This month, we were lucky enough to have Diane Lightfoot. Chief Executive of the Business Disability Forum on the show. Phil and Simon have been associates, consultants, allies and critical friends of the Forum for 20 years and we mention the organisation often in our shows. It’s unique, representing business and disability voices in one place.Three years ago Diane Lightfoot became the chief executive and we discuss what she sees as the successes and progress made in her time, as well as what still needs to be done.Prior to joining the Forum, Diane was Director of Policy and Communications for United Response, a leading national disability charity and she focused on the organisation’s employment services which focused particularly on this with learning difficulties. Phil and Simon ask Diane why is the group of disabled people so often ignored and how do we get the employment and participation rates up.There’s an error in the show. See if you can spot it and let us know, to win..our praise. Business Disability Forum https://businessdisabilityforum.org.ukUnited Response https://www.unitedresponse.org.uk

Our summer holidays are over and we review our respective trips. Gran Canaria, Brussels, Berlin, Twinwood Festival 2019 and a trip around the UK all get a mention.A rarely seen public refusal, Dominos Pizza is asking the US Supreme Court to allow them to ignore the needs of sight-impaired people regarding the accessibility of their website, all because they say they don't have any guidelines.Another refusal comes from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club who banned an Open Champion, John Daly from using a golf buggy because it would 'break with tradition'.One person who managed to get the rules changed in his favour is Billy Monger. After becoming disabled from a racing car crash, he is back in Formula 3 racing having had the regulations excluding disabled drivers racing revised to include him and others.We wrap up with some comments from our listeners and a sort of book review “The Longevity Economy by Joseph F. Coughlin" which suggest we need to view ageing and disability differently.Links:Twinwood Festival 2019 (http://bit.ly/30iofO2)Domino Pizza Supreme Court story http://bit.ly/2UZmvak   Note - there is a strong swear word in the headline.John Daly Golf Cart story http://bit.ly/2NmZWvoBilly Monger http://bit.ly/2V534x8The Longevity Economy by Joseph Coughlin https://amzn.to/2V2C5SUClick here for the Itunes link https://apple.co/2AvKoe8 or here http://bit.ly/331gEEyfor the Audioboom version  If you have any comments, feedback or suggestions, please email us at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . We hope you enjoy it.You can visit the Phil and Simon Show Facebook page http://bit.ly/1t8tS0dor follow us on Twitter @PhilSimonShow (https://twitter.com/PhilSimonShow)

Caroline Casey is an engaging and emotive speaker. She’s done a TED Talk, spoken at Davos and her current project is to get 500 global companies to sign a pledge to discuss disability in the boardroom. We start by exploring her remarkable childhood, where her parents didn't tell her that she had sight loss. She explains how the Johnny Cash song, ‘A Boy Named Sue’ influenced this thinking. Having a great memory and the ability to listen, meant Caroline not only got by but got on. Then as a young adult, as she was about to have a driving lesson, she realised something was amiss. A later attempt to learn to drive stopped abruptly when she not only couldn’t she read the number plate, she couldn’t identify the car.  After the realisation, rather than explore this identity, she decided to hide it herself and spent a further 11 years pretending nothing was different, a period she calls ‘the fraudulent years’. When applying for a job and asked to complete a monitoring form she’d hesitate and eventually lightly graze the tick box, in pencil, showing her confusion. Finally, at 28 years old, she says she ‘came out of the disability closet’ and embraced her full self although acknowledges, she’s still working on accepting it - asking for help is one of the toughest things for her to do and she sees this inability as a weakness.Her latest campaign is Valuable 500 and she gives us an update with an impending deadline. If 56% of board meeting agendas have never mentioned disability, 7% of board-level employees have an impairment and 80% of those hide the fact, there’s some work to do.There are a few mild swear words, just to let you know. Transcription is available on request. Links https://www.thevaluable500.comDiversish video (https://youtu.be/HZyylZpRHN0)A Boy Named Sue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR5XGTpophI)  Twitter @500Valuable

