Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Made your first call on a minicom? Just called a friend via TypeTalk?
Sent a fax for the first time? Received one of these new-fangled SMS messages?
Watched your first teletext subtitled television programme?
Sent an email thing to a work colleague?

See Hear - the long running Saturday lunchtime TV show for hearing impaired people - is looking for deaf people who can tell us about their experiences of getting to grips with new technology for a tech special edition.

We're looking for stories that are unusual, amusing, entertaining, emotionally moving, even surprising. Were you one of the first people to bring a minicom into the UK? Were you the one who told your friends about the potential of text messaging? Were you the one who switched your friends on to instant messaging? Then See Hear want to hear from you.

If you have a story to tell, then get in contact in the follwoing high and low tech ways:

Email: seehear@bbc.co.uk
Fax: 020 8752 6535
Snail mail: Room G418, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ White City, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TS.

Please pass this request on to your friends, your family and anyone else you think would like to take part.

An ambitious plan to start a 24-hour all disability TV channel was launched yesterday on the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The catchily named PWDBC - - has started the ball rolling on this ambitious plan by setting up a drum-banging website.

They intend to hit the mainstream with a mix of comedies, dramas, reality, sports, information and news programmes all made by disabled people - um, that's PWDs - Peoples Withs some of those Disabilities.

"It is important for us in the disability community to advocate and legislate, but it's time for us to create and celebrate both our historical and future contributions to American popular culture," explains PWdBC's founder Howard Renensland.

"We feel strongly that the global concerns of people with disabilities will be most rapidly advanced through the successful inclusion of persons who have disabilities within the structure of mass media itself."

The website is currently rather business-oriented, with scoping documents and their vision. But they're also calling for disabled people with relevant skills to get involved now. You can follow the very latest in their progress on the site's .

Childrens' author JK Rowling receives an access makeover of her website with help from vision and hearing impaired testers and others.

Harry Potter is one of the big talking points of the moment and, um, would it be taking it too far to suggest that web accessibility is too? Incidentally - it's OK, you can read on and we won't tell you who dies in the Half Blood Prince. Um, if anyone does die that is.

Explain mode on -- The whizzy animated sites that you see tend to be powered by this thing called Flash, made by Macromedia. Though the take-up hasn't been what you would call marvellous, recent editions of the product allow developers to make sites both whizzy and accessible -- Explain mode off.

Enter the author of Harry Potter and the company who makes her website - Lightmaker. And what we now have, thanks to a bit of help from the RNIB, the RNIDand stuff, is a stable readable Flash website.

Visit now.

The animated page-turning is cool for deaf and partially sighted kids. It's a good thing to have done. But for blind screenreader users it arguably makes the experience a little more difficult and less like normal web-surfing, with no great new whizzy benefits except the occasional sound of an owl hooting.

We call for more imaginative Flash and more toolkits to create it. But, c'mon, access should be the norm - so why I'm sitting here writing a weblog entry about a good bunch of people who've made an effort to attract more customers, I really don't know.

Live and direct, here's the latest breaking report from our rolling news service, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ OUCH 24. We've just received the following email from Rebekah Bostan:

"Just thought you might like to know that my husband (electric wheelchair user) is trapped on a bendy bus outside - of all places - TFL Windsor House [Transport for London's head office] because the ramp won't go back in!!!!"

More on this news as we get it. Now back to Natasha in the studio.

I know it's been on the minds of Ouch readers everywhere, since the scandal of the Ms Wheelchair America beauty pageant a few months back, when it was revealed that the holder of the title could stand and walk for short periods of time - shock! Horror! - so I'm pleased to be able to inform you all that the competition has finally . She's called Kristen Connors, and she's from Rhode Island Which is nice.

