Thinking Differently
Three disabled individuals discuss their lives, struggles, victories, and their hopes for the future in a new podcast.
Meddwl yn Wahanol (Thinking Differently) is described as "honest, raw, informative, and uplifting," according to BBC Radio Cymru.
Series presenter Bethan Richards is blind and has faced her own challenges with her disability journey.
The first three people she interviews are Beth Frazer, a singer who had a tumor on her brain; deaf teacher Kristy Hopkins and actor Rhys Miles Thomas, who has Multiple Sclerosis.
All three podcasts can be listened to on BBC Sounds.
This is the first podcast from BBC Radio Cymru that has been fully transcribed.
Listeners only have to press a button on the website to see the complete words.
Bethan was born in the Amman Valley. She has lived in Ammanford, Bangor, and the counties of Denbigh and Flint.
She worked as a teacher before moving to Cardiff as a producer with the BBC. She said: "I was born with cataracts so my journey and treatments began when I was very, very young.
"I think I had the first treatment when I was six months old to get rid of the cataracts.
"I’ve had a lot of treatments, spectacles, and so on. Today, I have no vision at all in my left eye and I have a little, little bit of vision in my right eye.”
Bethan said: "It’s hard to describe the conditions I have. I have secondary glaucoma; but the main problem I have is that my corneas are deteriorating very badly.
"I have had several full and partial transplants.
"They don’t work very well for me, so I have very, very little vision."
Bethan added: "I’m still working; I’m a wife; I’m a mother of two teenagers and I also still sing with Diffiniad."
Bethan has been with Diffiniad since 1992.
She hopes to be able to sing with the band at the Tafwyl Festival, Cardiff on the Saturday and the first Saturday at the Eisteddfod in Wrexham.
She said: "I’m quite a busy person. I try not to let my sight limitations get the best of me, and I’d say there’s not much I can’t do. Although I think it’s not healthy to project an image that everything is okay to everyone.
“I also think it’s very important to recognise that living with sight loss is exceptionally difficult and can be a strain on someone's mental health, and that emotional and practical support is needed.
“And that life can sometimes be exceptionally hard. But if we can be successful in the messages we share, I think that’s very important.”
Bethan added: “I still feel like I’m on a journey with my disability and as I’ve had the opportunity to talk to several people over the past years through my work, I realised I have a story to tell and perhaps other people have stories to tell too.
“That’s why I got the idea to create the podcast Meddwl yn Wahanol and at the heart of it all was the fact that I wanted to make it as accessible and as welcoming as possible.
“Disability is so different for everyone. We are as unique as fingerprints but we are here to help each other and if society can change and create a life that is more inclusive and more accessible for us with our disabilities, our disabilities will feel like less of a struggle.
“Overcoming those barriers is important and celebrating our victories.”
Find it on BBC Sounds here
(Transcription available by pressing the Subtitles button)