Welcome to the Phil & Simon Show No 33.In an article published in the US, it is suggested that full employment has reduced the unemployment rate for disabled people. Taking a somewhat cynical view is this because the last in the queue are finally at the front? If so what’s wrong with that? https://n.pr/30ym0G5No P&S podcast would be complete without some discussion about accessible toilets and this one is no exception. Who says it unacceptable for non-disabled people to use them? We come to a view.Simon recently gave Phil a copy of Daniel Klein's book “Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change it” (OneWorld Publications 2015) at a point where Phil was feeling pretty low. We discuss the books messages and their impact.Following last months podcast featuring the inimitable Tom Shakespeare, we revisit the discussion around the Social Model of Disability to explore the impact on us.Finally, we dig deep into our listener's postbag and pull out comments about transcriptions, workplace adjustments research, where and when people listen and should we do more news.Keep the comments coming we love hearing from you.Transcript available by clicking here (https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4yps05va018go6/Phil%20%26%20Simon%20Show%20No%2033%20Transcript.rtf?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR2Ogb8N_jz3fZLdHGdMWryAdtMRcancLNymupyceePkALvm6YSpPJYufZc)A full transcript of this podcast is available on request. Please email [email protected]

Tom Shakespeare is our guest this month. An English sociologist and broadcaster he is known to many who are involved in disability rights as well the broader public because of his appearances on Radio 4 and numerous television documentaries. Tom has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism and uses a wheelchair. He has worked at the World Health Organisation and is currently Professor of Disability Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Tom has never been afraid to share his views on a whole range of subjects. As you might expect he was very frank about some of the more difficult moments in his life; when he challenged the thinking of many disabled activists, about the social model, his take on bioethics and more recently assisted suicide. Our discussion also explored self-confidence as distinct from self-esteem and how ‘adversity inoculation’, that is experiencing surmountable challenges in life, can help with resilience rather than overprotecting people from taking risks.Tom talks about his influences; his father and Jenny Morris’ book Pride Against Prejudice. He questions whether we can get stuck, rejecting diversity of thought and resist smart allegiances which will ultimately weaken disabled people’s progress in society. For example, we need medical classification so how do we work with medical professionals, adapt them and own them? Or why don’t we work with the organisations we don’t like to change them?Transcript available here (https://www.dropbox.com/s/l81rw0y72yzy3qc/Phil%20%26%20Simon%20Show%20No%2032%20Tom%20Shakespeare?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR0blfPXkfNE4Z1R2naXnLRlvmhgoIJPC1rssYCCjXe2JqTVB8mJQz9yXQM) - click Download once you arrive. Finally just to let you know in advance there is a little swearing in this recording. Plus there's a ten second gap at the end before we sign off, so you can recover your breath from the interesting conversation. If you need a full transcript of this show please email us at [email protected]

We've not had research about reasonable adjustments in work for a while but the Business Disability Forum (https://businessdisabilityforum.org.uk) have completed a new survey. Phil and Simon investigate the findings are assess what might be behind the numbers.The Phil & Simon Show has produced a  transcript (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ute0kz6si8vda6v/Phil%20%26%20Simon%20Show%20No%2031.pdf?dl=0 ) for every show and released it at the same time as the pod. However, we weren't sure if anyone was reading it. Our guest Joanna Wootten (https://twitter.com/JoannaSolutions) gives us her thoughts on podcasts, radio, transcripts and being a Deaf person.We recently spoke of the sad passing of Sir Bert Massie. His autobiography, A Life Without Limits (http://www.mereobooks.com/books/genre/self-help-motivational/fighting-fairer-world) , has just been published and Simon and Phil review it.Plus there might be a mention of Simon's (https://twitter.com/simonminty/status/1125478187184553986) recent sporting activities.LinksTranscription (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ute0kz6si8vda6v/Phil%20%26%20Simon%20Show%20No%2031.pdf?dl=0 )Survey findings (https://businessdisabilityforum.org.uk/adjustments)Sir Bert Massie's book publishers (http://www.mereobooks.com/books/genre/self-help-motivational/fighting-fairer-world)Sir Bert's book Amazon Kindle (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Without-Limits-Disability-Activist-ebook/dp/B07QB3XKNB/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1558519372&sr=8-1-fkmrnull)Dwarf Sports Association UK (https://www.dsauk.org)

