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24th December 2024bbc.co.uk/accessallAccess All – episode 139Presented by Emma Tracey

EMMA- Merry Christmas! [Jingle bells ringing] I hope you’re having a safe and healthy one, whether the festivities are your thing or not. Listen, we have been asking people for their headlines, their highlights of 2024 and we’ll be sprinkling those throughout the show. Let’s start with senior North America correspondent, Gary O’Donoghue, who has a highlight and a bit of a lowlight as well:GARY- Well, I suppose I’ve got two favourite moments of the year. One of course is the Paralympics, and as someone who used to do a lot of sport when he was much younger, it’s so encouraging, heartening to see the status that the Paralympics have got now, taken very, very seriously, thanks I think actually in large part to the Â鶹Éç and Channel 4 for giving it the prominence it deserves. And it keeps getting bigger and better and I think that’s just great.  In terms of a personal one, well nothing in particular, although the encounters you get with individuals, the ridiculousness, the multiple kind of mini, minor humiliations you always get as a disabled person can sometimes be funny. I had one recently where a cab driver picked me up from the airport in Washington, I’m there in my suit with my suitcase, just got off a transatlantic flight, he drives me into Washington DC, drops me outside a very smart apartment building in a posh part of town and gets out and says, ‘I don’t think you can probably afford it, can you? It’s okay, you don’t need to pay me’. I laughed so hard I didn’t know what to say. I should have said, ‘Okay, you’re right, give me 50 bucks’ but I did pay him. EMMA- Thanks a million for that, Gary. And we’ll be hearing more from him in just a minute, but for now on with the show. MUSIC- Theme music.EMMA- Hello, I’m Emma Tracey and this is Access All, the podcast that deals with the issues important to disabled people and those of us with mental health stuff going on as well. I hope your Christmas is going well so far, but for some the holiday season can be tricky so we will be talking to a choir helping to tackle the loneliness and stress that Christmas can bring. And we’ll have more of your highlights from 2024. But first the election of Donald Trump as US president has been one of the biggest stories in 2024, and someone who has had a ringside seat as the story has unfolded is senior North America correspondent Gary O’Donoghue. He joined me in the studio to tell me all about the past 12 months on the job: Gary O’Donoghue is the Â鶹Éç senior North America correspondent based in Washington, and a few months ago he was on the scene when a gunman tried to assassinate Donald Trump. Gary’s reporting on that day has been viewed 300 million times online, and he has since said that being blind did play a part in how he worked in the hours after that. I have known Gary for over 20 years. He’s been in the Â鶹Éç for three decades. Gary O’Donoghue it’s lovely to have you here on Access All, thank you for joining me. GARY- It’s a pleasure, absolute pleasure. EMMA- It’s very odd to interview a friend I think. GARY- Be nice to me then. EMMA- I’ll try my best. We do need to start with the Trump rally and what happened that day.GARY- There was going to be a rally in Pennsylvania, and there was sort of some sense in which he might name the person who was going to be his vice presidential pick. We don’t get to go to many Trump rallies, they don’t let us into many nowadays. And we got there about an hour before he started. A beautiful sort of summer, sunny evening and we thought we’ll do a few live hits here and have a bit of supper later on, get a plane, it’ll be a pretty routine evening. It turned out not to be.EMMA- No. So, what were you doing, where were you when the sort of soundscape changed? It was great to hear you talk about that at the time, it was the sounds that changed that you immediately noticed.GARY- Yeah. Well, I was actually on air with the World Service and suddenly I heard gunfire. [Clip]TRUMP- Take a look at what happened… [Shots and screams].GUARD- Get down! Get down! Get down![End of clip]GARY- Living in America for ten years like I have I know what guns sound like, and from a distance they sound very high-pitched, and it doesn’t sound like a car backfiring, it doesn’t sound like fireworks; I just knew it was gunfire. And there was a whole rapid volley of it. It stopped and then it started again. And I said to the camera and to my producer, Iona, ‘We’d better get on the ground’ I almost swore, I’m sorry, [laughs] I said, ‘What on earth is going on?’ And then there was a sort of weird lag in time, I don’t know how long it was, then you heard lots and lots of screaming. And then I realised Trump had stopped talking. It is the WTF moment. And it’s sort of one of those things where you know this is history now, right now, right here, right now. EMMA- So, what did you guys do? What was your response? GARY- I carried on talking to the World Service people. Sam, my cameraman who was on the floor too, said, ‘I’m rolling’ which just means talk [laughter]. So, I just talked to him about in the seconds afterwards what I’d thought I’d heard and how we knew nothing.[Clip]GARY- We’re just waiting to see if things have cleared and we’re just, as you can see, we’re on the ground behind our car, which is not ideal but that’s the shelter we have at the moment. And that’s what we’re trying to ascertain what’s happened. I think the speech has stopped. I can’t hear Donald Trump speaking anymore. [End of clip]EMMA- And that was one of the pieces of film that just got shown everywhere. GARY- Shortly afterwards it sounded like the shooting had finished. You can never tell because you never know what direction it’s coming from. Even as someone who relies on their hearing, like I do, you couldn’t really tell where it was coming from quite. And so we got up, brushed ourselves down and Iona, my producer, started grabbing people who were walking out and we started interviewing them. EMMA- That was fantastic stuff that you produced all through that evening. And I caught The Media Show during that week, which is a Radio 4 show that looks at what’s been in the media over the last week and I was so surprised and interested to hear you speak about how being blind could have potentially, was sort of an advantage that night when you were bringing people in and talking to them. What did you do and how did not being able to see the people actually help you? GARY- Certainly in the initial moments sight isn’t actually all that much of an advantage because even if you can see you don’t know what’s going on [laughs]. And we were right where people were exiting. In fact very early on you see me having to deal with a guy who stands in front of my camera trying to stop me, and you see me having to reason with him, on air this is, ‘Please don’t stand there, we’re trying to tell…’ And he’s going, ‘You’re being disrespectful!’ so you’re seeing that debate. And it’s a real concrete example of how some people were really angry, some people were really frightened, some people were really quiet. One of the things I, and I did this without really thinking about it and only really thought about it afterwards, when Iona was bringing guests to me you always want to get your guests quite close to you because you’ve got a microphone and you want to make sure it’s picking them up properly, but this time I literally put my hands on people. And I put my hands on people A, because I wanted to know where they were but B, because I kind of felt like I wanted them to know this wasn’t just some geezer in a suit from out of town, but I’d been there with them too. EMMA- But do you usually put your hands on people? GARY- No. EMMA- Because as a blind person it is good to get the spatial awareness of where someone is and all that. GARY- Oh, if I’m standing next to them I’ll put my hand just on their elbow, just to judge how tall they are. But I was literally putting my hand through their arm or holding onto their forearm, getting close. EMMA- But were you not scared though? You seemed calm. GARY- I was calm. EMMA- But were you? GARY- Oh, not inside, of course not, no. EMMA- So, were you scared? GARY- I think there was a point where we were all scared. But once I think we knew there was probably no longer a risk of dying I was in, obviously you go into professional mode, but also I was quite emotional. There were times where it nearly got to me. And there were one or two moments that night where I nearly lost it. I hope this doesn’t sound pompous but I was upset for the country, I was upset for this place where I’d lived and made my home for ten years, frustrated, horrified, upset and sad.EMMA- You don’t usually talk about being a blind reporter or a blind correspondent because it doesn’t usually come up in your work. GARY- No. EMMA- But you did choose to talk about it this time in relation to what you did. So, how have people reacted to that? GARY- Well, the one area where I talked about it very specifically is about the big viral interview that we did, which was a guy called Greg Smith who was the guy who saw the shooter before he shot at Trump, tried to warn the police and the Secret Service, saw him shouting about it for minutes and minutes before the guy actually shot. And Iona got him and brought him to me. EMMA- But he was an interesting looking guy?GARY- Well, he turns out to be a really interesting [laughs], Emma, he had like this weird cap/fake orange hair thing going on which was sort of Trumpish. EMMA- And you let him speak and you didn’t judge him. GARY- Can of beer in hand. Yeah, and I had no