But I know what you're wondering - you're wondering what happened to Janeal Lee, the Ms Winconsin who was stripped of the title when a photograph of her standing up appeared in a local newspaper, aren't you? Well, fear not my little Ouchies, because she was given the title of Miss disAbility International. Not to be confused with Ms Wheelchair America, this is a new competition launched by the World Association of Persons With Disabilities.

Blimey. I hope you followed all that, because I'm now thoroughly confused.

Of course, I don't approve of such frivolous beauty competitions. I haven't done so since I was scandalously stripped of the title of Best-Looking Disabled Monkey In A Wheelchair, which I won while on holiday in Skegness in 1987.

King George III, who ruled the country for nearly 60 years before his death in 1820, is one of the most famous disabled people in history, mainly thanks to the 1994 film , which memorably brought the story of his mental health problems to a popular audience.

But what caused King George's mental illness? For many years, it was believed to be due to a genetic disorder that caused variegate porphyria. Now, however, a team of scientists from the UK and Australia have found high concentrations of arsenic in samples of the king's hair, and have suggested that it came from the medicines that he was given - sometimes by force - to 'cure' him. Arsenic, after all, was widely used as a medicine even into the 20th century, and according to medical records of the time, George was sometimes forced to take medication that would have contained up to nine milligrammes of arsenic a day - that's well below a lethal dose, but certainly enough to cause chronic poisoning and contribute to his unusually severe and prolonged periods of poor mental health.

Read more in newspaper. Interesting stuff.

It may still be some five months off, but if you're a wheelchair user, you'd better start preparing yourself for Christmas, because the likelihood is that you're going to get at least one, if not more, of this year's essential gift - a toy doll of Andy Pipkin from Little Britain. Yep, the comedy series has launched a based on the popular characters in the various sketches, and Lou and wheelchair-using Andy are amongst them. In fact, it's a positive marketing frenzy, as there are also pencil cases and t-shirts available. You'll be able to be thoroughly branded with Andy Pipkin - well, y'know, if you really want to be.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. And if you happen to be in Rome in the near future, you may like to consider going to two rather noteable restaurants in the city.

The Telegraph recently reported on a called Locanda dei Girasoli, where the waiting staff are all people with Down's syndrome. It was set up by a couple who apparently wanted to get their son, who has Down's himself, involved in running the business to give him "a purpose in life" (I'm hoping that slightly cringeworthy phrase has been made worse in the translation). After a shaky start, with some customers regrettably displaying unfriendly, dismissive and even rude reactions to the waiters, the business has now turned around and is now going from strength to strength.

Elsewhere in Rome, the city's first has just opened. Staff at the Ciak Si Mangia eatery are trained to take orders in Italian Sign Language, meaning that groups of deaf people can visit without taking along a signing hearer to translate for them. The restaurant also offers subtitled movies on a big screen. Apparently it's only the second establishment of its type in Europe - do any Ouch readers know where the other one is? Let us know in the comments if you do.

All this talk of food is making me hungry. I knew I should have had something more than just a rather pitiful Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ canteen sandwich for lunch.

It was undoubtedly the theatrical event of the decade - well, OK, the month. Last week saw the preview of Who's the Daddy?, the stage farce based on the former home secretary's affair with Kimberly Quinn (and yes, the blond-haired, scatter-brained figure. The Guardian sent their arts correspondent along to it - and a few lines about our hero, the Blunkmeister himself, caught Crippled Monkey's attention:

"Blunkett appears as a semi-corrupt lovelorn fool,"

And it seems that's just the start of the show's Blunkett-bashing:

"When asked to provide her nomination for Spectator parliamentarian of the year, Wyatt [that's Petronella Wyatt, Boris Johnson's fellow columnist and former lover] spits, looking at [Kimberly] Quinn: "David Blunkett - for triumphing over adversity while being led around by a smelly old dog."

So they're not talking about the lovely Sadie, then? Miaow.

Here's a truly shocking story from the Telegraph, sent to us by Ouch's very own Liz Main. Under the headline , the report reveals that a remake of the classic British movie Don't Look Now is to drop its most crucial character: a terrifying, "knife-wielding dwarf".

