The Disability Download Leonard Cheshire

This month, our hosts Peter and Beth spoke with creator, comedian, author and educator Fats Timbo, and sociologist and researcher Cassandra Lovelock, as well as a few friendly members of the public, to discuss, amongst many other things, the intersectionality of disability and race.

Cassie Lovelock

Cassandra (Cassie) Lovelock is a Research Assistant at the ESRC Centre for Society & Mental Health at Kings College London and is also currently completing her PhD at the London School of Economics where she is conceptualising a theory of indirect lived experience in mental health research, service design/improvement and policy making. Cassie has hereditary neuropathy with a liability for pressure palsies (HNPP), a rare condition with similar symptoms to MS, and often uses a wheelchair.

Her understanding and knowledge of disability rights is rooted in her lived experiences, and she has featured on Channel 4, The Huffington Post, Metro, and Evening star where she has sheds light on disability hate crime.

Fats Timbo

Fats Timbo is an social media influencer, model and comedian and often talks about achondroplasia and her African heritage. She has over 2 million followers on TikTok and has appeared on television shows such as Celebrity Gogglebox and Laugh Lessons, and Channel 4s “Don’t Look Down”. Fats also hosts her own stand-up comedy night “Fats & Friends” and has hosted some of the biggest up-and-coming digital comedians as they take their first steps into live stand-up. Fats is an advocate for disability rights and has supported charities such as Scope and Leonard Cheshire in bringing awareness of disabled people and inclusivity in the media industry.

This episode explores the topic of disability hate crime – what it is and how people can be allies to disabled people

We speak to Sapphire Beamish from United Response. We also chat with Leonard Cheshire’s Rebecca Waugh and find out how Northern Ireland Hate Crime Advocacy Service supports victims of hate crime. Joining Rebecca is Jolena Flett, Head of Advocacy and New Projects at partner organisation Victim Support.

July is Disability Pride Month. Dr Hannah Barham-Brown talks about disability activism and what makes her proud to be disabled.
Dr Hannah is a GP who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and uses a wheelchair. She tells us why we need to see more disabled #rollmodels in our healthcare professionals, in our politicians and in all areas of life. She also discusses LGBTQ events and why they need to be more inclusive. This is a light-hearted chat about crucial topics, with Hannah’s enthusiasm and humour showing throughout.

This month Leonard Cheshire's Campaigns Support Officer, Joshua Reeves invites his friend and fellow tattoo enthusiast Jax to be a guest on The Disability Download. Josh and Jax both have several tattoos, and in this episode the two discuss their experiences, from tattoos related to their disabilities, to first tattoo regret, and more!

Shehla Ali who lives in Sheffield spent the most of her twenties travelling around the world and flying her drone. In her thirties she was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder and everything changed.
Shehla went from adventurer to advocate and tells us about navigating life with FND.

Mili Lacaze lives in Liverpool and has M.E. – a condition also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS.) Mili, who is originally from Argentina, talks with honesty and openness about the effect the condition has on her life. She also tells us why attitudes to people with invisible disabilities need to improve.