idea what he looked like. But I just talked to him and I just listened to his words, and I talked to him and I listened to his words. [Clip]GREG- We’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof. GARY- And he had a gun, right? GREG- He had a rifle. GARY- A rifle. GREG- We could clearly see him with the rifle, absolutely. We’re pointing at him; the police are down there running around on the ground. We’re like, ‘Hey men, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle!’ and the police were like, ‘Huh? What?’ you know, like they didn’t know what was going on. [End of clip]GARY- If I’d been able to see would I have thought twice about him, hmm maybe not him? I don’t know. EMMA- Yeah, maybe, maybe. You have a producer at the moment, Iona Hampson, what is her role in terms of you being a blind correspondent?GARY- She’s a producer first and foremost but she’s also what we call, this horrible word, facilitator. Basically she has two jobs all rolled into one. EMMA- So, producer obviously produces you, makes sure you’re in the right place and have the right people to talk to. But what’s the facilitator element? GARY- So, she makes sure that the flow of information to me is constant, so she’s constantly sending me things to read that it would take me longer to find on websites; keeping across social media; describing pictures in an edit suite; filling in constant forms; guiding me as well. So, it’s a whole extra job. We’re in one another’s pockets all the time. You really have to get on and we do, we really get on, we trust one another completely. And that’s what makes for a really good working relationship, and so that night in particular she was doing the hard work of grabbing hold of the people she thought would be good to talk to, persuading them to come on air. It was five or six hours. EMMA- A lot of trust there? GARY- Oh, it simply wouldn’t work, well I’ve had people who I haven’t trusted in the past and it doesn’t work. I tell you what, and this is a disability point, the reason you also have to trust is not just the professional stuff, but it’s also the little stuff: Iona has to show me where the men’s loo is, right. It’s a kind of crappy little vulnerability moment, isn’t it? EMMA- Yeah.GARY- And you can only let someone help you do those sort of boring little things in life if you trust them. EMMA- And it’s actually very hard to ask someone you don’t trust…GARY- Completely.EMMA- …or you don’t like for the loo because it’s a vulnerable thing to ask somebody. GARY- Yeah, you are vulnerable. EMMA- It sounds like a teeny, tiny little thing. GARY- It’s a big thing. EMMA- But I usually, if I’m out on a night out, I will find the person that I trust. GARY- Absolutely. EMMA- So, if I’ve never asked you to take me to the bathroom that reflects on you [laughter]. Anyway are you going to stay in Washington? GARY- I don’t know. Certainly for the next few months. There’s all sorts of discussions about the future, all up in the air at the moment. Watch this space I suppose. EMMA- I’ve been out and about with you, Gary O’Donoghue, both of us walking with our canes trying to find doors of restaurants. GARY- Pubs usually.EMMA- Pubs! I was going to say restaurants but pubs or restaurants, and people recognise you all the time. Do you get recognised more in the States now? GARY- A little bit, yeah. I mean, I think since then that’s changed a bit. I do get stopped a lot in the UK, I mean like all the time; four or five times yesterday. EMMA- Really? GARY- Yeah. And people are very, very nice. I don’t mind it one little bit.EMMA- What about disabled people? GARY- I do get the occasional email and message. I get two groups of people: firstly disabled people at college, university, particularly in journalism, and then I also get emails from random parents of disabled children who say, you don’t know how much this means, we understand that things are now possible. That’s really nice, isn’t it? EMMA- Yes, it is. It’s interesting, isn’t it, I’m much smaller fish than you but…GARY- Emma, Emma Tracey.EMMA- …[laughs] it’s interesting because in one way it’s really heartening, and in one way it’s like, oh why do they need to see me for that to be…?GARY- Because they’re on their own, aren’t they?EMMA- Isolated.GARY- You’re a parent with a disabled child, you think what on earth am I going to do, and there’s the guilt and then there’s the, what it’s going to be like and what will their life be like when I’m gone, and all of that kind of stuff. I mean, completely understandable. I think our presence, just going and doing it each day, helps. And if that gives a little bit of encouragement to the parents of youngsters who are out there then thank goodness for that. EMMA- Yeah. Your mum actually passed away when you were working on the campaign trail. GARY- Yeah.EMMA- That must have been really, really