What is the reason for this dreadful omission? Well, the producers of the remake believe that "the dwarf is not frightening enough for a modern audience" and is "too old-fashioned".

Crippled Monkey finds himself unable to decide whether this is a step forward - disabled people are no longer frightening to audiences! - or a step back - we're too old fashioend! And we can't play nasty characters because we're not scary enough! Damn. Can't win with this one.

Scariest disabled character of all - Davros, leader of the Daleks - was unavailable to comment when Ouch tried to contact him for his opinion about this news.

Are you partially sighted? Do you use Ceefax? If so, and you've got 10 minutes to spare to fill out a questionnaire about your experience, you could help with research to guide the design of future digital text services. You can participate by calling Amelia on 0208 0085 365, or by emailing her at amelia.still@bbc.co.uk

Thanks to everyone who entered the recent Born on the Fourth of July competition here on the weblog. The three lucky winners of the collector's edition of the DVD (plus a highly sought after Ouch rucksack) are: Carole Everett of London, Russ Beeden of Dronfield, and Colin Love of Telford. Congratulations to the three of you, and thanks to everyone who entered.

Yesterday, published the list of that will provide subtitling, signing and audio description in 2006. This is six more than the 70 channels who made up the list in 2005. The keen telly-watchers amongst you might like to know that channels providing these access services for the first time include ITV3, UKTV Bright Ideas, UKTV Drama, FTN, Paramount Comedy 2, TCM, MTV Dance, MTV Base, Discovery Science, Discovery Civilisation and Discovery Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ & Health. The is available on their website. Happy TV viewing.

(Well, people are divided about whether some of Ricky Gervais's humour features disability or is just disablist, so I decided to include both views in the title of this post. How inclusive of me, eh?)

Extras, the long-awaited follow-up to The Office, finally hits TV screens next week - Thursday 21 July at 9.00pm on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO, to be exact. Here on Ouch, we've already been taking a great interest in the series, because former columnist Francesca Martinez has a central role in one episode, which she discussed with Nuala Calvi in a recent interview.

And now, thanks to The Guardian getting a of the series opener, we know that the first episode also contains another disability-related moment. Here goes, then:

"There are lots of uncomfortable moments, not least the moment a production assistant on the film confronts one of the extras about his disability. He has one leg shorter than the other and has to wear a 'big shoe' to make up for it.

'Do you have to buy them in pairs and throw one of them away?'"

In best TV critic style, of course, Crippled Monkey is reserving judgement on Extras until I've seen the whole thing.

It's that time again - to look in Ouch's inbox and check out the disabled bloggers who have been in touch to tell us about their fabulous websites.

First up is , written by Naomi, who tells us in her email that it's about "what happens when a manic depressive meets everyone else". In her biog line she describes herself as a "hopelessly enthusiastic insanely cheerful manic depressive post-evangelical Christian English teacher with Buffy the Vampire Slayer obsession". Wow, that just about covers everything, doesn't it?!

Then there's from, er, well, Kezzykat, and she tells us: "not sure if it is a good judgement to have *my* witterings in the public arena, but I DO have a blog and I am a 'crip'. A crip who is a registered nurse to boot. Although the powers that be are doing their best to see to that right now."

Oh, I don't know - I think it's absolutely essential for people to have their witterings in the public arena. The more the better. That's what the blogosphere's all about, apparently. So go and check out today's selection of public witterings - and then why not think about starting your own blog?

As it looks like we're in for a few days of warm, sunny weather here in the UK, Crippled Monkey would like to urge all Ouch readers to go and enjoy a day in the countryside. Why? Well, because of the first paragraph of an article in today's :

"Being less rude to people from ethnic minorities, the disabled and the young could help those living in the countryside to make more money out of them, a study said yesterday."

