Rté - A Life Less Ordinary

Programme 18: The English actor Mat Fraser, who appears from next week in Fair City on RTE 1 Television as David Osbourne, the son Esther gave up for adoption.

Programme 16: The writer Lia Mills, who survived mouth cancer. Her book "In Your Face" (Penguin Books) is based on the journals she kept even when she was feeling her worst. Producer: Bernadette Comerford

Programme 16: The actress Sharon Hogan, who contracted shingles (herpes zoster) 18 months ago around her left eye, and has had to stop work as a result of debilitating pain (postherpetic neuralgia).

Programme 15: Gerry Kerr, who had to radically change his life nine years ago when faced with the challenge of visual disability. Producer: Bernadette Comerford.

Programme 14: On 4th May, See Change launched the Make a Ripple campaign portal on www.seechange.ie. Barbara Brennan speaks on the programme tonight about the campaign, and about her experience of living with bipolar disorder.

Profile of Terry O'Brien, family man, Kerryman, local councillor, and wheelchair user.

Programme 12:Seonaid Dunne is in her early thirties, and is looking forward to getting married early in 2012. She works in the offices of Educate Together, the patron body for multi-denominational schools in Ireland. When Seonaid was doing her Leaving Certificate, a fire in her home left her without both legs and right hand. With other amputee friends, she set up the Amputee Disability Federation Ireland in 1998 to provide an advice and support network for new and established amputees. She has promoted the rights of people with disabilities actively since then. The website of Amputee Ireland is http://www.amputee.ie/A Life Less Ordinary is produced by Bernadette Comerford.

Programme 11: Siobhán Parkinson is a novelist and one of Ireland's best-known writers for children. She was appointed Ireland's first ever Children's Laureate in May 2010. She is visually impaired.

Programme 10: Lesley Bishop, former Principal Horn with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, talks about coming to terms with focal dystonia, which ended her professional playing career.

Programme 9: Cathy McCormack uses ISL, and for the past four years has also been a cochlear implant user. She teaches at TCD, and is a single-handicap golfer who has represented Ireland at the World Deaf Golf Championship.

Ronnie Conlon, who as a probationary Garda was paralysed in a freak accident. He was discharged from the Gardai, but went on to pioneer independent living in Galway, and has just retired after over 40 years of a working life.

Kathleen Reynolds (nee Egan), a table tennis Paralympian, revisits St. Mary's, Baldoyle, where she grew up.

Profile of Pádraig Naughton, Director of Arts & Disability Ireland, himself an artist who is visually impaired.

Emma Fogarty, Patient Ambassador for DEBRA Ireland, on the reality of living with Epidermolysis Bullosa.

Dónal Fitzpatrick, skier, and the first blind graduate of DCU, who now lectures at the university.

Poet Peter Sirr describes the epilepsy which he first experienced as an 11-year-old boy.

Siobhán Keane, musician and educator, talks about life since she sustained a spinal injury in a road accident.

In the first programme, Dr. Austin O'Carroll tells his story. Austin is a medical doctor who is a survivor of thalidomide. He persevered in his chosen career path despite being told initially that his disability would rule him out.