Ouch and about

Damon Rose is editor of the BBC's disability website Ouch!. We asked him to share some of his favourite web haunts

The web has immeasurably changed my life as a blind person. As a sighted teenager, I spent my Saturdays in book shops. Losing my sight meant I lost lots of cultural and informational input until, 10 years later, the internet came along to fill the void. At this point I’d like to say I now spend all my time reading academic journals and not just Popbitch or Facebook – but I wouldn’t be able to live with the lie.

audible.co.uk is a current fave of mine. I love audio books and this is a site full of ‘em. Last week I subscribed to one of their packages which allows me to download 2 audio books per month for £14.99 – bargain. I chose the latest Alex Rider teen-adult crossover spy adventure and something more culturally valid – rapid German learning. Hopefully, I’ll be able to speak fluently with my girlfriend’s family in Düsseldorf by the time we visit this Christmas. Still not enough 21st century books though. Why do audio book producers think we’re only into Jeeves, Agatha Christie or drawing room sagas?

mediaguardian.co.uk keeps me up to date with all the latest new media industry news I need and, if I want more in-depth or fascinating tech or science news, the iconic wired.com is still my favourite location. I just read a really interesting story about a blind telephone hacker, or phreaker.

wikipedia.com is just fantastic. A collaborative encyclopedia contributed to by volunteers around the world, it’s a good destination for blind people because it can cut out a lot of time-consuming browsing. Others have done all that work for you and added extra knowledge to boot. It’s incredible what you can find there. User beware, though – check a few other sources first before building any info you glean into your essay or scoping document. I was a keen contributor to the pages about Braille but someone kept deleting my inclusions. Possibly my contempt for Braille capital letters rocked the boat. You can’t tell. It’s the internet. Stalk or be stalked. Oh, and while we’re on that, the web does make stalking accessible if you’re blind, creating a level playing field for the disabled wannabe criminal – though I don’t condone that kind of behaviour.

Disabilitywise, I’m currently hooked on a blog by disabled entrepreneur Rich Donovan, a former Wall Street trader. I met him on a trip to New York last month and he has forthright ideas around employment, inclusion and joined-up-thinking. Forget the social and medical models, Rich has spent quite some time thinking through the ‘business model’, mocking workplace ‘lunch and learn’ sessions on diversity, full of people preaching to the converted. It’s been talked about before, but he puts acres more meat on the bone around the trillion dollar world economic force that disabled people represent. I used to think I was liberal; does my fascination with this man’s website make me a Tory now? Become a disciple at www.returnondisability.blogspot.com

Stuff it under your boss’s nose, or better yet make a powerpoint presentation that speaks directly to the heart of all that’s important in the world and on the web – money and the bottom line.

• www.bbc.co.uk/ouch