ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Love on the Transplant List on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Three followed cystic fibrosis patient Kirstie as she waited for a life saving lung transplant while trying to plan her wedding.

The film showed Kirstie being rushed to hospital three days before the ceremony then making it down the aisle through sheer willpower and determination.

It followed her extraordinary experience of living on the transplant list, the fear and uncertainty, the realities of constant pain, taking medication and relying on oxygen machines to breathe.

Other highlights:

Listen - Radio 4 - In Touch
Peter White with Geoff Adams-Spink and Jane Copsey presented top tips and suggestions for useful gadgets to help people adjust if they are newly blind.

Listen - Radio 4 - You and Yours
Winifred Robinson spoke to disabled people involved in pilot schemes for the new Personal Independence Payments.

Listen - World Service - Outlook
The Jewish teacher who taught a blind autistic Palestinian girl to become a concert pianist.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One - World Olympic Dreams
Why legally blind archer Im Dong-Hyun is struggling to make the South Korean Olympic team.

Listen - Radio 4 - Excess Baggage
John McCarthy explored storytelling in Japan with charity founder Nicole Grove. She visited the country recently to learn about the heritage of folk tales there and, in particular, the depiction and involvement of those with learning difficulties.

Listen - Radio 4 - Woman's Hour
Ruby Wax discussed depression and her quest to establish an environment where people can talk freely about their own mental illness.

Watch - Cbeebies - Something Special
Entertaining regular educational series for four to seven year old children with learning difficulties.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - See Hear
Radha Manjeshwar visited the Scottish Storytelling Centre for a day of signed performances and workshops.

Listen - Radio 4 - Last Word
Matthew Bannister spoke about Sir David Jack, the scientific mind behind the success of the pharmceutical company Glaxo, whose drugs transformed the lives of asthma patients and people with stomach ulcers.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One - Life's Too Short
After complaints that he takes all the best roles for himself, Warwick launches a website and creates showreels for his clients. Warwick Davis will be talking about Life's Too Short during the next Ouch! podcast.

Catch up with disability radio and TV programmes on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ every Wednesday on this blog.

The Mind Media Awards took place last night at the British Film Institute in London. Hosted by The Thick of It Actress Rebecca Front, the ceremony celebrated excellence in "portrayal of mental distress and reporting of mental health in the media".

Earlier this year, Rebecca Front raised awareness of the stigma surrounding mental health issues by going public with her own experiences on Twitter.

2011 Mind Media Award recipients include ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Three documentary Tulisa: My Mum and Me and long-running ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One medical drama Casualty. The News and Current Affairs award was presented to Radio 5 Live for Victoria Derbyshire's interview with an Alcoholic GP.

For a full list of winners, visit .

I had a serious accident at work in February 2011, which left me wheelchair dependent. Having been a keen mountain biker for 20 years at that point, I was determined to find out how I could get back in the saddle and continue to experience the thrills this hobby has to offer.

While undergoing rehabilitative physiotherapy, I learned about Challenge Your Boundaries, a scheme run at the Welsh trail centre of Coed Y Brenin, which aims to open up the off-road mountain biking trails for people in exactly my situation, by making sure there are accessible routes and suitable machines available for hire to ride on them.

Coed Y Brenin is somewhere I've always loved to ride, so instilled with a new determination to get back on a bike, I booked myself on a half day rider accreditation course.

The aim of this course is to make sure a prospective rider has an awareness of what handling an adapted mountain bike is like and also possesses the trail skills and courtesies to not be a danger to themselves or other trail users. If a person is unable to complete the course independently, it is not the end of the road. They can be awarded accompanied rider status, meaning that so long as they have assistance from an able bodied companion, they can still head out on the trails.

My chosen steed for the day was the wonderfully named One-Off Flyer, a two wheels up front and one behind trike. It is much different to most trikes I have seen due to its unusual riding position. This involves straddling the frame of the bike in a kneeling position, with each leg in a moulded, padded trough. You sit in a bucket seat and rest your chest on a cushioned plate, which then pivots to steer the front two wheels. The chest operated steering leaves both hands free to turn the cranks and drive the bike forward. It may sound bizarre but it works remarkably well.

The first new skill I learned on arrival at the centre was how to transfer from my wheelchair to the bike. Once suitably seated and as comfortable as possible, it was time to turn my first crank in over nine months. That's cycle speak for pedal. I may have been using different limbs to the last time I rode but it felt great!

