The UK Talent Team (UK Sport and the EIS) and the British Paralympic Association are looking for high achieving athletes to take part in a nationwide talent search for British athletes for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Paralympic Potential: Bring on Brazil is a search for male and female athletes, across all Paralympic classifications, with the drive and determination to win at the Paralympics. We’re looking for athletes who have an impairment, are aged between 16-35 years old and are a UK passport holder (or are eligible for one) with a sporting background and the commitment and determination to win at the top level. Successful applicants will be invited to a Talent Assessment day where they will be given an Physical Profile and to analyse their potential in Paralympic sport. So if you think you’ve got what it takes to compete for your country as part of ParalympicsGB follow the instructions below.

More: http://www.paralympics.org.uk/potential

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Every day, their baby stopped breathing, his collapsed bronchus blocking the crucial flow of air to his lungs. April and Bryan Gionfriddo watched helplessly, just praying that somehow the dire predictions weren’t true.

“Quite a few doctors said he had a good chance of not leaving the hospital alive,” says April Gionfriddo, about her now 20-month-old son, Kaiba. “At that point, we were desperate. Anything that would work, we would take it and run with it.”

They found hope at the University of Michigan, where a new, bioresorbable device that could help Kaiba was under development.  Kaiba’s doctors contacted Glenn Green, M.D., associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at the University of Michigan.

Green and his colleague, Scott Hollister, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering and associate professor of surgery at U-M, went right into action, obtaining emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to create and implant a tracheal splint for Kaiba made from a biopolymer called polycaprolactone.

Full story: http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201305/baby%E2%80%99s-life-saved-groundbreaking-3d-printed-device

At 90 years, Percy Simmonds is the UK’s oldest known town crier and a classic ‘act’. Only last year he swapped his motorbike for a mobility scooter, but continues to drive. Percy is looking forward to the Roadshow and exploring all the latest innovations to aid mobility. His advice to everyone contemplating how to remain active in advanced years is: ”If there are mobility aids available, use them”!

Among the special guests visiting during the show on Thursday 27th is Falkland’s war veteran, Simon Weston, a good friend of the Roadshow over the years.

From the amazing UK Paralympic Games and visiting on Friday 28^th is sitting volleyball player Martine Wright, winner ofthe BBC Helen Rollason Award seven years after surviving the 7/7 bombings. And on Saturday 29th visitors can meet Paralympian cyclist Rik Waddon who has gained a long list of awards over the years including London 2012 Paralympic Games Team Sprint Silver Medallist and has recently won the Rudy Project, one of the first steps going forward for his Road to Rio 2016 campaign.

Dave Sykes, award-winning paraplegic microlight pilot and adventurer will be with the charity Aerobility talking about hisrecord breaking solo flight from England to Australia and his subsequent book. The Red Wheelies scooter formation display team, which holds the Guinness World Record for ‘the greatest distance covered in 24hrs by motorised wheelchair or mobility scooter’ will be performing each day.

As well as the vast showcase of everything to aid mobility and independent living and the opportunity to test drive the latest cars fitted with adaptations – for which this annual free event is renowned -there will be activities for all the family throughout the show. Over the years Saturday has become family day so as well as games and the giant climbing wall in the Sports Arena – where visitors can join in with members of the men’s and women’s GB Wheelchair Basketball teams – in the Activity Zone you’ll find lots to do for all ages. Have fun with giant Scalextric, remote-control cars, a wheel-up race car simulator, basketball challenge, a giant digital graffiti art wall as well as several vintage and specialist car displays throughout the exhibition. Take in a photocall with our Roadshow Stig, float above the clouds with Aerobility’s flight simulator and admire the skill of the Mouth and Foot painters.

Visitors on Thursday will be entertained by a Caribbean three-piece steel band and the Roadshow’s roving stilt walking juggler/magician is back by popular demand.

Celebrating its 30^th Anniversary – and being held at Telford for the first time – the Mobility Roadshow is the UK’s premier consumer mobility event, attracting thousands of visitors from across the UK, Europe and beyond. For many it is an annual pilgrimage to explore, try out and compare everything, both new and classic, to aid mobility.

Register at www.mobilityroadshow.co.uk for free tickets, test drives and to keep abreast of news as it unfolds. Follow Facebook and Twitter @MobilityRdShow #mobilityroadshow

Paralympic cyclist Karen Darke will perform a time trial to mark the opening of Scotland’s first dedicated cycling facility for people with physical and learning disabilities.

