Podcasts are the perfect medium for information, education, laughter, escapism and relaxation. You can listen to them anywhere: at home, in the office, in the car, on public transport or even on vacation. Plus, they’re free and easy to access on any device.
Disability Horizons recommends 11 of the best podcasts for people with disabilities to listen to for advice, support, humour and entertainment.
Ed Jackson was left disabled in a swimming pool accident which left him with a dislocated C6/C7 vertebrae that ruined his rugby career.
Nevertheless, he has been an adventurer, charity founder, broadcaster, speaker, author, brand ambassador and mentor.
Ed is best known for presenting Channel 4’s European Champions Cup rugby highlights and as a commentator for the Six Nations, and was also part of the Channel 4 presenting team for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.
“It’s Good To Walk” is Ed’s debut podcast, where he speaks with guests with and without disabilities about resilience, determination and their journeys overcoming adversity.
Guests include Paralympic rower David Smith MBE, who was quadruple paralysed after suffering from an incurable tumour in his spine, racing driver Billy Monger, who lost both legs in a car accident whilst racing, and DJ, music producer and mental health advocate Carly Wilford.
Access All: Disability News and Talk (formerly BBC Ouch!) is a weekly podcast about mental health, wellbeing and disability, bringing life stories and solutions to a global audience. It is hosted by Nikki Fox, Disability Correspondent for BBC News.
The podcast’s new rebrand will launch in April 2022 and will feature well-known guests with a range of disabilities, including Bryony Mae Williams, Melissa Johns, Ruth Madeley and Alice Tye.
In addition to interviews, Nikki discusses a variety of disability-related news topics with members of the disability community and industry experts, including accessibility, finances, attitudes, and more.
You can also listen to older episodes of BBC Ouch!, which has been on the air since 2006 and is hosted by Simon Minty and Kate Monaghan, who interview different disabled people, discuss hot topics around disability and share their own experiences.
Martyn Sibley is a busy disability entrepreneur, businessman and disability activist. As well as co-founding Disability Horizons and Purple Goat, he’s also run his own podcast, The Martyn Sibley Show, which he launched in March 2017.
In his early years, Martin interviewed a range of influential and successful disabled people, including Paralympic cyclist Sarah Storey, travel blogger Corey Lee, consultant and presenter Simon Minty, TV presenter Sophie Morgan, entrepreneur Josh Wintersgill and disability rights activist Baroness Jane Campbell.
He also introduced several members of the Disability Horizons team, including our other co-founder Srin Madipalli, Editor-in-Chief Liz Ransome-Croker and our former Business Manager, the late Chris Cusack.
In May 2020, Martin started keeping a new diary and recording 5-10 minute podcasts each day sharing what was happening in her life, what she was learning, and how she was feeling.
Martin recently released a new, more personal series featuring his family, including his fiancé and mother, and reflecting on events in his life, including the pandemic, health challenges, recent travel, anxiety, career advancement, childhood, and growing up with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
lABLEd is a podcast about disability, illness and difference hosted by Alice Evans and Lucy Wood, two disabled women in their 30s who met by chance online in 2020 after Lucy posted about the idea of producing a podcast about disability.
They discovered they had very similar outlooks on life and disabilities: Lucy, a marketing coordinator at AccessAble, has cerebral palsy (CP) and uses a wheelchair, while Alice, a disability advocate who works for a social service agency, has retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic eye disease, and uses a guide dog.
Drawing on their own experiences with disabilities, they created the podcast “lABLEd,” which refocuses the story on disabled individuals, their voices and stories, rather than societal expectations.
lABLEd exists to foster a different kind of disability advocacy, a platform where disabled people can tell their own stories and explore the full breadth of the disability experience.
In each episode we interview different people with different disabilities, impairments and health conditions. Guests talk about their experiences, challenges and the attitudes they receive from others, as well as their achievements and successes.
Additionally, the lABLEd podcast will have a feature called “History Lessons”, where Lucy and Alice will tell stories about historical figures who lived with a disability or health challenge.
Hosted by presenter, actor and disability campaigner Adam Pearson, disabled journalist Simon Sansom and autism advocates Chris Lee-Smith and Duncan Cusburn, Grumpy Gits sets the world straight in every episode, discussing everything from disability to the silliest questions.