Then came the moment I had been waiting for. It was time to head out on the trail. Time to inhale the welsh atmosphere and suck up the landscape. Time to feel the freedom of riding in these most incredible surroundings once more.

The first few sweeping curves and rolling dips felt great as we headed towards the Minotaur trail, which has been custom built for adapted mountain bikes.

My favourite part was "The Slipway", a beautifully crafted downhill section consisting of a set of switchbacks which set the nerve ends tingling. I had forgotten how good it felt to nail a bit of trail like this and naturally wanted to do the whole thing again.

Graham, my instructor, was more than happy to show me the quickest way of getting to the top. He pointed to an impossibly steep looking and very loose, gravelly climb. Well, in for a penny as they say.

It may have taken me twenty five minutes to reach the top, with two tumbles along the way, but as Graham likes to say, Challenge Your Boundaries is all about giving a wider range of people the same chance to crash as everyone else.

Lesson learnt, and with all but my dignity intact, I developed the next skill. Re-mounting the bike from the floor. Not a graceful process but I managed.

After reaping the benefits of that hard climb by descending at speed down The Slipway, we headed back up to the visitor centre to assess what the day had brought.

For me it was affirmation that my life as an off-road cyclist hasn't ended, merely adapted to suit my new situation. The method may have changed but the end result is the same, it makes me glad to be alive.

Find out more about Challenge Your Boundaries on their

In a special feature in The Guardian this week there were several stories about how mobile phones are becoming more accessible to everyone, particularly people with disabilities.

Articles included , and how

Elsewhere in the news:

Basic home care help 'breaching human rights' (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Ministers accused of causing fear for disabled people (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Mental Health Alliance condemns Deprivation of Liberty rules (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Mail Online)

Shakespeare 'could help doctors become better' (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Campaigners call for action on disabled 'hate crimes' (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Disabled 'suicidal' over Welfare Reform Bill (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

David Aaronovitch on the 'abject terror' of ICU psychosis (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Mail Online)

Awareness of mental health highlighted in computer game (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Paralympic medallist Danielle Watts' house 'too small' (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Cancer survival: Macmillan hails major improvement (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(Mail Online)

(The Mirror)

(The London Evening Standard)

(The Independent)

Blind actor Ryan Kelly, the voice behind Jazzer in long running radio 4 soap The Archers, has been honoured at the Ability Media International awards.

Dame Maggie Smith presented him with the gong at a ceremony in London on Sunday.

The AMIs are run by UK charity Leonard Cheshire Disability, and identify outstanding creative projects that encourage a more inclusive world for disabled people.

Ryan received the Tyzack award, a new addition to the AMIs, which recognises writers, producers and performers who 'transcend the stereotypical'.

Judges heralded Kelly as 'outstanding in his dramatic range, with immaculate comic timing and talent for harsh realism'. They praised The Archers' producers for their 'groundbreaking' decision to award him the part of Jazzer, a fully sighted character.

Other 2011 AMI winners include: The National Theatre, the historical portrait exhibition Reframing Disability, and dancer with no legs David Toole.

Writing afterwards for the Archers blog, Ryan Kelly said:

"A couple of months ago, when I was informed that I'd won an AMI award for my work in The Archers, I was totally gobsmacked. While I appreciated it more than I can say, I couldn't help thinking that the work is an award in itself."

Read the rest of Ryan's post about working on the soap and the complexities of learning lines as a blind radio actor, over on The Archers blog.

And you can find out more about the voice behind bad boy milkman Jazzer, in this 13 Questions interview from the Ouch! archives.

As the sitcom Life's Too Short continues, star of the show, Warwick Davis, has been popping up all over the place.

The actor of restricted growth has been a guest on Chris Moyles' show on Radio 1 and Midweek on Radio 4. He also contributed to a documentary on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two following short performers who are trying to make their way in the entertainment industry.

Other highlights:

Listen - Radio 4 - You and Yours
Winifred Robinson talked to 'digital champion' Martha Lane Fox about how web access for disabled people can be improved.

Listen - Radio 4 - All In The Mind
The programme explored the links between childhood bullying and mental health problems in later life.