Karen, who won the Silver Medal in the women’s road time trial in the London 2012 Paralympic Games, will officially open the Highland Cycle Ability Centre today at Cantray, near Cawdor, where she will perform a time trial that will set a benchmark for other disabled cyclists.

The group behind the new track, Highland based charity The Watermill Foundation, hope the new facility will encourage more young disabled people to take up sport in Scotland in the wake of Team GB’s success in the 2012 London Paralympics, and in the run up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Built at a cost of £250,000, the 1K cycle track uses time trial technology to calculate cyclists’ speeds accurately, and allows disabled cyclists to test their skills in a safe, but challenging off-road environment.

The centre offers a variety of specialist cycle models to meet the different needs of its users, including tricycles for added stability, and tandems for visually impaired cyclists.

The new facility is open to disabled cycling clubs from across Scotland. Local schools, community groups and able bodied cycling clubs will also be able to use the new track, by appointment. In time, the charity plans to create a multi-purpose facility that is also open to runners and will include a pump track. *

Joanna McGregor, Chairwoman of The Watermill Foundation, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Karen Darke, one of the great ambassadors for disabled cycling, has joined us for the opening of this new centre, a first for Scotland. Karen has enjoyed huge sporting success as a Paralympic cyclist and we hope that her support will encourage young disabled people across Scotland to take an interest in cycling.

“This is an enormously exciting time for disabled sport in Scotland. The success of Team GB in the 2012 Paralympic Games was a huge inspiration for those of us who work closely with disabled people. We hope this new facility will allow us to build on this success and inspire others to pursue their sporting ambitions, particularly as we approach the Commonwealth Games.”

Sport Minister Shona Robison said: “This is a tremendous facility that will make it much easier for disabled people to get involved in cycling and will raise the profile of para cycling ahead of the events at next year’s Commonwealth Games. Backed by sportscotland funding, this is a first for Scotland and testament to The Watermill Foundation’s vision and hard work.”

Karen Darke said: “I’m looking forward to seeing and riding on the new track. It provides a unique facility for the area and will hopefully encourage many more people, with and without disabilities, to get on their bikes and challenge themselves.”

The centre was built by Inverness based civil engineers DFL, with funding support from a variety of donors, including the Highland LEADER Programme, The Robertson Trust, sportscotland, Sported, The Highland Council Ward Discretionary Fund and a number of other Lottery and community funding sources.

Louise Martin CBE, Chair of sportscotland, said: “This is a fabulous new facility which will help to accelerate the development of disabled cycling in Scotland, and I am delighted to see it officially opened today.

“sportscotland’s investment of £48,510 has helped create a fantastic cycling facility which will play a crucial part in capitalising on the excitement currently surrounding the sport.

“It is vital that we maximise the opportunities for people to become involved in sport and this investment shows our commitment to help develop and support a world-class sporting system at all levels, which will inspire future generations to be the best they can be.”

Andy McCann, Chair of Highland LEADER Programme said: “This is an exciting new project which fits well with LEADER’s aims of promoting innovative rural community development. It has delivered a unique facility for the Highlands and we particularly commended the wide range of support the project demonstrated. It will provide valuable new opportunities for people with a disability to participate in cycling activities. Highland LEADER was pleased to support this venture and wishes it every success”.

News to Editors
The Highland Cycle Ability Centre was created by The Watermill Foundation, a charity based in Cantray near Cawdor which is committed to improving learning and sporting opportunities and promoting independence for disabled young people across the Highlands.

Founders Joanna and Alastair McGregor have worked with disabled people for 40 years. They were co-founders of Nairn Hydrotherapy Pool and Cantraybridge Rural Skills College, as well as Watermill Enterprises, a social enterprise company which provides skills and training opportunities for young disabled adults.

Other members of the charity have experience in education, sport and skills development.

* A pump track is a dirt track set up with bumps, jumps and berms designed to allow the cyclist to ride the course continuously without peddling, using only weight shifts and gravity to propel them forward.

For more information about the Highland Cycle Ability Centre, go to www.highlandcycleability.co.uk

The Festival, now in its sixth year, will play host to acts featuring both disabled and non-disabled performers at Hijinx Theatre’s partner venues; the Wales Millennium Centre and Sherman Cymru theatre in Cardiff.

