Our guest today is Charles Lowe who is the chief executive of Digital Health and Care Alliance (DACA), he is an expert in telehealth and telecare.

Throughout his career he has worked on technologies to support others. He shares with us how he wanted to open people’s eyes to recognise what technology can do to help people and how everybody can become digitally literate.

Growing up, Charles did voluntary work with his mother and saw firsthand the challenges faced by a broad range of people, particularly as they got older.

From a young child Charles had a passion for electronic engineering. In the late 1960s while still at school, he built a computer from scratch and developed a system to automatically open and close his bedroom window. After studying Material Science at Cambridge, he developed electronic solutions for a range of companies. Over the years Charles has been involved in many initiatives, working with different organisations, to engage people of all ages to embrace digital technology, including “take your grandparent to school day”. He recognises the lives of people caring for their loved ones could be improved through access to computers – allowing them to improve their mental health by continuing to work whilst caring.

At BT he led the development of their intranet and was instrumental in developing the first commercial digital offering from BT, including digitalisation of the police force and local governments departments. 

We talk about the huge speed at which new technologies are being introduced, and discuss whether we are actually making the best of them or moving on to new ideas too quickly? He highlights the importance of digital innovations that now allow patients to be monitored in their own homes, speeding up treatment times and reducing the pressures on hospital admissions. He emphasises the knock-on effect that people can remain in their own homes, doctors can focus on people they need to see in person and fewer people need to travel to be treated.

As you’ll hear, Charles believes that with effective implementation of current telecare and telehealth we can make the world a more inclusive place for everybody.

You can email Charles at charles.lowe@dhaca.org.uk

You can contact Carol at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Today’s guest on our podcast is Louise Thompson, who has set up the app Myfolks.

She tells us about growing up in a particularly poor area in the west end of Newcastle, in the North East of England. Louise’s first job was at the Freeman Hospital where she was involved in some cardiovascular research that was published in a medical journal. Through this work she managed to gain admission to Northumbria University, where she graduated with a degree in Law.

After gaining an MSc, while working in a senior corporate leadership position in Hampshire, Louise’s parents, who lived in the North East, became ill with dementia. There followed a desperate time, travelling backwards and forwards to support her parents, whilst working full time and managing the family home.

She talks about the issues her parents had, and although not needing personal care, they did need practical and emotional support. This is when she realised that she had to find some help but couldn’t find any. 

So, she began to think about creating an app that would connect people who could provide support for those families who couldn’t book ahead and needed it in real time. Then, the app Myfolks was created.

Louise shares the challenges she had from the time taken to set up the app, the cost and the issues of being a solopreneur.

She shares that one in seven of us is now caring while still working, and how it has a disproportionate effect on women in the workforce. In addition, there can be even greater challenges for the smaller number of men who are carers, and the impact it can have on their ‘masculine’ identity and their self-esteem.

She talks about the important need for employers to understand when their employees are struggling with caring responsibilities for their parents, highlighting that it’s not just the pull on their time, but also the emotional strain.

Presently Myfolks is in the North East, Cumbria, St Helens, Warrington, Humberside, Lincolnshire and Sussex. Louise aims to focus on the coastal towns and the outskirts of large cities, because they tend to have a higher population of the elderly, and often have fewer services.

You can contact Louise Thompson at: www.myfolks.uk

You can contact Carol at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Today’s guest is Jules Robinson from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents – ROSPA. Jules is a guest who has an interest and expertise in falls and fall prevention.

Previously having worked in social housing, Jules’ background is in health and safety, and now she is the falls engagement lead at ROSPA. They campaign for better design elements with Safer by Design and Safer Stairs. They also want to educate both the public and professionals, which they are doing through their Fall Fighters campaign.

Jules talks about how falls are a huge problem for everyone, but also about the attitude that falls are almost expected as you get older. In her previous job she was involved in a project looking at the reasons people have falls, and looking at how falls can in fact be prevented. She also talks about how falls can be trivialised, when in fact the consequences of falls can be far more serious for older and vulnerable adults.

We talk about the risk of falls, not only at home, but also in the workplace, and how it is partly through recognising dangerous situations and potential risks of falls due to the environment that people are in. Many people don’t recognise where risks are, and it’s about educating them to be more aware, though obviously in the workplace there are distinct regulations that the employer is responsible for.