Listen - Radio 4 Extra - Spoonface Steinberg
Lee Hall's play about faith, love and death as an autistic girl comes to terms with her extraordinary life.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One - Children In Need - The Best Bits
Pop group One Direction look back on a night of fun and fundraising in aid of disadvantaged children all over the UK.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - See Hear
Radha Manjeshwar marked Children In Need week with a look at some of the complex challenges facing deaf children with additional needs.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - Frontline Medicine
Michael Mosley explored the link between war and medical research.

Listen - 5 Live - Stephen Nolan
Blogger Sue Marsh contributed to a discussion about whether the family GP is the best person to decide who is fit to work.

Watch - Cbeebies - Something Special
Entertaining regular educational series for four to seven year old children with and without learning difficulties.

Listen - Radio 4 - In Touch
A new book asks, when it comes to the welfare of blind and visually impaired people, can charities sometimes do more harm than good? Peter White speaks to the author on this week's show.

As part of their blindness for beginners series, In Touch are looking for your suggestions for the must have gadgets for people who have recently begun to experience sight loss. Send your gadget recommendations to intouch@bbc.co.uk or add them to the comments below.

Catch up with disability radio and TV programmes on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ every Wednesday on this blog.

Figures released by MacMillan Cancer Care today, show that cancer survivors are now living six times longer than they would have done 40 years ago.

Unlike 40 years ago, however, people are now able to share and document their experiences of cancer in online diaries.

is the blog of a grandmother and teacher; she is now well and has recently gone back to work. She is currently dealing with the emotional fall-out from extensive treatment and a long recovery process.

Unfortunately, today's figures also revealed that the survival rates for some cancers have not seen a marked improvement.

Alright Tit blogger and 15 year old are blogging regularly, with honesty and humor, about their lives with terminal cancer.

The two diaries are an enlightening and humbling read. In her most recent post, Lisa talks of the joy in meeting her new nephew and the distress at discovering the extent the cancer has spread. And on finding out that her time was limited, Alice made a bucket list, which she is now working her way through. In the past two weeks, Alice has visited the Lush factory and been to a QPR football game. She has chosen to have Christmas with her family in November, just in case.

Sadly, some of those who shared their cancer experiences online have passed away.

Last night's Inside Out West Midlands on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One included a film about , a 19 year old blogger with cancer who they featured last November. She was raising money for charity right up until she died two months ago. The programme is available now to view here on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer.

If you know of a blog about life with cancer not included here, please do share it with us in the comments below.

In the first post in a new series on disabled people and hobbies, D H Kelly, who has ME - a disabling condition which affects energy levels and causes chronic pain - writes about a simple adaption that has revolutionised the way she paints.

Arts and crafts are common symptoms of chronic illness. Force us to lie around doing nothing and soon enough, we'll start fiddling about with something.

Stringing beads, making cards, sewing - I've done them all. It's only my shocking inability to count that's kept me away from the knitting Renaissance of recent years.

About three years ago, painting became my hobby of choice.

I took a great picture of my mother. There were a few things about it that weren't perfect, but rather than edit the photograph like someone with things to do and places to be, I decided to try painting a portrait. I was very pleased with the result and my mother framed and put the painting up.

Within a year, there were four generations of our family on the wall. But back then, a picture often took months to complete.

At that time, I needed to find a window where I was comfortable enough to sit in a chair for a while, then do as much as I could before the pain got too much and I had to lie down. Sometimes I could only work for a few minutes, and sometimes I needed to spend the rest of the day horizontal, so it took a long while before any given painting began to resemble its subject.

It didn't occur to me that I could actually paint in bed. That would be against the rules. My image of a proper painter is someone stood up or perched on a stool in front of their easel.

Of course, I know artists like Frida Kahlo have done it successfully, but she was completely bed-bound and so had no other choice. I felt that if I could manage the normal way, even it was a painful struggle, I should.

But then, my boyfriend, who isn't afraid of getting paint on the bedclothes, had an idea. He asked his father to make me a device to enable me to work on my pictures in bed; a large MDF tray with legs that fold down to make a table and a rim around the tray to stop my brushes rolling off.

This has revolutionised the way I work.

I can sit or lie comfortably in bed all afternoon, rearranging my pillows when needed. And I can continue to look at my work while I'm resting, paintbrushes in reach, should I notice something that needs touching up. I am more relaxed when I paint and without needing any extra energy, I'm able to finish a picture much more quickly.

This hobby is something that takes me out of my immediate, rarely changing environment. Painting portraits connects me to others, when I have little face-to-face contact with people other than my family, and painting landscapes connects me to places outside these four walls. And most importantly, painting is something I can do when I don't have the physical or mental capacity to do much else.

