Jack's direct route to success Media student Jack Townsend is studying at London’s Kensington and Chelsea College on Leonard Cheshire Disability’s Ability Media project. He recently won a bursary to help him progress his career in the media. Answering our ten questions, he reveals that his spectrum of heroes runs from renaissance art to Pulp Fiction

I'd like to teach the world to sign SignSong performer Jayne Fletcher tells us why bass is a bummer, that she never goes out without eye makeup and about getting the brush-off from X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent as she answers our questions.

Shameless plug for James's TV break James Munton is a professional actor with Down's syndrome. He is a core company actor at leading theatre company Full Body & The Voice where he did his training and played the lead role in their national tour of Hypothermia. He's currently in rehearsal for another lead role in world premiere production Colony. Recently he finished filming the role of Terry in an episode of Shameless for Channel 4. His recipe for a better life is a million pounds for everyone.

Verity Smith: double act Unlike Roy Rogers, Verity Smith doesn’t actually sing while on horseback. But in answering our ten questions, the dressage rider cum singer/songwriter tells us that she pursues both activities with equal passion. She also talks about how supermarkets can ruin her salad nicoise and why she goes fruit picking in the dark.

Umesh bowled over by award England Deaf Cricket Team Captain Umesh Valjee (41) has just been named ECB Disabled Cricketer of the Year. Although he’s made some fine centuries, winning the award apparently had him caught in the slips. Good to see he’s not stumped by our questions

I wanna be a billionaire... He may not have made it on to this year’s Sunday Times “Rich List”, but, like Travis McCoy, property investor Patrick Souiljaert wants it “so frickin’ bad”, as he reveals quite dogmatically in response to our questions

A cast off no more Following her triumph as Gabriella in Channel 4’s Cast Offs, Sophie Woolley shows she’s no one trick pony. With other writing and performing credits to her name, she now tells us why she may have to make a pact with the devil and why she’d like to be Howard Hughes

Cueing up for success Doncaster's very own hustler Matt Lester had just sealed a new sponsorship deal with Cue King Promotions. He says that people who patronise him make him angry, and admits enjoying having the balls to take people on for money

An enthusiast for life Dom Smith is a multi-skilled journalist and editor. He’s founder of northern-based music magazine Soundsphere and of Disabled Entrepreneurs, a network for start-up business people. He’s also very enthusiastic about everything – except escalators

The tribes of Jacob Fresh from triumphant performances in the play Tribes at London’s Royal Court, and with rave reviews for his scrap book, Jacob Casselden is confident that the hearing world could now be his oyster. In answering our ten questions, he reveals more hidden talents than most and an unexplained hatred of traffic lights

£50k is music to Vanessa's ears This year’s winner of the £50,000 Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs, Vanessa Heywood runs Tiny Mites Music, which offers music, movement and drama to pre-school children. She answers our ten questions and says why she wants more parking, more patience and definitely more music

Kate's slow walk on fast track Widely touted as one of the hottest young talents in British TV production, Markthree Media’s Kate Monaghan tells us why she works in TV, what she watches on TV and why she might always turn first to our Backlash column

Nadia's curry is reason to be cheerful Reasons to be Cheerful, the latest production from Graeae Theatre Company, is a coming of age tale of Ian Dury fans desperate to see him at the Hammersmith Odeon. Nadia Albina who plays Janine takes on our ten questions with the zeal of a new convert to punk

Dancing Dan: The wizard from Oz Dan Daw says he has a love affair with dance and that chore­ography is like childbirth. He had no idea that he could dance professionally as a disabled man until he connected with Restless Dance Company in Adelaide, Australia who were the driving force behind his “stagger” onto the international stage. Now on tour with Candoco Dance Company’s Renditions, Dan Daw takes on these “awesome” questions

Comic book heroine Canadian graphic artist, Kuen Tang has many firsts under her belt: first quadriplegic woman to qualify as an elementary school teacher; first to try Functional Electrical Stimulation partnership rowing in North America; the only woman on Alberta’s “Murderball” team. And on the eighth anniversary of the accident that made her disabled she became the first quadriplegic to letter comics for DC Comics. Now she’s the first Canadian to answer our ten questions

Taking it to the people Norfolk-based social entrepreneur and writer Robert Ashton is The People newspaper's new voice on national mental health issues. And Stuff Stigma, a think tank founded by the campaigner to challenge prejudice and promote well-being in Norfolk, has reached the semi-finals of the National Lottery Awards 2010. Now the man responsible for introducing the concept of the "human library" to Norfolk lets Disability Now check him out