There you are, then. Proof that folk in the countryside want a piece of that Β£80 billion worth of spending power that disabled people have. So get out there and make sure they're nice and helpful when you go to order your cream tea, and that they point out the accessible route across the field.

(Crippled Monkey apologises for the rural stereotypes, but much like Ouch's editor, I'm also not a great fan of fields and gates and cows and sheep and all that stuff. Give me a nice city any day.)

Ιω Ouch link: "Am I the only crip in the village?" by Flash Wilson.

PLEASE NOTE: This competition has now closed.

Tom Cruise, eh? In recent weeks he's been all over the news thanks to a whirlwind romance, being squirted with water by a bunch of pranksters, revealing his stance against anti-depressant drugs and calling psychiatry a "pseudo science", telling a German newspaper that he believes in aliens, and not least starring in the new blockbuster movie War of the Worlds. And in amongst all those headlines, the Academy Award-winning 1989 movie in which he played a wheelchair user has been re-released on DVD in a special Collector's Edition.

Born on the Fourth of July, directed by Oliver Stone and based on the autobiography of Ron Kovic, follows the young Kovic from a zealous teen who eagerly volunteers for the Vietnam War, through the spinal cord injury he sustains when he is shot in combat in January 1968, and on to his return to a country vastly different from the one he had left. After coming to terms with his impairment, Kovic becomes a major critic of the war and of the US Government's undignified treatment of its soldiers. Sixteen years on from its first appearance in cinemas, the film still stands as one of Tom Cruise's most powerful leading performances.

We've got 3 copies of the new Collector's Edition DVD to give away, with special additions including a feature commentary from director Oliver Stone, and a Born on the Fourth of July backstory taken from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News archives. And because we're so generous, we'll throw in one of Ouch's highly sought after rucksacks for each of the three winners.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to answer this question:

Born on the Fourth of July wasn't the first disability-related film to star Tom Cruise. A year earlier, he took on the role of Charlie Babbit in Rain Man, embarking on a long road trip with his brother Raymond, who had autism. But who played Raymond?

a) Robert De Niro
b) Nicolas Cage
c) Dustin Hoffman

Simply send an email with your name and your chosen answer to ouch@bbc.co.uk before the closing date, which is Monday 18 July. And sorry, but since the film is an 18 certificate, you do need to be aged 18 or over to enter. Click this link to read the standard competition rules.

Good luck!

, the UK's leading theatre company of actors with physical and sensory impairments, have got a colourful new show touring the London and South East region until 22 July. It's called George Dandin, and it's a new interpretation of a Moliere comedy (a "farce with dark undertones", according to director Philip Osment) first performed in 1668.

The production is part of Graeae's intensive training program, an accredited performance training course for disabled aspiring actors.

The show is at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre tonight (Monday), and then goes to Tunbridge Wells and St Albans, as well as venues in east, north and south-east London. Check out the on Graeae's website for full details of places, dates and times. All performances are audio described and BSL interpreted.

Crippled Monkey would like to remind all Ouch readers that it's my birthday soon, and that I've found the present I want. It's a , as reported on today by Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News. And it's a mere snip at just Β£18,500. Drool. Now, I wonder if those nice lads over at Top Gear would like me to come and give it a spin round their test track?

Following on from Friday's post, there's another account from a blogger caught up in last Thursday's London bomb blasts on .

As London slowly tries to get back to normal after yesterday's terrible , some commentators have noted that many were providing personal updates of events, or simply being used by the blog authors to let their friends and family know they were safe. Meanwhile, on Ouch's messageboard there's been some debate about how disabled travellers fared yesterday once the city's public transport system almost completely shut down.