tough. GARY- It was. She died about a month after the shooting, and we’d also been full on doing other stuff, we were at the Democrat National Convention in Chicago and it was the day Kamala Harris was going to do her acceptance speech. And I got a call at 4 o’clock in the morning that she’d died, and then I had to dash back to the UK, and then I had to pretty much come straight back here, and then go back again for the funeral. Then it was the election campaign, and then we went back to Butler and did a documentary for Â鶹Éç One. There was a moment actually at one of the rallies where I slightly wobbled a bit because I’d realised your mother’s just died and you haven’t thought about her for three days, what’s the matter with you. EMMA- And what kind of part did your mum play in the early part of your life? GARY- My mother was a working class woman, she left school at 14, and suddenly her third child comes along that’s a blind baby. They took one of my eyes out at birth, and when they made this tiny little eye for this baby the nurses at the hospital couldn’t put it in, and they wrapped it in a tissue and gave it to her and said, ‘You try when you get home’.EMMA- [Gasps]GARY- That’s how much help people go in those days [laughs]. She was alone. But she took the view that education was everything, and so when I lost my sight completely she let them pack me off to boarding school at eight years old. It broke her heart, of course, it broke my heart, broke her heart, but she knew it was the right thing. And she was right. When I lost my sight I used to try and run away from home, and she’d sort of let me walk up the road, pack my bag, walk up the road and follow me quietly until I was scared and fed up and then she’d be there. She was a marvellous, marvellous woman and I think just enjoyed the fact that I’d made a life and got a job and all that kind of thing. EMMA- She was very, very proud of you I’ll bet.GARY- I think so. EMMA- Thank you very much for joining me on Access All.GARY- It’s a lovely thing to be here with you, Emma. MUSIC-EMMA- Oh, it was absolutely lovely to get chatting to my friend, Gary O’Donoghue about the amazing work that he has been doing in 2024. And I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from Gary O’Donoghue in 2025 as Donald Trump takes over the US presidency. Time for another highlight of 2024. Back in February we talked about a range of adaptive underwear for disabled women which went on sale in some Primark stores in the UK. Now, Shani Dhanda she is the head judge of the Disability Power 100 this year, and she also helped to launch the collection, and she made that her highlight of 2024:SHANI- Hello, I’m Shani Dhanda, I am a disability inclusion and accessibility specialist. And my disability moment of 2024 is the introduction of adaptive fashion on the high street. This was a change that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. Not only is it affordable and fashionable but I also got to work with them to help them launch this too.EMMA- Thanks, Shani Dhanda there. Now, as us disabled people will know it’s not always highlights, there can be difficult things that happen to us during the year. And Frank Gardner’s, Â鶹Éç security correspondence, experience on an airline was one of his biggest moments of 2024, and he hopes that it will inspire some change:FRANK- So, without doubt my most iconic moment of kind of disability crisis was this year when LOT Polish Airlines announced in a completely matter of fact way, ‘No, we don’t have an onboard aisle chair so you can’t go to the toilet on the plane, just hold it in basically’. And I said, ‘What do you mean you don’t?’ ‘No, no, it’s policy, we don’t have it.’ And I tried telling them this is nonsense but there was no way round it. I thought fine, I actually do need, a two and a half flight from Warsaw back to London, I needed to go to the loo and everybody else was queueing up and going to it but I couldn’t because I used a wheelchair, I’ve got a spinal cord injury. So, I crawled on my backside using the palms of my hands along the floor of the plane. And to be fair there was a very nice steward there who gave me a hand and he kind of lifted up my ankles as I shuffled along, going backwards. Got to the loo, had to power myself back up, sort of upwards onto the seat of the loo and did it that way. And on the way back I thought, you know what, sod this, I’m actually going to take a photograph of this. I put it on X and it went viral; it had 9 million views and 144,000 likes. It was on the main evening news in Poland, in all three top Polish newspapers. This is the third time it has happened to me on LOT Airlines and I never got an apology from them. It’s unacceptable. It’s 2024, it’s unacceptable last century but it’s an even more now. MUSIC- EMMA- More from our moments from 2024 later, but first The Choir