded an MBE. Still only 14 years old - though she was was a grand 13 years, 9 months and 26 days when the Games began back in early September, fact fans - this not only makes her Britain's youngest ever Paralympic gold medallist, but also now the youngest person to be awarded the MBE, and the only minor to be honoured. A spokesman for the Cabinet Office, which handles the honours list, said: "There is no rule which states a minimum age for recipients of honours, but they usually reflect the sort of achievements which come with age. In this case, Eleanor Simmonds achieved something extraordinary at a very young age and so it was only right that she should be honoured".
Here are the other Paralympians in the New Year Honours list:
• David Roberts - Swimmer who, at this year's Games, equalled Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson's record of 11 gold medals. He's been handed a CBE. Read his 13 Questions interview with Ouch!
• Lee Pearson - The equestrian rider is also given a CBE after achieving his ninth gold at the Games. He's previously taken his turn in our 13 Questions hotseat too. Fellow equestrians Anne Dunham and Sophie Christiansen become MBEs.
• Billy Pye - The coach of both David Roberts and Eleanor Simmonds ia appointed an MBE. Other recognitions for work behind the scenes on Team GB's Paralympic success go to British Swimming disability performance director Tim Reddish and ParalympicsGB chief executive, Phil Lane, who both get OBEs.
• Like their Olympic counterparts, Britain's Paralympic cyclists scooped an astonishing series of medals at the Games. In recognition of this, Darren Kenny, Sarah Storey, Aileen McGlynn and Ellen Hunter become OBEs, with Mark Bristow, Jody Cundy, Anthony Kappes, Barney Storey, Simon Richardson and David Stone receiving MBEs.
• Wheelchair racer David Weir gets an MBE, too. He's been another sporting celeb who has previously answered Ouch's probing questions.
All this sport is exhausting, though. Particularly after the nineteenth turkey sandwich of the festive season. So who else is going to be meeting the Queen soon?
Well, fantasy author Terry Pratchett, famed for his epic series of Discworld novels, has been knighted. He's become a vocal campaigner for more research into Alzheimer's disease after being diagnosed with the condition in 2007. And Gill Hicks, who lost both her legs in the London bombings of 7 July 2005 when she was a passenger on the Piccadilly Line tube train to Russell Square, is awarded an MBE for her work in co-founding the Walktalk event to bring communities together.
Last, and by no means least, the most surprising announcement is that Ouch's very own Disability Bitch has received an honour. Yes, arise (if you can) Dame Disability Bitch! We're so proud!
Oh, okay then, that's not true - but how we wish it was ...
So let's just hope that with all these wheelers, wobblers and people with various other impairments turning up at Buckingham Palace over the next few months, the investiture ceremony has been made completely accessible. Presumably you can be excused from the whole kneeling business as a 'reasonable adjustment', yes?
'Blind Man Seeks Work' on Radio 4
- 22 Dec 08, 02:10 PM
In a series broadcast last week on Radio 4, Peter White got to try out some of the jobs he was told he wouldn't be able to do because he was blind. In 'Blind Man Seeks Work' he had the dubious honour of putting his head into a horse's mouth, to try out being a vet. Peter also found out why he never made it as a rock star, with advice from ex-Manfred Mann signer Paul Jones. Plus, in perhaps the most challenging assignment he had a go at being a pilot, albeit in the safely of a BA flight simulator.
You can catch many episodes from 'Blind Man Seeks Work' on the iPlayer for the next few days.
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