Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

is the north of England's biggest disability equipment and services exhibition. The show has been an annual fixture in Newcastle for 20 years and brings together over a hundred exhibitors from all aereas of disability, from stairlifts to Schools, employment support to accessible toys.

Ouch! didn't have a stand at DNEX this year, so I decided to head north for a visit.

Apart from the usual tonne of baths, beds, stairlifts and cars, which Sam my support worker and I studiously ignored, there were a surprisingly large number of brane injury and neuro related stands. I spoke to the director of , the organisation which supports people with acquired brane injury. Alistair told me about budding support groups and acgtivities happening in the area, and spoke passionately of Headway's annual conference. There, he works with young brane injured deligates to create a radio play. Part script and part improvised, the storyline always covers various issues faced by the group and inevitably goes down very well when revealed to the other conference goers.

Alistair number 2, from a residential, day centre and rehabilitation facility, told me about the music festival they put on this summer. There are plans for another event next year. Sounds like fun.

The North of England region of the were quick to point out that one shouldn't just look after the illness, but should focus on the whole person. The people I spoke to there were service users themselves and regularly participate in TaiChi and sit-down yoga. Wouldn't it be great if someone could put together a website where accessible fitness classes could be promoted in an organised way?

Unfortunately, the service users on the MS society stand were in the minority when it came to disability representation amongst exhibitors. So it was the stands populated by service users which held the remainder of my attention.

is a day centre facility for adults with learning disabilities. Their corner of DNEX was full of passionate people who attend the centre. They talked excitedly about the activities they enjoy there and told me that if they didn't attend Northumbria Daybreak they would most likely be at home, bored. Maybe I just liked them because they plied me with freshly baked cookies, or maybe it was because they appeared to be genuinely enjoying themselves.

Then I spoke to Joe, from the This school, college and adult services centre is for people with everything from CP to autism. Having attended the school and college, Joe returned to work at Percy Headley after university. He told me enthusiastically about the centre's employability programme. The centre puts a lot of energy into working with employers. They feel it is crutial to teach employers about possible future disabled candidates and to make the workplace part of the service user's learning, even at foundation workskills level.

Earlier that day, Percy Hedley's employability scheme students had staged a fashion show. Joe told me that this had been part of their course. Each participant was given Β£50 to buy one work outfit and one leisure outfit. Then the aim was to build up their confidence enough to brave the catwalk. It was very successful.

After a brief chat with a great organisation which brings together parents and carers of kids with various additional needs, and a stop off to hand over a large pile of Ouch's Blue Badger posters and moody wheelchair postcards to some very enthusiastic women who work in the community, facilitating independent living, it was back to the station.

While waiting for our train, my support worker Sam spotted a pigeon with two toes. The day was complete.

Last night I went to The Royal Court theatre in central London to see Tribes by Nina Raine. She has won several awards and previously wrote a play called Rabbit.

Why did I go and what does it have to do with Ouch?

Well, the play is about a family - mum, dad, daughter and two sons, one of whom is deaf. It's about the interaction between the family members and how they cope with outside influences such as work, creativity and love. There's a bit of drug taking too.

Jacob Casselden plays Billy, one of the sons. And yes he's deaf. He speaks and signs throughout the play. On the night I went there were subtitles too so I could check whether he was getting his lines right :-)

Michelle Terry plays Sylvia, Billy's girlfriend, who comes from a deaf family and is now losing her own hearing. She introduces him to sign language.

Ok - let's tackle the issues bit and why it's worth seeing. It got me thinking about:

What is it to communicate with someone else - whether through written or spoken language or signing?

How often do we really understand that communication? Are we actually constantly struggling to 'get' other people?

How do you bring up a deaf child? (I'm going to leave that one hanging because the play explores it much better than I could)

Whether the deaf community is "hierarchical" as one of the characters suggests? What do you think?

Interesting? Provocative? Challenging? Different? A bit like Ouch then?

Worth seeing?

You bet!

Tribes by Nina Raine is until 13 November 2010.

Read Charlie Swinbourne's of the play.

Tribes was featured in episode 12 of The Culture Show.

Juggling, stilt-walking, human pyramid building and acrobatics sound like fun?

Cirque Nova in east London is offering free - yes, that's FREE - circus skills training to people with disabilities.

It's run by trapeze artist Jean-Marie Akkerman who used to be Artistic Director of a circus school in Paris.

He teaches 14-25 year olds skills such as aerial harness work, aerial silks, aerial bungee, aerial hoop and acro-balance (that's human pyramid building to you and me.) It's all for fun but with the possibility of future employment at the end of the training.

The group he teaches performed recently at Liberty in Trafalgar Square.

If that sounds like something you might be interested in look at and get in touch with them.

I asked if they would train me to be a lion tamer but they told me I would be better as a clown :-)

Did you know it's World Standards Day today? No, me either, but I've just read about it so thought I would tell you.

BSI Group is a global independent business services organisation and is the world's first national standards body set up in 1903. It partners with 66,000 organisations in 147 countries and works on introducing global standards, assurance and certification services for accessibility.

Ok - I can hear you snoring - but wait! To celebrate World Standards Day they have created a documentary to be shown during the European Commission's World Standards Day Accessibility For All conference in Brussels on Thursday 14 October 2010.

The producer of the film - Sofie Sandell - says: "People have different needs and abilities. In this video we want to give them a voice to make sure that their needs are heard and fulfilled thanks to standards."

It's all very well talking about global standards but what does that mean for you and me?

It means if people (yes, like you and me) don't have access to buildings, transport and the web they are locked out from society. Standards create opportunities for an active life for all. Well, at least that is the key message of the campaign.

Does that sound familiar?

Of course! Communications minister Ed Vaizey was on about it just the other day. He wants a "step change" in e-Accessibility for disabled people in the UK by the time of the Paralympics in 2012.

I've told you about it and what it is supposed to be achieving. Now, take a look at the and see what you think.

A useful film which effectively communicates a vitally important message and will spur bureaucrats in Brussels into action or...?

Comments please.

... that's what Mat Fraser and Liz Carr are asking in our latest talk show -available to download and listen to right now.

Listen or subscribe for free to the Ouch! Talk Show

Without getting too 'graphic' here on the blog: sexuality, biology and machismo are the areas on which they touch.

can disabled guys be as 'commanding' and as 'tough' as men 'should be'? I hope you're appreciating all the apostrophes I'm diligently putting in here in order to distance the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ from these ugly sweeping stereotypes. It's all true though, Liz said so.

Also featuring in Talk Show 56 is that disabled model Shannon Murray who has been splashed all over Debenhams stores. She helps Mat out with a burning question sent in by a listener who was keen to avoid making a wheelchair fashion faux pas.

All this and more in the first of this month's talk shows. We've doubled the number of shows we're putting out in October as a bit of an experiment. The next show is here in two weeks, so you don't have the usual month-long wait.

Tell your friends and colleagues to listen and subscribe for free to the show via this page. If you use iTunes you can do it with just one click and it'll be delivered to your computer or your iPod every time a new one arrives.