Bringing these two threads together, Ouch columnist Lisa Egan - whose site is also featured on our blogroll - published an entry yesterday all about of what quickly turned into an extraordinary day for anybody who happened to be in London. Living and working in close proximity to the King's Cross area - the scene of the second blast at 8.56am - meant that she was right in the centre of events as they unfolded. Worth reading - and we're glad you're safe, Lisa.

in the Netherlands has been much in the news this year, with doctors having reported 22 "mercy killings" of "terminally ill babies" since 1997 (edit: although, as the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News report goes on to clarify, the cases actually involved babies with "extreme spina bifida"). Now, in a new commentary currently featured on the website of - a US disability rights group that organises opposition to legalised euthanasia,
assisted suicide and other types of medical killing - research analyst Stephen Drake says not only that , but that an increasing number of American medical professionals would similarly "embrace legalization of infanticide based on disability".

Check out the article and let us know what you think.

So the Olympic Games - and, of course, the Paralympics - are heading to , following this morning's exciting announcement from Singapore. Here in the Ouch office, we were sitting on the edge of our seats as we watched the coverage, and that last bit when the Olympic anthem was sung dreadfully out of tune and seemed to go on for ages was almost too much for our shredded nerves to bear.

Somebody sent an excited email round our office minutes after the announcement was made. The subject line read, with seemingly no sense of irony, "LONDON 2012 - it's coming home!!!" And there I was thinking that Athens was the home of the Olympics. Of course, if they'd said that the Paralympics were coming home, they would have been right, since the first 'Games for the Paralysed' (snappy title there, thanks) were held at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury in 1948. It coincided with that year's London Olympics, which took place at White City on the site of the Ouch office (not that the Ouch office was there at the time because - er, oh, you know what I mean).

The sporting trivia fans out there can read more fascinating Paralympic facts like that one in Ouch's 25 things you never knew about the Paralympics.

Meanwhile, for more on today's news, check out the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's website, where they've got from Paralympic stars like Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Danny Crates. And if you're wondering what the massive building projects to cater for the Olympics and Paralympics will mean to you, check out this from last year, which reveals some of the accessibility plans for the city. Crippled Monkey is already looking forward to London's fully accessible public transport system with a huge sense of anticipation. *Cough*

And while we're on the subject of disabled storylines and characters in soaps (see the last entry), we don't like to make a habit of bigging up the competition - meaning ITV - but news has reached us that Coronation Street is to welcome its first deaf character later this year. Under the rather cringeworthy headline (groan!), ITV.com says that the character, Freda, is Emily Bishop's niece, and will arrive in Weatherfield to nurse her auntie after she suffers an injury. She'll be played by deaf comedienne Ali Briggs.

Once again, it's time to venture into Ramsay Street once again, on a mission to find out what popular Australian soap Neighbours has up its sleeve as regards disability-themed storylines.

You may remember Australian Ouch reader Stella Young - she got in touch with us back in April to tell us more about the plot involving Stuart Parker, who had a remarkable recovery from his blindness. Betcha thought that was it for disability in Neighbours, didn't you? Wrong! Stella's sent me another email with some juicy news about a new storyline currently airing down under. But as I warned you last time, there are possible spoilers ahead, so please look away now if you're a dedicated Neighbours fan whose enjoyment of the show would be spoiled if you found out this stuff.

OK, have they gone? Here's Stella's email:

"Guess what? We have a genuine amputee on Neighbours now! Paul Robinson got himself into some sort of strife following his fraudulent and adulterous behaviour. A few weeks back, I caught a few snippets of him stumbling around in the bush with a set of crutches made from tree branches, and thought he might be dead by now - he wasn't looking real flash.

"But alas, last night I heard screams about 'phantom pain' from a hospital bed! Dr Karl, helpful soul he is, rushed in and calmly explained that this was normal for a recent amputee. "Your condition is - blah, blah, blah. We expect it to last - blah, blah, blah. Possible treatments for your condition include - blah, blah, blah." (My housemate and I have a theory that Dr Karl uses the same script for every diagnosis scene, and just inserts names of conditions or illnesses along with the most popular treatment at the time).

