Thanks to recommendations from those wonderful people at BBC Ouch! I’ve found myself in demand over the last few weeks by journalists interested in the opportunities that technology offers us disabled people.
First of all Radio 4, You and Yours asked me to join a discussion on 22nd oct about how disabled peoples’ lives have changed in the 40 years the programme has been on air, making them as old as disability rights law itself 1970 being the year that the chronically sick and disabled persons act, the first disability rights legislation made it on to the statue books. You can listen to the show on the You and yours site The technology item is chapter 3 but the whole show is well worth your time.
Then for UN international day of persons with disabilities 2010 (3rd December BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones invited me to meet him to film a short piece for BBC news as part of their access all areas week of disability news items. We met up on a very cold Bambury train station and talked about the independence that visually impaired people gain from mobile technology including smartphones, personal satnav, and the like before going on to Frank Wise school to find out how teachers and young people there use their on site film studio to make a Christmas movie that everyone gets to star in, and produce, and that can be seen by all parents, something that wouldn’t be possible now that, like many newer schools there is limited space for performance. We filmed 6 and 7 year olds using the Nintendo Wii for key stage 1 maths, and one of their early years kids using an iPad to practice focus and attention.
The final 2nd December news piece picked out just a small part of our conversations but you can see it for yourself, along with Rorys’ accompanying blog posts and also listen to Rory discuss the article and play out some of the audio we recorded on Gabby Logans’ 5-live show on Friday (3rd December)s lunchtime show. scroll to 1.52.52, or if you’re relying on keyboard access and can’t use the timeline in the BBC player use the jump to 90% button and listen for 5 minutes before you get to the technology piece.
If you’re interested in more articles about technology and the positive impact it can have on the lives of disabled people check out my regular BBC Ouch! blog or follow me on Twitter.