Jules also reiterated several times about how fall prevention advice needs to be a person-centred thing, because we all behave and think differently. This was evident when talking about the different reactions people had to wearing lanyards or fall-prevention devices around their necks. 

Although falls are something that any of us can have, it is the older people who Jules is particularly hoping to help with her Fall Fighters campaign.

Find out more about RoSPA RoSPA’s fall prevention hub for general home safety advice on falls: https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/advice-and-information/falls-prevention-hub

The fall prevention project in social housing: https://www.trentanddove.org/news/new-research-shows-avoidable-falls-in-the-home-can-be-reduced-by-69-per-cent-891/

And the RoSPA fall prevention toolkit based on the social housing project: https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/advice-and-information/falls-prevention-hub/professional-falls-advice/falls-and-their-impact-on-social-housing

You can contact Carol at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Our podcast guest today is herself a podcaster – Adriane Berg. 

Adriane has a fascinating background and has spent much of her life in front of a camera, microphone or in a courtroom as a lawyer; radio presenter, and a tv presenter. She was a pioneer of elder law, worked on US syndicated radio and hosted one of the first money programmes on CNN. 

Less than a year ago she and her husband of 52 years set up The Ageless Traveler, which is born out of Adriane’s passion for travel and wanting to make lifelong travel easier for us all. She strongly believes that travel, tourism brings us to life no matter what our age, and wants to enable people to continue to travel throughout their life. 

She shares how she was involved in one of the first TV shows to talk about financial planning, helping people to learn how to save for their retirement. Although she doesn’t like the word ‘retirement’ as you’ll hear.

Adriane explains various things people can overcome – one being how other people impose their fears on you. 

We talk about how technology can be used to enhance the Ageless Travelers’ experiences. We also discuss how the travel industry needs to wake up to the fact that there will be 1.6 billion trips taken by people over 60 in the next 25 years – yet the focus of marketing is generally aimed towards younger people.

You can contact Adriane on her website: https://agelesstraveler.com/

Her free eBooks: 

https://CaregiversTravelGuide.com

https://luxurytravelforless.info

You can contact Carol at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Our guest today is Louise Hunt Skelley PLY, a Paralympic wheelchair tennis athlete, who now has developed an exciting portfolio career. She is involved in a range of many different things, including commentary, tournament directing, consultancy, working with young people, and public speaking – all with a focus on disability, inclusion and sport.

Recently she has launched a new company, Enable Rise with another friend, Samantha Bullock, also a wheelchair tennis player. Louise talks about how their passion around inclusion in various areas made them realise they could join forces and work towards making everywhere inclusive. 

Having been involved in sport from a young age, Louise talks about how taking part in tennis helped her socialise and made her feel both powerful and capable. Later it gave her opportunities to travel the world and meet other amazing people.

She talks about how her involvement in sport has opened many, many doors in her life in terms of her own confidence, but also in terms of raising her profile.

Louise also talks about her passion for tennis, explaining why she loves this sport specifically.

We talk about the gender gap in sport when Louise’s passion is that sport is for everyone. She thinks that boys and girls should have access to the range of all sports at school, from a young age; for example, not only girls play netball and only boys play football.

Whilst talking about the challenges involved in making sports more inclusive, we discuss how in fact people playing disabled sport need to have much broader skill sets to be able to play at an elite level. And then go on to talk about how these skills can be transferred to the workplace.

Louise explains very clearly what inclusion means to her; everyone should have the same experience, but for wheelchair users and people with disabilities, some adjustments need to be made. Therefore, it’s about managing a situation, so you get to the same outcome and the same experience.

You can contact Louise at:

 Mobile: 07733021123

 Email: louiseannhunt55@gmail.com

 Website: www.louisehunt.co.uk

 Linked in: Louise Hunt Skelley PLY

You can contact Carol at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Today’s guest, Gavin Neate, joined Guide Dogs for the blind, where he served as a mobility instructor for 18 years. Previously, he had spent 10 years as a military policeman. 

During his time working as a mobility instructor, where he worked on people’s independent mobility, he became very involved in the entire process of helping clients find ways to interact with society. He recognised the many day to day challenges facing people and he wanted to help find solutions to those issues.