We kick off this show with a discussion about the future of work and the increasing use of artificial intelligence in recruitment. Liz Sayce and Jane Hatton discussed some of the possible repercussions for disabled people at a joint presentation they gave to the Royal Society of Arts. [http://bit.ly/2VHxiWq](http://bit.ly/2VHxiWq)Simon reflects on the highs and lows of a recent trip to the US. Being stared at was a positive experience for once. A couple of disabled New Yorkers suggested the social model is to limited and claimed that disability is its own culture and the arts scene in Britain needs to recognise it as such. Sadly two more campaigners died recently. We take a moment to remember the contributions made by Mike Oliver a grandee of the disability movement and Jane Nokes less well known but who made a significant difference.A full transcript of this podcast is available here A or on our Audioboom page, Twitter feed and Facebook page. Click here for the Itunes link [https://apple.co/2AvKoe8](https://apple.co/2AvKoe8)or here [http://bit.ly/2WcMElT](http://bit.ly/2WcMElT)for the Audioboom version  If you have any comments, feedback or suggestions, please email us at [email protected]. We hope you enjoy it. [You can download the transcript by clicking this anywhere on this sentence.](https://www.dropbox.com/s/2pwrlcvmmsisopx/Phil%20%26%20Simon%20Show%20No%2030?dl=0) You can visit the Phil and Simon Show Facebook page http://bit.ly/1t8tS0d or follow us on Twitter @PhilSimonShow

How often do you hear, ‘what do the young people want?’ Perhaps not often enough. Certainly not as often as ‘how things have changed since my day!’ Phil and Simon wanted to hear from the next generation so we invited the multi-talented Abbi Brown on to our show. She works for the ad agency behind the now infamous Malteser adverts on Channel 4. With Abbi we explore whether you can make more of a difference from the inside or out, who her (disabled) role models were when she was growing up and does she think there’s a disability movement these days. Indeed, what is activism these days, what are the next generation ‘fighting for’ if anything and does social media help or hinder? We also talk about using the bus and not thinking twice about it. Abbi has personal experience of disability with OI (brittle bones) deafness and mental health problems. [Click this for transcript of the show](https://www.dropbox.com/s/gm0ly6djnlrnipx/Phil%20%26%20Simon%20Show%20No%2029%20w%20Abbi%20Brown?dl=0)You can follow Abbi on -Twitter [@AbbiSigns](https://twitter.com/AbbiSigns)Instagram [abbisigns](https://www.instagram.com/abbisigns/) YouTube [Ithinkmynameismoose](https://www.youtube.com/user/ithinkmynameismoose)

In this edition of our podcast, we talk to the renowned influencer and campaigner Liz Sayce about her exceptional career and her passion for equality and human rights.Liz shares her personal experience of managing a mental health condition and the insight that this has provided in her role as a campaigner.Liz reflects on the seven years she spent working for the mental health charity MIND and the knowledge she gained from her trip to the US where she examined the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act. (ADA)We reflect on her time as Director of Policy and Communications at the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and subsequently her role as the CEO of RADAR and Disability Rights UK.In addition to her "day jobs," she is a prolific writer and her books, papers and articles have examined mental health issues and more recently focused on the thorny problems relating to employment and career development challenges for disabled people. She is currently based at the London School of Economics (LSE) and discusses her recently published report "Switching Focus" which describes a four-point plan designed to improve disabled people's employment and pay.Find the time to take a listen you will not be disappointed.A full transcript of our conversation is available [here.](http://bit.ly/2TNoKw6)We’d love to hear from you, email us [email protected] or send a message via Facebook or Twitter. If you’d like to review us on iTunes or Audioboom that would be amazing.

Simon turned up to Phil’s studio (house) and said ‘I have nothing to say this month.’ Phil replied ‘I’ve not got much either’. Fifty minutes later, an enjoyable, personal, broad themed show was recorded!We ask if the Guaranteed Interview Scheme is still needed? Is it fit for purpose? After some great Christmas TV with various disabled actors popping up we wonder if the same is happening in theatre?David Isaac, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission recently was quoted in the Sunday Times asking ‘Where’s the #metoo movement on disability?’ Simon wonders out loud if he’s a listener to our show, as we asked the same question in show 25 “All That Jazz Hands”.Phil talks of someone he greatly admired when he was in a former role. It made him wonder about who are the people that have an impact in our lives and we explore what it is about them that draws us to them.We’d love to hear from you, email us [email protected] or send a message via Facebook or Twitter. If you’d like to review us on iTunes or Audioboom that would be amazing.[Link to transcript](https://www.dropbox.com/s/rw2fyr9w1nuxrdb/Phil%20%26%20Simon%20Show%20No%2027.rtf?dl=0)