When Speech Is the Barrier: Aphasia, AAC and the Right to Be Understood
Over 350,000 people in the UK live with aphasia after stroke or brain injury; thousands more speak through devices, or with a stammer, or not at all. Intelligence intact, phone lines impossible. Here is what they are owed, and what actually helps.
Can’t Wait: Stomas, Crohn’s, Colitis and the Toilet Door That Won’t Open
Half a million people in the UK live with IBD, and well over 100,000 with a stoma. For them, “customers only” and a judgemental look at the accessible loo can end a day out. The cards, keys and comebacks that keep the door open.
Visible Difference: The Equality Act Clause Nobody Quotes
If you have a significant scar, birthmark, skin condition or facial difference, the Equality Act protects you automatically — no need to prove your life is limited by it. Almost nobody knows the clause exists, including the people discriminating.
Deafblind in Britain: The Assessment Your Council Must Do Properly
Combined sight and hearing loss is not deafness plus blindness — it is its own disability, and the law treats it that way: councils must assess deafblind people using someone specifically trained to do it. Most families are never told. Here is what to ask for, by name.
Tourette’s in Public: Tics, Stares and Being Asked to Leave
Being removed from a cinema, challenged by security or reported to the police for tics you cannot control is disability discrimination — and it happens to people with Tourette’s constantly. Here is the law, and the cards, cues and scripts that make going out easier.
Watch Your Train Coming: Why a Live Rail Map Is an Access Tool
A departure board tells you a time. A live map tells you the truth: where your train actually is, right now, and which platform it is heading for. For disabled passengers, that difference is not a gadget — it is the number of minutes you spend standing on a cold platform.
Renting While Disabled: Adjustments, Adaptations and the New Rules
A private landlord cannot lawfully say “no adjustments, no assistance dog, no benefits tenants” — but plenty still do. What the Equality Act requires of landlords, what the Renters’ Rights Act changes, and how to get adaptations into a home you don’t own.
Your Vote, Your Booth: Disabled People and the Ballot Box
Polling stations up steps, ballot papers you cannot read, and a long history of disabled people being helped to vote by other people’s choices. The rules changed in 2022 — mostly for the better — and here is what you can now insist on.
The EHCP Battle: Getting a Disabled Child the Education They’re Owed
The system for supporting disabled children at school runs on deadlines most parents are never told and refusals most parents never challenge — even though appeals succeed in the overwhelming majority of cases. Here is the process, the deadlines, and where the pressure points are.
Powered Wheelchairs, Ventilators and the Electricity Bill: Energy When You’re Disabled
When your equipment runs on electricity, a power cut is a medical event and the unit price is a health tax. The Priority Services Register, the 105 line, and the discounts most eligible households never claim.