Lucy reaches for court stardom Lucy Buxton may only be 17 but she’s already slam-dunked the sports scholarship of her dreams. Hoping to represent England in the European basketball Championships 2010, she checks in with Cathy Reay for a quick grilling on her motivation and goals

Pulling power Having lost most of his sight and lower limb strength after a brain haemorrhage in 2007, Scott Ballard-Ridley became even more determined to achieve his dream of being a professional rower. After winning a Disabled Sports Personality of the Year Award, and en route to competing in the 2012 Paralympics, he tells us about his passions

Young Ian analysis Schoolboy Wesley Nelson has appeared in several plays and on television in Doctors and Casualty. But he received his big break as the young Ian Dury in the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and hopes it will catapult him into more roles on the stage, screen and radio. He tells us how he might spend time drawing as well as playing his all-time hero

King's new clothes Before launching his own fashion label, Christopher King honed his skills through years of study, work placements as diverse as a fancy dress business and making garments for the army, and entering and winning design competitions run by the likes of high street giant, Next. Whilst working on a dress for his spring collection, Christopher picks up the thread of a conversation with Disability Now

Casting off for stardom Only time will tell whether we’ll see more of Peter Mitchell following his TV debut in the role of Dan in Channel 4’s drama series Cast Offs. Answering our ten questions he reveals that he needs his sleep, wants a step-free world, likes two fellow cast members who’re proud to be disabled and wouldn’t mind playing football again

Helping with enquiries A “cop apprentice” by day and a science fiction writer by night, 19-year-old Martin Hepworth has seen his first novel published. In Empire of the Machine, 12-year-old Charles uses his psychic powers to save the planet from invading alien machines bent on conquering Earth and wiping out humanity. In his day job, Martin uses his filing powers to fight crime from Kendal police station in Cumbria

Signing up for stardom David Sands appeared as a hospital cleaner in the TV drama Departure Lounge which was broadcast in October. He has appeared in Casualty, The Boy from Before and Last Night but Departure Lounge gave him the chance to work with actors he says he really likes and respects. He tells us that he likes Forrest Gump and how much he yearns for the day when he will be shot with a laser gun

Lizzie's loud and proud Lizzie Emeh may not be able to read or write, but she sure knows how to sing soul. The west-Londoner tells us how she feels when people ask her why her feet look the wrong way round and spills the beans on her number one hero, Stevie Wonder

Single combat Shoe-shop employee Amy Truesdale, the Sentinel/City of Stoke-on-Trent Female Sports Personality of the Year, recently fought for Britain in the Para-Taekwondo Championships. Here she tells us about the time kids thought her arm was bitten off by a crocodile and why having two arms would be a disadvantage

Genie's cosmic relaunch Genie Cosmas is relaunching Stream Records, a label run by and for disabled artists. Her latest release, the stripped down jazzy Domestic Bliss is available to buy or download from www.streamrecords.co.uk. She answers our questions and tells us about her own domestic bliss and why Robert Wyatt is a hero

Sarina out-sparkles the competition The votes are in for the Jewellery Channel’s design contest and the winner is Sarina Morris. As well as having her glittering creations manufactured and sold, Sarina wins a contract as a freelance designer for the Jewellery Channel, but having more than one string to her beads, she’s still ambitious to shine in the spheres of painting, interior design and fashion. Sarina puts her gloss on our ten questions and reveals why you can’t judge a jewellery designer by her appearance.

Everybody do the Shannon The Shannon is a technique of dancing and skateboarding with crutches pioneered by American performance artist, Bill Shannon, who currently stars in a mesmerizing journey through a cityscape in a TV ad campaign for Visa. As is befitting of a performance artist, he takes our ten questions as a chance to consider life, death and transcendence.

Screen-keen Dean Dean Rhodes-Brandon set up an online service to market subtitled and audio-described cinema while he was still at school, and won the Daily Mail People’s Choice Award. Still only 18, this enterprising film fan says the UK leads the world in accessible cinema

Louis' lack of shame Was Louis Kissaun a shoo-in to play the part of a character that popped out of a boot? No, he says the audition process was nerve-wracking but the 16 year-old debuted as BSL-user Danny in Channel 4’s Shameless on 10 March, in a storyline that saw him smuggled from Ibiza to Manchester in the boot of a car.

Big shot on campus Pursuing school politics, sport and dreams of stardom: Harry Winston has many balls in the air and one of them is as a shot putter. Harry is president of the student union at Treloar College, a school governor, a member of the England Athletics Track and Field squad, has hopes for 2012, and is pursuing his broadcasting ambitions with a placement at Sky Sports.

