Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

RADAR want you to help them find the individuals who have made a difference to the lives of disabled people in 2010.

Their annual 'People of the year' disability awards take place on November 29th and you have the opportunity to influence the panel by nominating those who you think need a bit of recognition for their hard work and talent.

"Help us to find the best examples of inclusive practice, inspirational individuals and organisations that are making a real difference to disabled peoples'
lives" says RADAR's website.

So what can you vote for? There are 12 categories

• RADAR Person of the Year Award
• RADAR Young Person of the Year
• RADAR Care and Support Award
• RADAR & Microlink Careers and Leadership Award
• RADAR Accessibility Provider of the Year Award
• RADAR Technology Provider of the Year
• RADAR Arts Award
• RADAR & Lloyds Banking Group Sport Award
• RADAR Factual Media Award
• RADAR Fictional Media Award
• RADAR & Crown Prosecution Service Stop Hate Award

All nominations to be in by September 30 so be sure to let your friends and colleagues know.

More detailed information about the 12 categories is available in a Word and PDF document to download off the RADAR site.

Interesting to see two stories on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ home page today involving vitamin B and its potential benefits for health.

Vitamin B 'puts off Alzheimer's'
Vitamin 'may help prevent' spina bifida

In the Alzheimer's story, high doses of "B vitamins folate, B6 and B12" were found to arrest mental decline in people experiencing what is termed as 'mild cognitive impairment'.

In the second story, we're reminded that folic acid supplements given to pregnant women can help avoid spina bifida. And whaddyaa know, the other name for folic acid is 'vitamin B9'.

It seems that if you combine the established folic acid (B9) with a naturally occurring vitamin called 'inositol', findings suggest that outcomes could be even more positive. (read the articles linked-to above for more detail).

Now, as everyone knows, I'm no medical expert. Yes I can commission articles from our Disability Bitch and produce Ouch's podcasts ... but, really and truly, you should avoid taking me seriously when it comes to medical observations; I am not the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ health correspondent (yet). Here goes anyway:

My first thought was "Wow, good on ya vitamin B". My second thought was "perhaps I ought to get down the chemist and bag me some of those super vitamins". And maybe some Marmite because I have something in the back of my head that tells me yeast extracts have vitamin B12 in them. And a quick Google has confirmed another hunch that vit B is good for the mental health too. I think it may also be of monthly benefit to women but I'm gonna blank that one out due to generalised male fear if that's OK with you.

So, Sesame Street fans, what have we learnt today?

Well, it seems that vitamins can have names as well as letters. And vitamin B in particular is moving up on my list of favourite vitamins and could be knocking on vitamin C's door soon because I can deal with colds alone if pushed.

What more do you know about vitamin B? I'm a bit in the dark over B1 to B5 at the moment. And do you take vitamin supplements. If so, what for? tell me in the comments below.

Well, they haven't sorted my proper log in yet but I'm posting anyway! Hi - my name's Dan Slipper.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Ouch were at the Liberty Festival in Trafalgar Square in London on Saturday 4 September.

Check out pictures of the event on our profile. If you're not a friend of ours on Facebook yet, why not and where have you been?

It was great to see so many people at Liberty and catch performances from the cast of the musical Reasons To Be Cheerful and members of the Orpheus Centre. We were lucky enough to have both on our recent Talk Show so if you haven't listened yet you are missing a treat!

We also caught sight of Baroness Campbell who was recently interviewed by Tanni Grey-Thompson exclusively for Ouch.

Were you there?