Presenter Paul Carter is joined by business coach Robin Hindle-Fisher and disability consultant Phil Friend. They discuss unexpected positive consequences from an examination of the extra costs disabled people face which was carried out by Scope, the charity which funds Disability Now. Also on the agenda some research from Nottingham University’s business school which suggests that people in the workplace are not necessarily thrilled at the prospect of having disabled people as colleagues.

Producer: Ian Macrae

In the latest conversation in our Head-To-Head podcast series, Ian Macrae meets Baroness Campbell of Surbiton. She talks about her suburban childhood and poor early schooling, the death of her first husband and its impact on her disability politics, her hopes for Teresa May’s government and how members of the House of Lords react to her as a disabled person.

Lawyer Raquel Siganporia, disability consultant Maria Zedda and actor, writer and feminist Athena Stevens join Paul Carter. They discuss defining ourselves as disabled, life beyond the Paralympic circus and feminism and disabled women.

Producer Ian Macrae.

Kicking off Disability Now’s Paralympic season is this interview with T42 sprinter Julie Rogers. At 17 she’s competing in the 100m in Rio but this is not her first Paralympic Games. In 2012 at the age of 13 she was a member of Britain’s seated volleyball team at the London games. She talks to Ian Macrae about her move to track and field, her desire to succeed in disability sport and her realistic hopes and expectations for Rio. 

Producer/Presenter IAN MACRAE

Technical support: RICHARD ARMSTRONG

Ian Macrae sits in for regular host Paul Carter and is joined by guests Mik Scarlet, Jane Hatton and performance poet Callum Brazzo who presents one of his poems towards the end of the show. Also under discussion, the woes it disabled flyers and a company which aims to bring together disabled job seekers and the employers who need their skills.

Producer/Presenter Ian Macrae

Technical support Joe Galbraith

Guests Lisa Egan, David Hevey and Michael McGrath join presenter Paul Carter to discuss problems with paying PAs redundancy, the recently launched National Disability Arts Collection and Archive celebrating the battle for disability rights and why some people positively want to inspire others. 

Producer Ian Macrae

The guest on this epsiode of The Download: Head to Head, the extended interview sereis from Disability Now, is Frank Gardner, Security Correspondent at the BBC.

In this episode of The Download from Disability Now Paul Carter talks to entrepreneur and consultant Geoff Adams-Spink and writer and activist Penny Pepper. They discuss the impact of the National Living Wage on the cost of care, how to become a disabled secret shopper and the film Me Before You which has seen disabled people protesting on the red carpet. 

For information about RICA visit http://www.rica.org.uk

Presenter:  Paul carter
Producer: Ian Macrae

Note: this episode was recorded before the EU Referendum had taken place. 
A transcript of this show will be available shortly.

In this edition of Disability Now’s discussion show The Download, we find out what the current hot storyline in Radio 4’s The Archers has to do with disabled people. Does being disabled and LGBT mean you fight a battle on two fronts?  And what benefits can be derived from de-cluttering your life? Presenter Paul Carter is joined by Dr Katherine Runswick-Cole from Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr Ju Gosling, Chair of Regard the LGBT organisation for disabled people and Sue Kent who recently undertook a big clear out.

Producer: Ian Macrae.

At the age of 6 Evelyn Glennie contracted mumps which affected her hearing. From then on she gradually became increasingly deaf. But by the time she was twelve she had already decided on a career as a musician.

But the path she chose to take was her own as she found herself drawn to the huge family of percussion instruments and the varied techniques needed for playing them. She was not interested, however, in the brief chances to shine available to a jobbing orchestral percussionist. From the start, and against most advice she was determined to build an international reputation as a solo percussionist.

In this episode of our one-to-one interview podcast, Dame Evelyn talks to Ian Macrae about her enthusiasm for the instruments she has chosen to make her own, the choices she made and battles she faced in making them and how she set about building a repertoire more or less from scratch. She also reveals which of all the instruments she plays is her favourite and explains why the acoustic garden she’s been involved in designing for the 2016 Chelsea Flower Show isn’t made up of bamboo poles and wind chimes.

Presenter and Producer:  Ian Macrae