Six months in a chair after a car accident, Dan is adjusting to life as a disabled man. Having grown frustrated at the representation of disabled people on television, we've tried to explode a few myths.Īt the centre of our show is Dan, representing me (albeit with the more attractive face of Peter Mitchell) and many other "born-agains" (do love that phrase). In fact, our aim is to do for the disabled community what Queer as Folk did for the gay community. #ARE WE THERE YET CAST SKIN#But while in the skin of a mockumentary, it actually purports to do one very simple thing: tell disabled stories from a disabled perspective. #ARE WE THERE YET CAST TV#Cast Offs is about six disabled people who are put on an island by a reality TV show. Next week, Channel 4 will begin screening a comedy drama I co-created and co-wrote about my experience, and about the wider experience of disabled life. And I have slept with a few more women and remain disappointed at the demise of VHS. I am also an out, proud and accepted member of the disabled community. But I am able to conduct a normal life within careful limitation. I can move, I can even dance (badly), I still can't drink, drive, swim or do aerobics, mornings remain quite tricky and I have reasonably regular attacks. From the 13 pills a day I was taking at my peak, I'm down to three from two visits to hospital a week, I now barely attend at all. I was bed-bound for six months.Īlmost nine years later, my condition has massively improved. Radiators were a no-no, similarly the sun, and movement became increasingly difficult. At my worst, any time my body generated or was engaged with heat, I'd come out in big red painful welts. In fact, it's basically prickly heat, something quite a few people struggle with in the summer. My condition, chronic cholinergic urticaria, is basically an allergy to heat. Having got steadily worse over the past four months, having been tried on every type of medicine known for my condition, I'd been told by my consultant, "If this gets no better, Jack, I'm going to arrange for you to come to a conference on dermatology where a group of us can discuss your case." A few weeks earlier, I had at least been moving around a bit. The room was freezing but every time I moved my leg I was getting stabbing sensations and I was pretty sure this meant I was becoming allergic to my own body movement. Upstairs, I was lying on top of my bed with all the windows open I was wearing a pair of boxers and not a lot else. Downstairs, my family were watching my VHS copy of Stand By Me. I'd been down for presents, but had suffered an attack and retreated to my room. I can accurately describe the first moment I felt like a disabled person.
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