Being able to paint in bed renders my health even less of an obstacle.

D H Kelly blogs regularly at

The subject of disability in Africa is not often discussed in the media, but a new documentary called Body and Soul aims to address the issue and was premiered in London this week.

The film reveals the challenges and discrimination disabled people face in Mozambique and was shot in the capital Maputo.

Meanwhile, Amadou and Mariam, a blind musical duo from the African nation of Mali, staged a series of sell-out concerts in the dark in London recently. They explained the idea behind the concerts to the Focus on Africa radio programme.

Elsewhere in the news:

Self-harm common in teenagers, Australian study shows (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Guardian)

Disabled children excluded from education(ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Wizard of Oz munchkin Karl Slover dies aged 93 (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(Mail Online)

(The Telegraph)

(The Mirror)

And in Paralympic news

London 2012: Paralympics ticket sale announced(ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

London 2012: 'Why I want to go to the Paralympics' (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Guardian)

UK digital champion Martha Lane Fox was a guest on You and Yours this lunchtime discussing the recent finding that 4.25 million disabled adults have never used the internet.

The figure, from the Office of National Statistics, represents over half of the 8.43 Million people not yet on the net in the UK, meaning that disabled people are amongst the most disadvantaged minority groups.

As leader of Race Online 2012, the nation wide initiative to get as many people as possible using the internet in time for next year's Olympic Games, Martha described how and why she hopes web access for disabled people can be improved.

"Firstly it's very important to recognise that there's an enormous benefit for disabled people to be online. Therefore we should work hard to create technologies that are easier to use and to bring the price points down of the technologies that are out there already."

"I'd like to see more championing of the opportunity for technology to transform disabled people's lives, and perhaps some bolder and bigger thinking around how we can solve some of these problems."

Joining her on Radio 4's daily consumer programme was Nigel Lewis, CEO of AbilityNet, the disability and technology charity of which Martha has recently become a patron.

Those 4.25 million disabled people who have never been online represent a sizeable 36.3 percent of all disabled adults. If we look at non-disabled people, we find that it's a much smaller 10.3 percent.

Nigel Lewis explains why he believes disabled people make up such a large proportion of those not yet surfing the web.

"Often it's because it is not accessible to them. Either they can't engage with and use the standard computer out of the box, and so it needs adapting in some way, or the online services, the websites, are not accessible with their adaptive technology."

Commenting on whether the price of technology is a barrier for disabled people, Martha Lane Fox said that by investing in a computer and internet connection, consumers will notice significant financial savings in the long run.

"We know now that if you are online, even from a low income household, you save Β£200 a year, net, of the computer and internet connection."

"Direct debits, switching energy deals, searching around for deals; you are massively disadvantaged economically now, if you are not online."

At the conclusion of the You and Yours discussion, Martha described the impact that assistive technologies can have on lives.

"There's something wondrous for particularly heavily disabled people, when they suddenly can access a world that perhaps was forbidden before."

Martha became disabled herself due to a serious car accident in 2004.

At a recent event she said:

"I crawled back, from nearly death, by using the internet to keep in touch with family and friends, to buy clothes, to eat food. All the other things you need to do when you walk with a stick, or two sticks or in a wheelchair."

"At the weekend I was with my tetraplegic uncle. He has just got an iPad and, with the one finger he can move, he can now use technology in a completely different way. It still gives me goosebumps to think of how that is changing his life."

You and Yours airs Monday to Friday at noon on Radio 4. Catch up afterwards on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer.

The first episode of Ricky Gervais' new comedy series Life's Too Short aired last Thursday.

It stars Warwick Davis as a "showbiz dwarf" whose career is on the slide forcing him to open his doors to a film crew.

The Telegraph judged it while the Mirror thought it But The Guardian suggested it could be

On Twitter, Life's Too Short comments ranged from "really funny" (@Group51UK) to "history's most defensively-hyped tv show" (@jennycolgan) to "how anybody gave this a bad review I'll never know" (@DannyHope1).

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Other highlights:

Listen - Radio 4 Extra - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Victor Hugo's gothic classic in a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ collaboration with Graeae Theatre Company.

Listen - Radio 4 Extra - Richard Herring's Objective
Richard Herring examined the representative symbol of disability and wondered whether people still see the disability rather than the person.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - Running Blind
A documentary about blind paralympic sprinter Libby Clegg who shot to fame in Beijing in 2008 and wants to win gold in London 2012.