With No Name has choirs all over the UK giving people with experience of homelessness and mental health challenges a chance to come together to find joy, which is absolutely perfect for this time of year which can, to be fair, be very, very overwhelming. Helen, Colin and David are here from The Choir With No Name. Hello.HELEN- Hello. COLIN- Hi. DAVID- Hello. EMMA- Thank you for being here on Access All in the studio with me, which is such a treat. Helen, can you tell me what kind of things you guys sing in the choir? HELEN- It’s all different songs, some we even write the songs. But at the moment it’s all to do with Christmas. EMMA- Okay. So, what’s the favourite song you sing at the moment? HELEN- I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day [laughs]. EMMA- Do you? And David, what’s your favourite song to sing? DAVID- I quite like this one we’re doing by a band called Fleet Foxes called Winter Hymnal, and it’s all a bit more mad and different song parts. It’s wonderful fun. CHOIR- [Sings Winter Hymnal]EMMA- And Colin, what about you? COLIN- Yeah, I was just going to agree with David, I like the Winter Hymnal because it’s got such a beautiful sound. And the rhythm of the song to it. EMMA- And how does singing that make you feel, Colin?COLIN- I feel like a popstar when I sing it. CHOIR- [Sings I Love You Christmas].EMMA- And Colin, what was life like for you before the choir, before you started joining in?COLIN- Life was very hard for me because I was actually put into a care home, meaning I was taken away from my parents. So, I struggled from the age of 17, 18 onwards.EMMA- And what was life like in the care home? COLIN- Very challenging, but I managed to adjust myself and yeah, it’s okay. EMMA- And things got better.COLIN- Yeah.EMMA- And do you live independently now or do you still live in the care home? COLIN- I live still in the care home but it’s like supported living, like my own place. Someone comes to check on me every hour.EMMA- And how is that for you? COLIN- Good. EMMA- So, you like where you’re living now?COLIN- Yeah. EMMA- And what was life like for you, David, before you joined the choir? I know you were in a choir before.DAVID- Things were okay. I had my ordinary job I was hoping to get in advertising, then got knocked down by a car and I had to do a very slow road back to being able to function. This is, like, 20 few years ago. I did a go at journalism, did a go at helping in art centres, and throughout that singing with one choir and then this one was very good grounding for how one lives one’s life.EMMA- And does it help your mental health singing in a choir? DAVID- I’m sure it does.EMMA- And what about you, Helen, what brought you to The Choir With No Name?HELEN- What I enjoyed was leaving my troubles at the door, and it’s just that we’re all one family at The Choir With No Name, everyone sings together and to help people who have come off the street is amazing, to help the homeless.EMMA- How does being in a choir and singing and singing to an audience make you feel? HELEN- It makes me elevate my consciousness. EMMA- Oh wow. Tell me more about that. HELEN- Because you leave your troubles at the door, as I said, and everyone’s like one big happy family and it’s just lovely. And our choirmaster is very special. EMMA- Really? Tell me a bit about the choirmaster.HELEN- Sam, he dances, he lets everyone really enjoy the singing and it’s very special. EMMA- Thank you so much for speaking to me. That’s really, really interesting and it makes me want to join a Choir With No Name as well, so thank you for joining me. DAVID- It’d been a pleasure to have you. MUSIC-EMMA- Thank you Helen and Colin and David for joining me, and you will be hearing more from The Choir With No Name at the end of the show. Now, this is our final podcast of 2024 so it’s a really good chance to reflect on the year gone by. So, we have been reaching out to some of our famous disabled people, friends of the show to find out their highlights of 2024. A disability led documentary about assisted dying was for some of you a big, big disability moment in 2024, including Baroness Jane Campbell, a very famous campaigner against assisted dying. She said on X that her moment of 2024 was easy to choose, she said it was the big bright star that was Liz Carr and her incredible Â鶹Éç One documentary Better Off Dead. Doctor Who actor, Ruth Madeley, chose the same moment: RUTH- I am Ruth Madeley, I’m an actress and wheelchair user and you might know me from shows such as The Cleaner, Years and Years and Doctor Who. And my disability highlight of 2024 is most definitely Liz Carr’s documentary Better Off Dead. Liz is a fantastic person and such a valuable asset to the disabled community. The work she does is astounding, and her documentary is so, so important about highlighting the value of disabled lives and I