Almost exactly six months ago I created a story for my three-year-old niece Bean about her mum’s job as a doctor, to explain the coronavirus pandemic and what it would mean for our family.

As infection rates increase again, and with my sister due to start a new job next month that involves an increase in overnight and on-call hours, I’ve updated the story to help explain to Bean what’s happening, and what to expect.…

Since 2016 I’ve experienced chronic pain in my lower back and hips. The quality and intensity of this pain changes, but I’m very rarely pain-free. Left unmanaged, this pain has a profound effect on my ability to think, concentrate, work and sleep.…

The National Health Service (NHS) is 75 years old today and this post is a celebration of the complicated, humane, and embracing service that’s looked after me for almost forty years. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without the NHS.…

Content warning: This post contains descriptions of medical and social risks affecting disabled people that you might find distressing.

I got a call from my local Council’s ‘COVID-19 Support Team’ today. They were checking in with me because I’m one of the 2.2 million people who’ve been identified as ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ to COVID-19-19.…

This evening, for the ninth time, people across the country stood on their doorsteps or leaned out of their windows and make noise in solidarity with people providing care during the pandemic.

This weekly ritual has become a poignant marker of time for me and many other people.…

A month ago, at the start of lockdown, I wrote about the huge amounts of extra time and labour I was having to expend just to meet my basic requirements for safety, health, nutrition, finance and logistics.

I’m re-visiting this, 28 days later, for a quick update on how my issues have been resolved – or not – and to highlight the ways disabled people are still falling through the gaps during lockdown life.…

In a matter of weeks life across the world has changed dramatically, and like most people I’ve been trying to adapt to the uncertain times ahead. While many people are focused on navigating the challenges of home working, home schooling, increasing social restrictions and living with uncertainty, I, like many disabled people, have been focused simply on survival.…

My sister is a hospital doctor. She lives across the road from me with her husband King Russell and my niece Bean. They’re less than a hundred metres away and you can even see my place from their top floor.

The longest I’ve gone without seeing my sister since she was born is six weeks, and that’s only happened a handful of times.…

I consider myself to be a pretty calm and rational person, but it’s the early hours of the morning and I’m struggling to clear my mind of worries. This is after a day of being hit by waves of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic.…

My niece Bean is almost three. Her mum is my sister, regular readers know her as Fat Sister, a name my tics came up with many years ago while she was on a diet. Fat Sister is a doctor at a large London hospital, and she was on call last weekend.…