The podcast first launched in January 2019 as “While Disabled,” with Simon Sansom interviewing well-known disabled people, including Rosie Jones, Tahnee Gray-Thompson, and Samantha Lenke, before relaunching in April 2021 as “The Grumpy Gits,” when he teamed up with Adam, Chris, and Duncan.
Each episode will discuss everyday life for people with disabilities, parenting a child with a disability, and cover some of the strangest news stories of the week.
They also answer silly questions like, “Have you ever wanted to throw a smoke bomb and disappear?” and “If you could make one rule for one day that everyone had to follow, what would it be?”
This is a new podcast series from disability charity Leonard Cheshire. Hosted by Erin, who has rheumatoid arthritis, The Disability Download is a place to “share stories and start conversations about disability”.
The show will also feature guest presenters such as disabled model Caprice, BBC correspondent Gary O’Donoghue and Ruth Owen MBE, who will share stories and spark conversations about current disability issues including sex education, inclusive sport, music and mental health.
Comedians and radio hosts Ellis James and Jon Robbins talk to a range of guests about the mental health challenges and hurdles they’ve faced in their lives, asking the question: “How are you coping?”
Guests appearing on the podcast include The Last Leg co-host Alex Brooker, Sex Education actor George Robinson, TV presenter Chris Packham, Queen guitarist Brian May and ITV journalist Tom Bradby.
Beernuts Productions Podcast is a fun and entertaining interview podcast hosted by a blind comedian, writer, producer, editor, director and actor, an Australian man known simply as Gough.
He talks to people with and without disabilities – comedians, actors, musicians, artists, athletes – basically anyone he’s interested in. Each episode is 20 minutes long and professionally recorded at Beernuts Studios.
In November 2021, he spoke to our editor and writer, Emma Purcell, about living with cerebral palsy and vision loss, and her career in journalism.
Also, check out Emma’s interview with Goff in January 2021.
RNIB Connect Radio is the UK’s radio station for blind and partially sighted people to hear about what’s going on in their community. Podcasts include a variety of content, including charity updates, interviews with people who are visually impaired, news and current affairs relating to the visually impaired community, and advice and support on accessing services.
RNIB Connect Radio also has other great podcast channels including:
Conversations – blind and partially sighted people talking about a wide range of topics. Read On – an audiobook show about accessible reading. Tech Talk – technology for blind and partially sighted people. Sport – looking at sport in a different light. The Happy Hour – mental health, mindfulness and holistic wellbeing. Tracks of My Life – journeys through our guests’ lives. Support – other podcasts from RNIB. TV Guide – daily audio TV listings.
TiLT Parenting by parenting activist, speaker, and author Debbie Reber features transformative interviews and conversations with authors, parenting experts, educators, and other parents with the goal of inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising children with neurodevelopmental disorders (including ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, sensory processing disorders, anxiety, and more).
TiLT aims to empower parents with confidence and choice in how they parent, bring peace to their daily lives, parent with confidence and awareness, advocate for their children and help them thrive in all areas.
Podcast topics include navigating major life transitions, support in school, drug addiction, technology, travel strategies, social skills, positive discipline and more.
Last but not least, our very own Disability Horizons podcast: our podcasts are audio recordings from the Disability Horizons TV channel hosted by product reviewers. Zeck RichardsonTV personality, journalist Mick Scarlettand sometimes Dan White.
They discuss a range of disability topics including sex and relationships, chronic pain, carers and caregiving, the NHS, disability pride, the Paralympics, disability hate crime and disability representation in the media. Watch our Disability and Humour episode to find out for yourself…
Guests also often join in, including presenter and disability activist Andrew Miller, disabled couple Mel and Steve, founders of Spokz People, and fellow podcasters Lucy and Alice from lABLEd (who will also host one episode in May 2022).
You can access all of these disability podcasts through the links in this article, or wherever you get your podcasts, such as Apple, Google, or Spotify.
What other disability podcasts do you listen to? Or do you host your own that we don’t know about? Share your suggestions in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter translation:.
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