am in awe of her completely. So, yes she is definitely my highlight along with her documentary. EMMA- And here a couple more highlights of 2024 from some friends of the show:GEORGE- Hi, everyone, it’s George Webster here. I’ve had so much fun this year and there have been so many highlights for me, including: performing in a play in France; being in an Alton Towers CBeebies show; my second book Why Not? coming out; winning the National Doubleday Award; and finishing my first fiction book, George and the Mini Dragon. The disability highlight for me, as I’m a huge Strictly Come Dancing fan, is seeing Chris and Dianne win this year’s series because Chris has shown them that anything is possible, but everyone with the right support. Strictly is really diverse and inclusive. I love being part of the Strictly Come Dancing family. And Happy New Year!LEE- Hello, I’m Lee Ridley, also known as the Lost Voice Guy. And my disability moment of the year was listening to the Rob Burrow’s podcast for the first time. It just felt so good to hear someone who was using a communication device hosting their own podcast. Not only was he able to highlight the issues around motor neurone disease, he also proved that people who don’t have a voice still have a lot to say. EMMA- Thank you so much to Lee Ridley, Lost Voice Guy there, who was reflecting on the Rob Burrow podcast series. And of course Rob Burrow sadly died in 2024 of motor neurone disease. Thank you to George and Lee, to Shani and Ruth and all of our friends who have sent in highlights of 2024. But you listeners, who are also my friends by the way, have also sent your  moments of 2024, which I completely love. Chris told us on X that he got home after a year in hospital – massive deal – and also that he’s been given access to an Eye Gaze computer so that he can communicate more easily. Huge again, massive things happening for you this year Chris, and thank you so much for sharing them with us. Ben also got in touch with a moment I can completely relate to. His big moment of 2024 was when a school age child offered to help him when he got disorientated with his white cane due to a blockage on the pavement. I hear you, brother. You always need a bit of help if there’s a random piece of street furniture or a bit of roadworks going on, so I can totally understand how that stuck out for you. And thank you so much for telling me about it.  Now, myself and the incredible Access All team have been reflecting on our highlights of 2024. And instead of us all coming in individually and telling long stories, our amazing studio manager, Dave O’Neill, has put together a montage. I mean, who doesn’t love a montage at Christmas? [Montage]EMMA- I am so delighted to have two VIPs in the Access All studio today, I’ve got James Owen and his legendary football dad, Michael Owen:MICHAEL- He’s just mentally very, very strong. He’s positive about things, he’s got a great mindset. I’ve got four children and I’m probably least worried about James’ future. EMMA- I am absolutely delighted to welcome from The Traitors Mollie Pearce. MOLLIE- My limb difference has never really been a problem. I used to be in hospital a lot when I was in school. People would be like, ‘Are you going to hospital because of your hand?’ I thought, no babe, they’re not growing my hand in a lab [laughs], the hospital is not helping my limb difference, that is what it is, that’s not changing. EMMA- Rose Ayling-Ellis, she is back and she is here.ROSE- A lot of people assume that us lipreading is like a superpower, we can lipread anyone 200m away from us. 80% of the time you’re guessing what they’re saying. For example, elephant, colourful and I love you have exactly the same lip pattern. EMMA- Liz Carr. We were in the first podcast trial. We were supposed to stop but disabled people rose up and got a petition. LIZ- On the day I delivered it, and they had been warned that because of my activism they thought that I was going to throw a flour bomb. Limited range of mobility, I’m a wheelchair user, and if I threw a flour bomb it would at best land on my lap [laughter]. EMMA- Recently I got the opportunity to visit the MI5 headquarters. LIAM- I actually became a senior manager in MI5 after I had been diagnosed as autistic. So, from my own experience my biggest significant career developments happened after I worked out I was neurodiverse.EMMA- As part of our general election coverage we’ve been putting your questions and concerns and we’ve been exploring their policies around disability and mental health. Mimms Davies, thank you for joining me. MIMMS- Hello.EMMA- Angela Raynor.ANGELA- Thank you, it’s great to be here. EMMA- Ed Davey, thank you for joining me. ED- Thank you. EMMA- Liz Saville Roberts from Plaid Cymru.LIZ- It’s great to be invited to join you. EMMA- Mags Lewis from the Green Party, thank you for