"Looking at the TV Guide in the paper this morning, it looks like there's a crip-tastic episode coming up on Friday night. It says "Susan wants Paul to return to teaching - but Paul refuses, saying he is only half a man". Oh, good lord! I'll have to tape it so I can keep you informed."

Keep us informed? KEEP US INFORMED?!!! Stella, we're champing at the bit here! We're absolutely desperate to know who the next Crip Of The Week is going to be down Ramsay Street way, and how their miraculous cure comes about. Terrific stuff.

Oh, and in return for Stella's dedicated work watching Neighbours so we don't have to, it's only fair that I give mention to her blog: . She tells me: "mainly it's to show off the stuff I knit, but there are also crip bits. OK, so maybe I am a nerd - just of the knitting variety, rather than the computer one". Now I fully admit that I don't know much about knitting (OK, nothing about knitting), but you should still go and give Stella's blog a read.

Julie Howell, uber digital evangelist, wins a prestigious award from the New Media Age publication in recognition of her work around web accessibility.

She bagged the NMA's last Thursday for her work in building awareness around web accessibility for visually impaired people, in her role as Digital Development Officer at the (RNIB).

"If you make your services more available to a greater number of people, you have more access to the pot of money they want to spend online," says Howell, who advises companies on their legal duties under the DDA and the financial benefits of tapping into the 'disabled pound' - all 80 billion of it.

The award was presented to her by TV's Julian Clary at London's Grovenor House Hotel in front of a 1600 strong audience of top new media professionals.

Last year, a Disability Rights Commission (DRC) study showed that 81 per cent of all websites failed a test for the most basic of accessibility requirements for disabled people.

Representing RNIB, Julie is now working with the DRC, the British Standards Institute and other stakeholders to create, in consultation, a concrete set of web access standards for the new media industry. At present, little information is known about this project.

Others in the disability community may know Julie Howell for her long-established Multiple Sclerosis support website , which is also known as MS Webpals.

The lack of disabled access at Live 8 has become a , as you'll be aware by now. Monkey thought he'd complete the story now by furnishing you with the press releases circulating about all this faff.

Harvey Goldsmith sent out this release yesterday:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LIVE 8 ANNOUNCE 140 WHEELCHAIR SPACES AT SATURDAY'S CONCERT

Live 8 are pleased to announce there will be 140 allocated wheelchair spaces as well as 140 spaces for carers at this Saturday's concert in Hyde Park. The spaces, which include access to designated toilets and are within close proximity of the refreshment stands, are situated at the side of the Gold Circle and offer one of the best views of the stage. Disabled access to the event is via gate X5.

Free parking will be provided in St James' Park where there will be mini bus drop off and pick up for all, and anyone not parking can still use the mini bus service, provided they have an orange wristband. All disabled and carers spaces have now been allocated.

... nice dodging of the issue, huh? Dig the uptalk. Welcome to Spin City. Notice that last sentence?

Let us now take a look at the Disability Rights Commission press release circulated earlier today:

Commenting on the restricted amount of places for wheelchair users at the Hyde Park Live8 concert tomorrow, Bob Niven, Chief Executive of the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), said:

"It's a real shame that the Live8 promoters didn't make room for more wheelchair users to attend such an exciting and unique event.

"It's a painful irony that what's being billed as the biggest concert for global inclusion should restrict entry to many disabled people - who now can't be part of the event and add their voice to these concerns."

Crippled Monkey was feeling lazy this Friday afternoon and couldn't be bothered to write a whole article around this (tan my post-structural ass). But these two press releases appeared in my inbox at the same time and I thought they'd look quite pretty next to each other on the website too.

If you are one of the 140 who came off lucky in this double lottery - a ticket and also the means to make use of the ticket - then do have a great day tomorrow. I'll be watching it on me telly, with all the comfort of my sofa and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔi red button that'll allow me to choose what country's concert I want to watch.