Archives for April 2010

Over the last few weeks a number of emails have arrived in the Ouch! inbox, flagging up films which are by and about disabled people. Below are just some of the disability related films which have recently been made available to watch online.

One Man's Walk was inspired by a young guy with Down's syndrome.

Sam's Story is a collaboration between Whizz-Kidz and the BBC.

Shoot Your Mouth Off, is a pan-disability project based in the north of England, making films since 2001.

Mencap's Art Spider website, holds lots of different films by people with a learning disability, including Oska Bright entries and movies by the Beacon Hill Film Project. The Becon Hill Film Project has also just won the UK Young Film-maker award, so congratulations to them.

Use the comments to make your own disability film recommendations.

October Films has been commissioned by BBC1 to make a film about DISABILITY HATE CRIME. They are looking for people who are currently experiencing ongoing harassment or abuse because of their disability. If you are experiencing this - or know of somebody who is - then contact [email protected] or call 0207 284 6868 to get involved.

Former Paralympian, Baroness tanni Grey-Thompson, has fallen victim to the volcanic ash cloud and is one of the many thousands of Brits stuck overseas due to the no fly zone across much of northern Europe.

She's in Tel Aviv and regularly tweeting about it on her Twitter page. Will she have to travel to Spain to get picked up by the navy? We wish you well Tanni ... and others who can't reach home. Go and give her a bit of online moral support.

Watch out Birmingham, here we come!

The Ouch! team are heading out and about once more. This time it's to Naidex, an annual disability exhibition, taking place at the NEC in Birmingham between the 20th and 22nd of April. If you are planning to attend, we can't wait to meet you for a chat. You'd never know, visit our little corner, stand F21, and you may even get your hands on some new Ouch! branded goodies.

At 11 AM. Each morning, Ouch! will occupy one of the seminar spaces, the lifestyle and demo zone, for 30 minutes. On Tuesday, website regulars Liz Carr, Simon Minty and Rob Crossan will be discussing the ups and downs of travelling with a disability. They don't just want to talk about their experiences though. They'll be asking you, the audience, for your questions and personal anecdotes.

On Wednesday, comedian Gareth Berliner will be seeing the funny side of Crohn's disease, short gut syndrome and depression. Some of the team recently went to see Gareth live and were very impressed. We hope you will be too.

On Thursday the 22nd of April, Ouch! presents deaf comedian Steve Day. He lost a lot of his hearing when he was 18, which obviously changed his perspective on the world a bit. He describes himself as the UK's only deaf comedian. He says, "if there are others, I haven't heard".

We absolutely love to meet Ouch! readers, so if you do plan to make the trip to Naidex, visit us at stand F21!

Torsten Brand, co-inventor of the very first talking mobile phone software, has died at the age of 45.

To realise what an impact Torsten had on the lives of blind and visually impaired people the world over, one only has to read what's been said about him on the web.

BlindBargains.com appear to have been the first to break the sad news. As well as pointing out Torsten's many achievements, particularly his involvement in the development of Talks, their news story also includes interviews with him from around the web.

One of assistive technology's other most prominent names is Jonathan Mosen. In a thank you to Torsten He writes about the man from a very personal perspective. Jonathan's post includes details on how life-changing the addition of a screenreader to his mobile phone was and also comments on his and Torsten's personal relationship.

Apparently Torsten Brand was very involved in ensuring that Talks would work with the new generation of flat surfaced, buttons free, touchscreen phones. As these become more and more commen and keypads start to disappear, I for one hope that his work will live on and that we blind people will be able to remain on a par with our sighted peers when it comes to mobile communication.