joining me. MAGS- Pleasure.EMMA- Marion Fellows from the Scottish National Party.MARION- Thank you for having me. EMMA- Welcome to the Access All podcast at the Edinburgh Festival! Political comedian, Matt Forde [cheers and applause]. I’m sure Trump would have some interesting things to say about disability. MATT- [Trump impersonation] well, it’s totally made up by the way, disability is not a scientific thing [laughs]. Emma, I think what you’re doing is so sad [laughs]. So sad. EMMA- It’s Adam Hills [cheering and applause].ADAM- I think when you’ve got a disability it sometimes forces you to either become more positive or more negative. I like to think I’ve gone more positive with my disability, I like to think my shoes are half full. EMMA- Bonjour, ça va? I am here in Paris for the 17th Summer Paralympic Games and I cannot tell you how excited I am. [Cheers] I’ve just come out of the swimming at La Défense Arena, and honestly what a buzz. And it was so exciting and so thrilling to see Callie-Ann Warrington and Faye Rogers get their medals. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, Liz Pichon, you didn’t find out that you had dyslexia until you were an adult. LIZ- If I go and do school events then I might tell the children that actually I’m dyslexic their eyes will light up, or you can spot them going wow, she’s dyslexic and she’s managed to tell these stories. TESS- The winners of Strictly Come Dancing 2024 are [applause] Chris and Dianne!CHRIS- I didn’t do Strictly to inspire blind people, I did it to educate and expose everybody else to the fact that more is possible. And I thought show 5, that would have been job done, and the longer it went on and the more it resonated with people the more it overwhelmed me in a really positive way, until I was crying on the telly [laughs]. [End of montage]EMMA- Wow, what a year 2024 has been for Access All, and thank you lovely Dave for that compilation. Before we finish here’s a message from Antha who got in touch about something she thinks we should be covering in 2025:ANTHA- Hi there, my name is Antha. I love listening to the show and I really appreciate the deep dives you go into different issues, especially ones I’ve never heard of and the takes you bring, it’s very insightful. Myself I have autism and I am just about to emigrate quite far away to another country as I’m attempting to study with my friends. I’d be really interested to hear about what other people say about moving to different countries, either with a disability or because of a disability. Perhaps some people move because there are more services or things are easier. I’d just be really interested in how people find that process and any tips people have to give. EMMA- Thanks for that message, Antha. I love, love, love to get your voice messages, please keep them going. The number is 0330 123 9480. And Antha, we will continue our deep dives in 2025. The first episode of next year we’re going to assemble a panel of experts for you and look ahead to what might be in store for disabled people in the year ahead. MUSIC- EMMA- All that remains for me to do is to thank Gary O’Donoghue, my lovely guest. Thanks to everybody who sent us your moments of 2024. And thank you to you for listening. Please subscribe to Access All, if you haven’t already, by going to Â鶹Éç Sounds and hitting that subscribe button. You can get in touch accessall@bbc.co.uk is our email address. Now, I did promise you that The Choir With No Name were going to play us out, and our Alex went down to rehearsals earlier this week and recorded some of their beautiful songs. Merry Christmas. Bye. CHOIR- [Sing Merry Christmas Everybody].[Trailer for Newscast]CHRIS- You know when you’re worried about something, but then you talk to your friend who knows more about the subject than you do, and straightaway you start to feel better? That’s what we try and do every day on Newscast. MALE- Now, they’re saying that that would be simple to do, it would give everyone certainty. CHRIS- We talk to people who are in the news:FEMALE- You were chasing me round with a plate of cheese. CHRIS- We talk to people who know what’s going on in the news:MALE- At least I didn’t get up and slap anybody. CHRIS- We talk to people who understand what the news means:MALE- I think that he’s decided he’s going to listen, and then he might just intervene.CHRIS- And we talk to the best Â鶹Éç journalists, asking the most important questions: CHRIS- What’s wrong with chinos? You don’t want them, people to start wearing chinos? FEMALE- Don’t start me, Chris. CHRIS- That’s Newscast from Â鶹Éç News, the podcast that knows a lot of people who know a lot about the news. FEMALE- And I was like, go on Kate, put some more welly into it!CHRIS- Listen to Newscast every weekday on Â鶹Éç Sounds. CHRIS- I’m glad I asked that. FEMALE- I’m very glad that you asked that!