Listen - Radio 4 - In Touch
The long running radio show for blind and partially sighted people met the Chief Executive of the West of England School for the blind who explained its success. Lee Kumutat attended a performance by musicians Amadou and Mariam in the dark.

Listen - Radio 4 Extra - The Tales of Max Carrados
A blind sleuth solves a case of forgery.

Watch - Cbeebies - Something Special
Entertaining regular educational series for four to seven year old children with and without learning difficulties.

Watch, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - See Hear
The long running signed television programme for people who are deaf followed campaigners for Video Relay Services as they delivered a petition to the Prime Minister. There was also a visit to the Bionic Ear Show.

Listen - 5 Live Sport - End Game
Eleanor Oldroyd examined the risks sports stars take and spoke to competitors who have been involved in sporting tragedies.

Watch - CΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ - Newsround
Thirteen year old Rosie explained what it is like to grow up with autism.

Listen - Radio 4 - You and Yours
The programme investigated whether effective antibiotics are running out.

Listen - Radio 5 - Stephen Nolan
Kiruna Stamell, who plays Warick Davis' love interest in Life's Too Short, spoke about the new sitcom.

Catch up with disability radio and TV programmes on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ every Wednesday on this blog.

Recently, Amadou and Mariam, a blind musical duo from the West African nation of Mali, played a series of concerts in the absolute darkness. Lee Kumutat was there for In Touch, the long-running Radio 4 programme for blind and partially sighted people. She blogs about the experience ahead of this evening's episode.

When the In Touch producer threw this one my way, I was grateful (nice work) but a little nonplussed. What angle could I take on a concert in the dark, when I can't see anything at a gig anyway? Blindness is funny like that.

And then my natural voyeurism kicked in: it would be interesting to know how sighted Joe Public would react to a totally blacked-out venue. On the heels of voyeurism came scepticism. It probably wouldn't be that dark really, because logistically, how could a hall filled with 700 people be made pitch black?

So, myself and a hapless sighted friend I dragged along as an independent darkness-ometer, went off to Bethnal Green, to have our questions answered.

Amadou and Mariam had said that the point of holding a performance in the dark, was to give the audience the opportunity to hear music as they do. However, apart from switching the lights off, much more had been done to enrich the audience experience.

It was a sensory assault: smells, all of them not entirely pleasant, were pumped in to the hall. The temperature was periodically changed - I have a sneaking suspicion this was to ensure that darkness coupled with hypnotic rhythms didn't cause the audience to drop off. and finally, the space was flooded with surround sound. I found that this made it very difficult to know where one was in relation to others and kept touching shoulders with my friend, just to make sure she was still there. She fulfilled her duty for the night by qualifying the darkness, verifying that she couldn't see her hand in front of her face.

The staff at the venue, who wore night vision goggles during the performance, had some interesting tales to tell about people's reactions to being in the dark, and their sometimes intimate behaviour when they thought nobody could see them.

Speaking with some of my audience mates afterwards, their reaction to the experience was mixed, but mostly positive.

I'm not a proponent of depriving people of a primary sense for the purposes of experiential learning, something which I'm afraid I make abundantly clear in my discussion with Peter White at the end of tonight's piece. But despite my misgivings, and my sense of isolation during the performance, I thoroughly enjoyed the music and the pure talent that is Amadou and Mariam. I just don't think they need to do anything special to help people enjoy their work, except get up there and do what they do best.

Listen to Lee's report or download the programme as a podcast.

Sometimes Twitter can seem a little overwhelming. So many people to follow with so much to say.

But other times, Tweets can hit the nail on the head when it comes to disability.

Below are some Twitter gems from the past few weeks.

Learned today that for every soldier killed in action overseas, six or seven come home having lost limbs. We very rarely hear about them.

I dislike the term "the fight against cancer". If it were possible to simply "fight" cancer, Joe Frazier would have knocked it cold.

Can tell it's Weds. Am sitting on bed surrounded by more drugs than you could get on a street corner. It's refill tablet box time!
.

Problem - must keep house heated for carers as I employ them but can't afford heating bill. Solution - let fireworks off in bathroom?
.

Thanks to @JustinFletcher and mr tumble my little one and I can now use makaton and smile on her face is fab when she asks or tells us ο˜ƒ

If a disability related Tweet has recently grabbed your attention, please do share it with us on , on , or in the comments below.

