Access All: Disability News and Mental Health

Mar 06 2025 587 ep. 31 mins 5k

Access All: Disability News and Mental Health Podcast artwork

Weekly podcast about mental health, wellbeing and disabled people. Life stories and solutions with a friendly touch – for listeners around the world.

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The novelist who changed the world with her foot

Mar 06 2025 33 mins

Polly Crosby opens up about living with the life limiting condition cystic fibrosis. As a newborn, she was the first person in the world to test positive for CF through a heel prick test. Being diagnosed so early helped her mother manage her condition but many of her childhood friends died very young. And she’s been reflecting on that period in her latest novel, The Vulpine.Also

Disabled life in Ukraine after three years of war

Feb 26 2025 31 mins

To mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we catch-up with Oleksii and Raisa who previously spoke to Access All. Oleksii has learning disabilities and, after initially re-locating to Denmark, returned to his group home in Ukraine a few months ago. Raisa runs a nearby respite centre for disabled people.And we hear from Sara Cincurova, a human rights

Para-bobsleigh champ: ‘Rollercoasters have become boring’

Feb 19 2025 29 mins

Corie Mapp, a double leg amputee, is fresh from winning gold at the Para-bobsleigh World Championships in Switzerland. Corie took up the sport after he was injured in Afghanistan and says “going down an ice chute in a bath tub” has given him a fresh perspective on disability and risk. Also on this episode, a suicide charity which runs the UK’s only 24-hour phone line staf

The teen who won a legal fight for a BSL interpreter in class

Feb 12 2025 27 mins

Niamdh Braid took her local council to a tribunal at the age of 16 (and won!) after they refused to provide her with a BSL interpreter in class. She tells Emma Tracey how Fife Council had argued that she was able to access her education using hearing aids and lip reading. But after an expert witness told the tribunal that Niamdh could only hear 70% of what her teachers were say

‘Time is the enemy’ for actor playing Richard III

Feb 05 2025 28 mins

Actor Michael Patrick has just picked up an award for his unique portrayal of Shakespeare’s Richard III, which gives the play a fresh twist inspired by his own experience of living with motor neurone disease (MND).Michael is no stranger to MND. His father died from the condition and his sister is also living with it, although drug trials for the siblings have given them more hope

People diagnosed with ADHD "dying younger"

Jan 29 2025 25 mins

Adults diagnosed with ADHD have shorter life expectancies, according to a groundbreaking new study.University College London (UCL) crunched nine million GP records to find that, on average, women with ADHD die nine years earlier, and men seven years earlier than those without ADHD.Josh Stott, professor of ageing and clinical psychology at UCL, the lead researcher, explains to Acces

Disabled and living through the California wildfires: “You live on edge”

Jan 22 2025 34 mins

Facing the California wildfires when you’re disabled and marking Holocaust Memorial Day As the California wildfires continue to burn we hear the stories of disabled Los Angeles residents, Carrie and Joci, who had to make decisions around whether to evacuate or not, and if so, how they would do it without plans in place. To mark Holocaust Memorial Day, Dr Helen Atherton talks

The parents losing hope over SEND system

Jan 15 2025 29 mins

A mum of two tells Emma Tracey about spending more than half of the family’s income on her children's special educational needs (SEND).Alice moved her two daughter’s to a private school after she felt they weren’t being supported in state education. But, from 1 January, private schools lost their charitable status and now must pay VAT of 20% with many schools passing those co

Disabled film director: ‘It was like I was invisible’

Jan 08 2025 29 mins

Owen Tooth is the first wheelchair user to direct EastEnders — he's already handled his first "duff duff" moment and is due on set for a string of episodes in early 2025. But he says he moved into TV after his film career collapsed when he became a wheelchair user and people acted as if he was “invisible”. Also on the programme, millions of people rent properties and yet

What will 2025 bring for disabled people?

Jan 01 2025 33 mins

Our expert panel looks ahead to what 2025 is likely to bring for disabled people and mental health service users. On the panel are: John Pring, founder and editor of Disability News Service; Richard Taylor of the disability equality charity Scope and Lucy Schonehevel of Rethink Mental Illness. They discuss ongoing issues which are likely to carry on making headlines in 2025 – su