Commanding voice Garry Robson, whose grandparents were travelling players in the Midlands and the North between the wars, began his artistic life as an itinerant musician. He quickly became a respected actor and director and set up his own company, Fittings Multimedia Arts. As a wheelchair-user tired of being overlooked, he cultivated a booming voice that landed him the role of the Commander in CBBC’s Crisis Control.

Signing and singing Andrew Thomson is the winner of this year’s Stelios Award for disabled entrepreneurs. He’s founder and director of an online BSL/English interpreter service, www.sign-now.com. In answering our questions, he says he’d like to hear – but only for a day.

Sam cracks it Despite receiving daily treatment for cystic fibrosis, 10-year-old Sam Forster won a place with the English Youth Ballet and has appeared in its version of The Nutcracker. He was inspired to take up dancing at the age of three, by the cartoon Angelina Ballerina. Sam backed last month’s Cystic Fibrosis Trust’s Dance for CF fundraising week. Now we find out what he would do with the keys to Number Ten

UN set for Rude awakening On 3 December, Rudely Interrupted, a band of disabled musicians from Melbourne, Australia, will be the first ever indie-band to play a gig at the United Nations in New York. A tour of the USA, Canada and the UK will follow. Front man Rory Burnside tells Disability Now about his impatience, love of showing-off, and Knight Rider fantasies.

Shane's online for a bright future When ruthless capitalist Shane Bratby saw his Gran struggling with overflowing carrier bags, rather than rush to her aid he was struck by the idea for his business, Shopping4u: disabled people lacking IT skills can call him up and he’ll order their shopping online. Shopping4u is supported by Sainsbury’s, business is growing and Granny Bratby can put her feet up

Cereal killer Swimmer Sam Hynd is heading to his first Paralympic Games. Sam, 17, is one of ten young elite athletes who have received funding from Kellogg’s to provide training. Sam will be contesting the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle in China, along with the 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.

Guitar idol Guitarist Marc Playle featured in the finals of the Guitar Idol 2008 competition, where the judges praised his “epic ‘traditional’ rock soloing with class”. Now 22, he has been playing since he was 14. He plays with Newcastle-based rock band Minnikin, and describes their sound as “melodic heavy rock with a twist of grunge”. Minnikin’s debut album, Europa, is due to be released later this summer.

Kiruna pans panto When Australian actor, dancer and theatre director Kiruna Stamell played a teacher in Walford Primary School, she became Eastenders’ first character of restricted growth. She has worked in Europe, Australia and Singapore and co-founded Atypical Theatre Company. Familiar to Baz Luhrmann fans as La Petite Princess in Moulin Rouge, Kiruna tells us how her David Lynch obsession left her tongue-tied

Jordan's shooting party Jordan Hogg’s short film, The Fallen, featured in the Channel 4 series The Shooting Party, which followed the progress of nine disabled film-makers who wrote, directed and edited their films. A graduate in film studies from the University of Hull, Jordan (above) tells us about his passions and his wish to make a film about a complete bastard

Young hope Eleven-year-old Jhon Bateman was one of the main speakers at the launch of Disability Lib, a lottery-funded initiative which aims to bring more power to disabled people’s organisations

Sweet sixteen Sixteen-year-old confectioner Louis Barnett has dyslexia, dyspraxia, and his own chocolate factory in Shropshire. Louis started his business three years ago and now supplies major supermarket chains.

Phil’s new streetlife From a debut in the BBC’s Desperados, he’s now the new disabled kid on the block in Weatherfield. And for once he’s the real deal. Coronation Street’s Richard Sargent, who plays Ryan’s schoolmate Phil, talks to us about being first in the queue, and how The Wrong Trousers would be right for him

Amar's passport to success Amar Latif runs Traveleyes, a travel company which offers accessible holidays to disabled and other travellers. In November, he won the Stelios Disabled Entrepreneur Award, receiving a cheque for £50,000 from Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou at the National Business Awards ceremony. In November 2005, he featured in the BBC2 reality show Beyond Boundaries.

Belle sounds off Actress Lisa Hammond stars as Belle in the Lyric Hammersmith’s family Christmas show Beauty and the Beast, showing 29 Nov – 5 Jan. In this role, as in others, she challenges conventions and stereotypical views

All that Jazzer Actor Ryan Kelly plays Jazzer, Ambridge’s non-resident milkman and skally in Radio 4’s everyday story of countryfolk, The Archers.