Playing and making are the two big passions in my life, and they always have been.

Play is a fundamental part of children’s lives and it’s very individual for each person, but sadly some children don’t have the same opportunity to express themselves in this way as others.…

I’ve just got back from performing at the Brilliant Shambala Festival. Shambala’s got a very special place in my heart for several reasons – it’s the first place where I ever went on stage. It’s where I learnt the value of sharing my tics and experiences with other people, and it’s where I first felt the immense power of shared laughter.…

Airports can be fraught places for everyone. I find them particularly stressful, unsure if I’ll be able to get into my seat, go to the toilet, be shushed, ignored or dropped. They are, though, part of being able to visit amazing places like Toronto where we’ve been for the last week or so.…

This morning I woke up in a leisurely way, opened my blind and let the light from the grey day fill my room. I felt much more cheerful than I had when I went to sleep last night, and I greeted the lamppost enthusiastically.…

It’s my support worker Ellie’s birthday. She was supporting last night too, so we were together as the clock struck midnight and she turned twenty-five.

At that exact moment Ellie was helping me with my pre-bed catheter and my tics celebrated with a special song to the tune of a Whole New World from Disney’s Aladdin.…

Although it’s only be the fourth day of December, my tics woke up in a festive
mood. I was involuntarily singing ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ but with slightly
less conventional lyrics:

“On the first day of Christmas, Oprah gave to me, a sheepdog in a pear tree.…

I’ve just done something really difficult. It wasn’t learning a complicated text, performing in front of thousands or completing a cryptic crossword. And it wasn’t something that I feel proud of.

I pissed myself.

Or to be precise I deliberately urinated in my pull-up pad, and I’ve found this is actually much harder than I’d thought.…

A few weeks ago I had an MRI scan of my back that identified a couple of issues. I then went on holiday, and last weekend was dominated by my birthday celebrations. During this time the scan and the changes it apparently showed in my spinal cord have been floating about in my mind, occasionally surfacing in conversations or in my own reflections.…

I woke just now with a start and a sharp intake of breath. After a moment or two I began the urgent shuffle onto my commode to let my wee slowly find its way out. But I started thinking about what I was going to write in this post before my bum even hit the padded, plastic seat.…

So, I knew we’d made a documentary. I’d put the very first budget together, been involved in choosing the team, chatted to camera several times and watched a number of different edits, providing detailed comments about each one. But it still felt very unreal when I saw our film listed on my TV guide.…