With funding from Arts Council of Wales, the Festival, which showcases professional and community programmes of theatre, dance, music, family shows, comedy and audience participation workshops, looks to open up the arts to a wide audience while reflecting the diverse society in which we live.

Last year, some 7,000 people enjoyed the Festival’s eclectic mix of shows, with this year’s audience anticipated to reach 10,000. Hijinx Theatre has enjoyed a huge growth in the size of the festival since its launch in 2008.

After last year’s success, the Unity Festival ‘Family Weekend’ is back on a bigger scale. There will be an assortment of free, family-oriented public events to be enjoyed on Saturday 15 (12pm – 7pm) and Sunday 16 (12pm – 6pm) June, including Graeae’s modern fable Iron Man, which stars a colossal iron puppet that stands taller than a double-decker bus.

Other highlights from the two-week programme include a high-energy flamenco performance from Sevillano dance company Cia José Galán, a ‘Bicycle Ballet’, performed by both sighted and visually impaired dancers on bicycles outside Cardiff’s Pierhead Building, and the jaw-dropping acrobatics show Extrêmités – recently dubbed “a health and safety officer’s worst nightmare”**.

Unity Festival Director, Ben Pettitt-Wade, said: “Now in its sixth year, the Unity festival is rapidly becoming one of the seminal events on the Welsh arts calendar. The legacy of a fantastic Paralympic games has given the UK inclusive arts scene a huge boost, and this is demonstrated by the large number of home-grown acts that feature in this year’s line-up.

“We are immensely pleased to be able to bring some of the most exciting acts of the moment to Cardiff for all to enjoy, and hope that the inclusive nature of the festival will encourage anyone, no matter what their experience of the arts, to engage with the joys of performance.”

Louise Miles-Crust, Head of Programming at Wales Millennium Centre, said: “We are delighted to be working with and supporting Hijinx Theatre on the sixth Unity Festival. Each year gets bigger and better and I’m really excited about some of the shows and events appearing at this year’s Festival, particularly Graeae’s Iron Giant outside and Cirque Inextremiste in the Centre’s Weston Studio.”

Chris Ricketts, Director of Sherman Cymru said: “We’re delighted to be part of this year’s Unity Festival and that the events we’re hosting include the fabulous Candoco Dance Company. Great art inspires and the Unity Festival is testament to what can be achieved when you truly believe in the work you’re creating and presenting.”

Nick Capaldi, Chief Executive, Arts Council of Wales said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Hijinx on Wales’ only inclusive arts festival. Now in its sixth year the unique Unity Festival celebrates the best in international inclusive theatre. The festival will offer new insights and new arts’ experiences, showing imagination and creativity in all its many forms and is another way in which we can break down perceptions. It shows what people with and without learning disabilities working together can offer in terms of thought-provoking arts activity.”

For more information about Unity festival 2013, including details of performances, ticket sales and festival volunteering opportunities, please visitwww.hijinx.org.uk/unity.

Tickets for any of the shows contact the venues on: Sherman Cymru 02920 646 900 / www.shermancymru.co.uk and Wales Millennium Centre 02920 636 464 /www.wmc.org.uk/unity.

For ongoing updates, please follow @HijinxTheatre on Twitter and Like ‘Unity Festival” on Facebook.

*Full festival line-up available at www.hijinx.org.uk/listings/. Festival listings overview available below.

Raymond Johnson says appearing on Channel 4 show helped challenge opinions of disability, but there is still …read more

Gig Buddies pairs people with learning disabilities up with a buddy who accompanies them to events in the …read more

The fitness-for-work test used to determine whether hundreds of thousands of people are eligible to claim sickness benefits substantially disadvantages people with mental health conditions, a court has said, in a landmark ruling hailed as a significant victory by mental health charities.

A three-judge tribunal panel ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had failed to make reasonable adjustments to ensure people with mental health problems were treated fairly by the system. This failure meant such claimants were placed at a substantial disadvantage, the judgment concluded.

See original here:

Fitness-for-work tests unfair on people with mental health problems, court says

Work capability assessments place those with mental health conditions at substantial disadvantage, judge concludes

The fitness-for-work test …read more

When I was a kid, I used to play at being deaf by covering my ears. Obviously, this was not a very satisfactory approximation of the deaf experience, and I didn’t really have an inkling of what it meant to be deaf until I shared a car with a hearing friend who works as a British Sign Language interpreter and three other BSL speakers.

