Yesterday was Sunday and early spring sunshine poured into the castle all day. I had a lovely weekend of haircuts with my family and joining Leftwing Idiot for a run round the park – typical restful weekend activities.

But there was one less restful activity, something many people don’t have to worry about: going through my Personal Health Budget form as part of my annual review.…

News about Storm Eunice started in earnest yesterday, with weather forecasts and social media full of warnings about the hundred mile-an-hour winds due to sweep the UK.

It’s unusual for us to get severe storm warnings in London. I can only recall one other ‘proper’ storm, and that was back in 1987!…

I’m a vulnerable adult.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what this means.

Maybe it’s because of the pandemic and how often the word ‘vulnerable’ is used: it’s gone viral. In this context vulnerability is presented as an individual problem.…

It’s New Year’s Eve, a time when we take stock of the year that’s been and look ahead to the next. Usually, I write a post about everything that’s happened, but this year I decided to represent it as a drawing instead.…

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I’ve got this week off, but I can’t relax quite yet because there’s a load of disability-related admin I need to complete. This includes doing the monitoring for my personal budget, emailing the occupational therapy team about a review, and calling Access to Work about some new equipment I need.…

Almost every year since starting Touretteshero we’ve made a funny Christmas video. My favourites include this animation and this royal message. Last year we kept things simple and shared a heartfelt message of solidarity.

When it came to writing this year’s message, I just wanted to say what was on mind – the unchecked COVID-19 infections and the reality that those of us with additional risk factors are being left behind.…

I’ve just about finished my Christmas shopping. It’s always a complicated process for me because I have to leave deciding who’s going to get what until the last minute so my tics don’t spoil the surprise. But this is obviously harder with very personal gifts.…

I’ve been in a lot of pain this week, in fact not just in pain, but also feeling very sick, which is usually well managed by medication.

Pain and nausea aren’t great on their own, but the combination of both floors me.…

Yesterday was BBC Children in Need day. Schools and workplaces held collections in the lead up to an evening extravaganza of celebrity-led TV fundraising. The money raised will fund life-changing work across the UK.

Children in Need has been around since 1980 – just like me – headed up by Pudsey, the eye-patch-wearing-bear, who I recently learnt was only allowed to smile in 2007 – that’s almost thirty years of non-stop frowning.…

I wrote recently about burn out and the steps we take at Touretteshero to help prevent it. While I’m lucky not to get burnt out by my work as an artist, I’m feeling utterly exhausted by the relentless work of being a disabled person living in the UK.…