It's impossible to log on to a social network nowadays without being encouraged to view and share what feels like an infinite number of online videos.

The lion's share are funny, cute, inspirational or just downright cringy.

I hope the below selection will not disappoint on any of these four counts.

A clip from up-state New York, sent in to us on Twitter by @AlexaDWilson, a parent of two children with Autism.

In this video by PAPool, Katie illustrates how receiving direct payments for the past 15 years has benefitted her.

project. This childhood memory involves a go cart and a prosthetic leg.

If a bit of disability related video magic has found its way on to your timeline, please let us know on , on , or in the comments below.

A particularly large number of disability related stories made the news this week.

A charity worker called for a full investigation into the deaths of a vulnerable couple whose bodies were found in their Warwickshire home. Helen Mullins, who was learning disabled, and her husband Mark had struggled with the process of claiming benefits and are reported to have lived in extreme poverty. in an apparent suicide pact.

The Guardian claimed and out of the benefits system altogether. A study released this week, described by the paper as "the first independent attempt to quantify the impact of more stringent medical tests and the greater use of means testing", found that Government measures 'will impoverish vast numbers and cause untold distress'.

And the forthcoming appearance of Warwick Davis in the new sitcom Life's Too Short prompted comment about the dwarf actor dilemma.

Elsewhere in the news:

(Mail Online)

(Mail Online)

Absconder suicides prompt Commons mental health debate (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Teenager's film on having autism (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Paralympics: Will London hotels provide for disabled? (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

New communication hope for head injury patients (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Malian musicians Amadou and Mariam stage blind date (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

The strange and curious history of lobotomy (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

What is life like for a teenage prodigy? (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Bionic legs help Elena to walk (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(The Sun)

(Mail Online)

(Huffington Post UK)

Warwick Davis has written for the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ TV blog about being the main character in brand new sitcom Life's Too Short. It starts tonight, 9.30 PM, on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two.

Of all my career achievements, I am most proud of Life's Too Short.

I say this because I have a much closer connection with the series than any project I have worked on before.

It was an idea that came from a conversation with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant whom I'd first worked with on Extras.

We talked about approaches I was getting from documentary producers wanting to follow me and my family.

This type of thing was not for me, but maybe it would be fun to manipulate my world as an actor and person, presenting a very different version of myself and my life.

And so, Life's Too Short was conceived - a faux documentary following a man obsessed with fame, a man whose career is on the slide, a man whose wife is divorcing him, a man who just happens to be short.

Read the rest of this post by Warwick Davis over at the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ TV blog. And don't forget to comment. The bloggers read them and often respond.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Three's The Growing Pains of a Teenage Genius followed 13-year-old Cameron, a maths genius with Asperger Syndrome. He is currently studying an Open University degree while trying to balance his outstanding ability with a teenage longing to be accepted.

Other highlights:

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One - Inside Out London
In this report, presented by Martyn Sibley, Inside Out exposed the lack of suitable hotels for thousands of disabled athletes in the run up to the 2012 Paralympics.

Listen - Radio 4 - In Touch
Why the future of Dorton House School for blind children might be in doubt.

Listen - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Switch - The Surgery with Aled
Aled from Radio 1 and psychotherapist Aaron Balicked discussed dyslexia and mental health issues.

Listen - Radio 4 - You & Yours - Weekdays at noon
The consumer affairs programme which regularly includes disability issues.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - The Making of Life's Too Short
Ricky Gervais went behind the scenes for a unique look at what to expect from the new ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two comedy series.

Watch - Cbeebies - Something Special
Entertaining regular educational series for four to seven year old children with learning difficulties.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - Newsnight
Susan Watts investigated whether medical scientists might be on the cusp of offering serious new hope in the treatment of mental illness.

Listen - Radio 4 - The Lobotomists
Hugh Levinson told the story of the lobotomy craze of the 1940s and 50s and asked what the popularity of the procedure said about the nature of scientific progress.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - See Hear
Memnos Costi and Radha Manjeshwar were guests at the first ever Deaf Parenting UK Awards event to recognise the achievements of deaf parents, service providers and campaigners.

Catch up with disability radio and TV programmes on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ every Wednesday on this blog.

When is it ok to say 'crip' or the M word that Ricky Gervais used recently, Paralympic sitting volleyballers have their prosthetics taken away, and Bianca Nicholas, singer with cystic fibrosis enchants us all. With Mat Fraser and Liz Carr.