We discuss how much of the problem solving should be left to the problem holders. Gavin talks about how history is full of people who have invented solutions that didn’t necessarily answer problems, therefore, when it comes to inventing solutions to help people with their mobility problems, it is crucial that they are involved.

His has great advice to young innovators who want to help people: dedication, commitment, belief and the ability to keep going even if you have to give everything up because you truly believe in what you’re doing.

Gavin’s innovation is the WelcoMe app. The font of the last two letters of the word are changed so that when reading it, people see it as, welcome me. The reason behind this is that when it comes to customer service, and interacting with other humans, disabled people often feel they aren’t welcome. 

He talks about how as a mobility instructor he would run ahead of whichever venue his client was visiting and talk to the people in that venue – telling them how to welcome that client. He would give them 5 bits of information that meant when the client walked through the door, they felt welcomed into the venue, and that the venue understood their needs.

The WelcoMe app means people can communicate with staff members before walking through the door of a venue. 

We talked about our focus for this week being Disabled Access Day and asked Gavin why he thought we needed the day? Part of his answer was it should be every day, not just one day and he sees the day as one where you should be looking at what you’ve done in the past year and what you are planning to do this coming year.

You can contact Gavin at:

Website https://www.wel-co.me/

Links https://linktr.ee/welcome.cs

Gavin Neate https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-neate/

You can contact Carol at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Our guest today, Anthony Blackburn has a passion for golf – but not just for playing the game… he has set up Golf in Society.

Starting his business six years ago, presently he has 23 venues where golf clubs are put at the heart of local communities. What that means is, they are open for people facing challenges later in life, for many different reasons and they are given a great day out at a local golf club. There are two and a half thousand golf clubs in the UK – imagine if those spaces could be used as national venues…

As an entrepreneur Anthony aims to have a network of age friendly golf venues across the UK, but at the moment they are mainly in the north and Scotland. The company have regional leads – people who organise the sessions in their area. These regional leads often come to Golf in Society after their first career – bringing their experience and talent with them.

Golf in Society not only support people with dementia, Parkinson’s, stroke, loneliness and mental health issues, but also gives unpaid carers a well-deserved respite break.

Anthony talks to us about how people underestimate golf, thinking of it as elitist, very expensive and a pastime for the middle-class. He is breaking down those perceptions and talks about its health and wellbeing benefits. Golf enhances strength, balance, grip, lets people enjoy the outdoors, provides fresh air, gives opportunities to socialize, respite care – and so much more.

We compare the current rate for respite care and other therapies to attending one of his Golf in Society sessions – you may be surprised at the positive outcome.

We also talk about transportation – which can be a huge barrier if you have a chronic illness – and how it is one of the challenges society needs to be overcome.

You can find Anthony on:

 Website: https://golfinsociety.com/

 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-blackburn-37732a170/

You can contact Carol at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Our guest on today’s podcast is Jane Cooper, the founder and managing director of Access and Inclusion UK. They help businesses and destinations to understand the type of challenges that people with disabilities or accessibility requirements might have, and importantly, give them solutions to overcome them, through training, or whatever solution is required – thus providing accessibility for all.

Jane’s passion for her company is based on her own personal experience – of having her eldest child, Megan, born with an extremely rare chromosomal condition, and then also being diagnosed as autistic. After coming to terms with her daughter’s condition and learning how to cope with a life that was suddenly completely different to the one she had expected, she moved away from her previous career and into the one she has now.

Jane shares with us that people with autism are not all exactly the same. Like the rest of us, everyone is individual, and how one person behaves is not necessarily how someone else will behave. She also points out another misconception – that learning disabilities and autism are not linked! You can be autistic and not have learning difficulties.

She does talk about how she finds the autistic world fascinating, because of all the different ways people can be affected. And as she explains this is why it’s so hard to give advice to parents of a child newly diagnosed with autism.

Jane talks very clearly about sensory stimulation and how some autistic people are overstimulated or under-stimulated by different things. And she also explains how she learnt to deal with her daughter’s meltdowns – which was the complete opposite of what she had expected to do!

This is a fascinating insight into living with someone with autism.

You can contact Jane via Her website : https://accessandinclusion.com/

Email: jane@accessandinclusion.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-cooper-accessandinclusionuk/

X: @accessandincuk

You can contact Carol at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Our guests today are Felicity and David Brown, who own Hoe Grange Holidays in the Peak District and they talk to us about how over the last 17 years they have built an award winning all-inclusive holiday business from scratch on the farm that has been in David’s family since the 1930s.