Everyone made concessions to my limitations and we talked in a mixture of English and BSL. But as the conversation got more animated, whole digressions and throwaway jokes went on, and I could barely have known what I was missing out on. I was tongueless in that car, and I found it stressful and alienating. I realised as I’d never realised before that I’m not entirely sure who I am if I can’t be heard (probably an especially acute complaint for columnists).

Now imagine that you have that same experience of tonguelessness, but instead of sitting in a car with people you know, you’re seriously ill in a hospital bed – and nobody can explain to you what’s happening. As reported in this newspaper, profoundly deaf Elaine Duncan spent 12 days in Ninewells hospital, Dundee. Despite her repeated requests, she was at no time provided with an interpreter: her appendix was removed without anyone discussing her treatment in her first language.

Read this article:
Deaf people’s linguistic culture is being allowed to disintegrate | Sarah Ditum

Amnesty International has recently passed a resolution condemning attacks on the human rights of sick and disabled people in the UK. One of the ways our rights are being challenged is the manner in which the government is trying to force disabled people into work. It’s a black mark on a society when its disabled residents have to jump through ridiculous hoops to get the benefits that they need to survive on a daily basis.

In this difficult financial climate when there are so many unemployed, why is the government putting the onus on disabled people to attend meetings run by organisations who only know how to assess by ticking boxes? These organisations don’t know what it’s like to have a disability where one minute you might not be in pain, but five more and that could all change., or where the built environment and people’s attitudes are as disabling a factor in the search for work as your own disability.

Why isn’t the government putting equal pressure on companies to make sure that they employ disabled people? If that is too complicated, then the government could take a bold lead and make all benefits assessors people with disabilities themselves; we would do a darn sight better than those doing it now. Disabled people would want to help those that need it the most and make the whole process easier and stress free; we would want to make sure those that are faking illness get booted off the system quickly so that there is money in the pot for those that need it the most.

Continue reading here:
Put disabled people in charge of benefits assessments | Julie Fernandez

Go here to see the original:
Disabled people claiming the right to die deserve to be heard | Frances Ryan

Original post:
The NHS is killing disabled people | Ian Birrell

My daughter is disabled so I know at first hand how badly NHS staff often treat people like …read more

With four specially designed and equipped self-catering holiday cottages situated in a beautifully paved courtyard overlooking the River Dee in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, this is the ideal country getaway.

It is the perfect destination for disabled people as each cottage comes equipped with wheel-in shower, clos-o-mat toilet and height-adjustable sink and a ceiling track hoist* in the bathroom, the main bedroom has an electric height-adjustable bed and ceiling track hoist. The kitchen surfaces and appliances are all wheelchair accessible with plenty of room to manoeuvre. There is also a range of other equipment available, at no extra cost, such as mobile hoist, monkey pole, shower chairs and pressure relief mattresses etc. The furniture and fittings are of extremely high quality and design, and each cottage has recently been refurbished and has its own individual style.

Other on-site facilities include a fully-equipped laundry room, a glazed Garden Room for lazy days, a children’s play area and riverside patio. The rustic log cabin is perfect for relaxing and enjoying the natural beauty surrounding you.

The warmth of the welcome is fantastic; the staff are all fully committed to ensuring that their guests enjoy a peaceful and relaxing holiday among the splendour of Royal Deeside.

The Manse Courtyard is the perfect base for exploring Royal Deeside and the owners have collected details of over 100 accessible places to visit during your stay – there’s plenty to see and do for everyone with attractions including: castles, distilleries, museums, wildlife, nature, good food and leisure facilities.

Come and experience it all for yourselves.

It may even be possible to organise help with care arrangements while you are there. In some cases it is possible to transfer your home care while on holiday. Please get in touch with Crathie Opportunity Holidays to find out more about this or check with your own Care Manager.

(*except Gairn cottage)

More: www.crathieholidays.org.uk

……………………….

The Competition

The prize is one week’s accommodation in a self-catering cottage kindly provided by Crathie Opportunity Holidays for up to four people. The cottage can be chosen according to the winner’s requirements. The prize must be taken before 31 March 2014 and is subject to availability.

The prize is not transferable nor can any cash alternative be offered.

Transport costs are the responsibility of the winner.

The winner will be required to have their photo taken and allow Crathie Opportunity Holidays to use it for marketing purposes.

How to enter:

Simply email Rosy@primasmedia.co.uk with your details to enter