Listen or subscribe to the show by following this link

Read a transcript

β€’ Is using the word 'crip' OK? Is it friendly or divisive? and how about that disputed word 'mong'? Ricky Gervais used it a lot recently before apologising. Mencap ambassador Scott Watkin and Tim Rushby-Smith join us to talk it through.

β€’ Tony Garrett, all round Paralympics dude, talks to amputee Martine Wright, survivor of the 7/7 London bombings; she's now a 2012 games hopeful, part of the women's sitting volleyball team. Plus blind judo this November.

β€’ We play out with the new single from Bianca Nicholas who talks about how singing helps her cystic fibrosis.

Pod Talk

- Amazing. Everybody turned up early for the production meeting. Not bad considering. I felt it was important to note this on the blog. And so have done. Well done everyone; PA and access excuses can only go so far.

- Our tentative plans for a New York special this December have been dropped as Mat isn't now going over there. Cheapskates as we are, we weren't going to pay for his flight; it just so happened that Mat and Liz were both likely to be there at the same time and we were going to point them towards an empty studio. We take advantage where we can. So, that leaves a bit of a hole in our thinking: what do we do for a Christmas special now? Any ideas on a postcard, please. Or email if you like. Think inexpensive. You've seen the headlines.

- Hope you liked the podcast extra we threw in mid month; an extended version of October's interview with Mat Fraser in Japan. We're planning some more extras soon. So if you're a subscriber to the podcast feed (which you should be) then you'll get the occasional shorter podcast as well as our regular talk show in future.

One hundred years after the term schizophrenia was adopted, the charity Rethink Mental Illness has launched an inquiry into how the condition might be treated more effectively.

The chair of the inquiry, Professor Robin Murray, claimed during an that schizophrenia "costs the health service more than cancer or cardiac disease."

While ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ science correspondent Tom Feilden and took stock of a century of schizophrenia.

Writing on the subject for The Guardian's Comment is free blog, Rachel Whitehead examined

Elsewhere in the news:

Vulnerable adults: 96,000 alleged abuse cases reported (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Guardian)

What's happened to Thalidomide babies? (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Warning over legal aid cuts for disabled people (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

Mark Pollock faces his biggest challenge yet (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

How the late Sir Jimmy Savile fixed it for a Belfast woman to watch Neighbours with subtitles (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(The Guardian)

(The Telegraph)

(Mail Online)

(Mail Online)

(Mirror.co.uk)

(Ice News)

In February 2011 David Cameron announced a welfare reform bill he described as the most fundamental, ambitious and radical since the benefit system began.

The cost of benefits, he said, had gone up by nearly Β£60 billion in the last decade. Critics say the welfare state is in crisis.

And yet at the same time, research has proven that there is huge support among the British public for a benefits system.

In The Future State of Welfare John Humphrys spoke to people with the most to lose from proposed changes to this essential safety net.

Other highlights:

Listen - World Service - Outlook
Matthew Bannister met a disabled DJ from South Africa who has become an inspiration to his local community.

Listen - Radio 4 Extra - Mark Thomas: The Manifesto
Comedian-activist Mark Thomas outlined his People's Manifesto including a policy to crush the cars of anyone illegally parked in a disabled space.

Listen - Radio 4 - You and Yours
Julian Worricker spoke to campaigners who claim that a shortage of suitable housing for young people with disabilities means many can't live independently.

Listen - Radio 5 Live - Wake Up To Money
The programme explored the new Β£20 million bond programme launched by disability charity Scope to generate funding.

Listen - Radio 4 - Woman's Hour
Jane Garvey spoke to Dr Brock Eide and Dr Fernette F Eide about their new book suggesting entrepreneurial success could be thanks to dyslexia not in spite of it.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Three - Stormchaser: The Butterfly and the Tornado
Documentary which followed tornado researcher Sam Hall, who has the skin condition Epidermolysis Bullosa, on a road trip across the US in search of the earth's most violent storms.

Listen - Radio 4 - In Touch
Peter White spoke to Professor Robert MacLaren about his recent success treating the eye condition choroideremia using gene therapy.

Watch - ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two - See Hear
See Hear looked at how local education authorities determine which path a deaf child takes within the education system.

Catch up with disability radio and TV programmes on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ every Wednesday on this blog.