David talks about how his father, in the 70s, had considered having log cabins on his farm to have holiday guests, but the council weren’t interested. Having taken on the farm and needing to diversify, David and Felicity revisited the idea of log cabins, and after research identified a massive hole in the market for accessible properties. Because they were building from scratch they were able to build the facilities that were needed in a very cost effective way. 

They started with 2 cabins, and gradually built up the business. The successful development of their business is down to their ability to listen to people and find out from their guests what their needs were. Over time, they have also built up the various types of special equipment needed and when they have several people ask about something, that’s when they consider adding it to their business.

Originally the farm was a commercial dairy farm, but in 2009 they took the decision to extend their number of cabins and they sold their dairy herd. Their business now is incredibly diverse. Holiday visitors include people who have disabilities, people with autism, dementia and other disabilities, as well as many multigenerational holiday guests, romantic couples or even a bring your own horse on holiday opportunity.

Hearing them both talk, the passion they have for their business is obvious and it becomes obvious that their attitude of listening and developing with their customers has been a huge part of their success.

This podcast is also a must for anyone who is considering setting up a successful inclusive holiday business.

You can find David and Felicity on:

Website: www.hoegrangeholidays.co.uk/accessible-holidays-peak-district/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/HoeGrangeHolidays

Instagram: www.instagram.com/hoegrangeholidays/

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Today’s guest is Billal Jamil, the MD and one of the founders at Public Speaking Academy, who talks to us about the importance of being heard in the context of inclusivity.

The main mission for the Public Speaking Academy is to help people from all backgrounds to find their voice, ready to use it in the many spaces where they might have to access a confident, animated self.

Billal tells about how he started to find his own voice, after one particular incident when he was promoted to a line manager of 80 people and was put on the spot and expected to speak to them. He also shares how most of us experience our first experience of public speaking at school, in the classroom when we put our hands up to answer a question. When we answer incorrectly, or can’t answer, that is when the seeds of fear are first sown.

He shares his journey and how even six months on from being put on the spot, he was still suffering in terms of his self-confidence. That was many years ago, and since then his journey to improve and gain confidence to speak grew. He read many different books, reading different ideas and opinions, but as he soon realised – when it comes to public speaking, information is not enough. Rather than thinking of it as a problem, he began to embrace the challenge.

In terms of inclusivity, Billal shares his passion and thoughts about how much better the world would be if everyone, from all backgrounds, cultures and societies could articulately voice their thoughts to mass audiences in a clear way. Public speaking shouldn’t be just something for the elite. We also talk about the issues that sometimes arise for those who are aging, are living with dementia and long term conditions, or are from ethnic minority communities when it comes to being heard.

You can contact Billal on:  publicspeakingacademy.co.uk/

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:  sargentgroup.consulting

Today’s guest is Zak Marks, co-founder of Kitt Medical. He has lived with a severe allergy to nuts for as long as he can remember. He decided to tackle a problem closest to his heart, which is – why isn’t there an equivalent to defibrillators for allergies? Wherever you go, there is usually access to a defibrillator, but there is no access to epi pens.

Zak shares the story of how he found out he was allergic to nuts when he was about 5 years old, and how it’s developed since then. And we also talk about how people can have a small reaction initially, but then their reactions can get worse and worse and they may go into anaphylactic shock.

He talks about how having allergies as a boy growing up, and now, he often has to carry his pens around with him in his jacket, as he doesn’t always carry a bag. For other allergy sufferers, there are often issues with their epi pens being out of date, and some also suffer mental health issues because of their constant worry about having an allergic attack. Living with allergies means you are often excluded from social occasions too. It was these various things that pushed him into creating the Kitt Medical.

The Kitt contains four adrenaline pens and Zak and his team have now supplied Kitts to 300 schools in England, and also have delivered CPD accredited training; which is 20 minutes of videos and quiz questions that prepares people to be able to save a life when needed. Over 5,000 people have attended their training course.

Zak’s dream is that Kitts will be found in any building; schools, tubes, transport hubs, restaurants, hotels, stadiums, offices etc – schools are just the starting point.

Our conversation with Zak, who is passionate about his work, covers travel, and also the importance of having good friends who understand your allergy. 

You can find Zak on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zak-marks/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kittmedical/

Website: www.kittmedical.co.uk

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:

sargentgroup.consulting

Our guest on today’s podcast is Emily Yates who works for Mima, an inclusive creative design agency. She is a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy and in her job, she heads up the accessibility and inclusive design team for the company.

We talk to Emily about the changes that design can make to people’s lives, and how passionate she is about what she’s doing.

Her work focuses on physical, social and digital accessibility, and inclusive design for disabled people and those with other protected characteristics. This means that yes, inclusivity is important, but true inclusivity looks beyond a focus on disabled people, but also focuses on people with accessibility requirements. Those who may not consider themselves disabled, but parents with young children in prams, older adults who have issues which are just a part of getting older.

Emily tells about her involvement in supporting accessibility in the different countries involved with the Paralympics, which is fascinating to hear. After volunteering for the London 2012 Olympic Paralympic Games, she was then invited to Brazil where the 2016 Games were held. She was offered the opportunity to do some consultancy with Metro Rio who were looking to build a new line to the Olympic Park. We talk about the main differences between attitudes in Brazil and the UK when it comes to disability.

She also talks to us about the incredible work she has been involved in with Visit England. They are creating an inclusive tourism toolkit, specifically for small to medium sized tourism businesses, especially in the areas of accommodation, attractions, food and beverage and events. Emily explains the importance of this great tool, and how it will make it easier and more straightforward for small businesses to become inclusive. And unlike so much of the disparate information that is out there, this will be in one tool kit!

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:

sargentgroup.consulting

The first guest on our podcast is Rory Cellan-Jones. Rory is a British journalist and former BBC News technology correspondent. He worked for the BBC for 40 years, and left in August 2021. He is also an author of many books, and since leaving the BBC has a newsletter which is very popular, and also runs a podcast called Movers and Shakers, which is about life with Parkinson’s.

During our conversation we talk to Rory about travel, both when growing up and then as an adult, and now in his late 60s. Not only has he enjoyed travel, but he also lived and worked in different parts of the world. He shares his favourite places with us.

Not surprisingly, when considering he was a technology correspondent, we talk about technology, but with a specific focus on inclusivity. Rory shares his thoughts on the latest technologies to aid people with disabilities, and ageing. He talks about how having information on a phone or on a screen that you can talk to is incredibly useful – especially when it means you don’t have to write things down. He also talks about instant translation, and how that can be helpful for people who are losing the power of their voice.

We also talk about the Parky Charter, which Rory’s podcast and several leading Parkinson organisations have called on the government to take action to improve the lives of people living with Parkinson’s. It’s about anybody with a disability to be able to gain access to entries and exits everywhere they go.

We also talk about the frustrations of even gaining access to diagnosis at the present time in the NHS.

On a positive note, Rory shares information about several great new ways that technology is being used and developed to help people with Parkinson's live better lives.

We even talk about the use of AI.

Rory sees technology helping in two main ways. One, to help diagnose Parkinson’s more quickly and easily, and two, developing different sorts of wearables that can measure symptoms and chart the rate of progress.

Perhaps his most important point is that many of us will end up with some kind of disability at some stage – just through age – so why not make the world a more inclusive place? 

You can find out more about Rory at:

rorycellanjones.substack.com/p/a-test-for-parkinsons

Dr Carol Sargent can be found at:

sargentgroup.consulting

Dr Carol Sargent enjoyed a lengthy career in pharmaceutical science as both a scientist and project manager for international giants such as AstraZeneca and Merck, researching the physical outcomes of chronic diseases and working at an international level at sites in the UK, France, Sweden and the US. This period of her career included five years as a consultant for large drug companies looking at business opportunities that could best support disease intervention.

With over 30 years of experience as a General Practitioner and with Postgraduate Diplomas in Law, and Sport and Exercise Medicine, Dr Tom Adler is passionate about improving the health and well-being of our ageing population, and those with chronic disease and disabilities. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Peak Medtek Ltd, he led a small team developing a falls prevention device Bide which aims to reduce the risk of nighttime falls in the frail and elderly by using voice cues. Dr Tom was also honoured to be selected as one of the five entrepreneurs on the 2019 RCGP Innovators Mentorship Programme.