A Lancashire charity which has been providing support for people with profound disabilities for more than 50 years is facing closure. Preston and District Scope runs a centre on Eldon Street and also supports families across the region. About 200 families receive support from the charity in the form of classes, activities and advice. Those who run the centre say people assume they receive cash from the Scope national charity which is not the case.
A County Durham sex case has prompted a High Court judge to question whether mentally disabled people should be prosecuted in the criminal courts. Lord Justice Hughes made the comment while hearing an appeal centred on a 13-year-old boy accused of groping another disabled teenager.
A 28-year-old Teesside man has been awarded £1m in damages after a hospital blunder left him disabled. Anthony Louca was born premature in Middlesbrough in 1979 and was cared for in the town's maternity hospital. He suffered convulsions but was allowed to go home after two weeks. He now has short-term memory loss and cannot work.
Leicester has won the right to host the Great Britain Special Olympics in 2009 - the second time the city has been chosen to host the event. The city, which beat Southampton to win the honour, hosted the games in 1989.
A Kent inventor has developed an all-terrain electric buggy aimed at giving disabled users the experience of going off-road through rough country. Chris Swift was a student agricultural engineer when he was disabled by a neurological condition as a teenager. He completed his degree, but realised his days of driving tractors were over.
Blocking a molecule in the brain may "cure" post-traumatic stress disorder, according to US researchers. They showed that inhibiting a specific enzyme removed fear in mice and report to journal Nature Neuroscience that the finding may lead to new treatments. Around a third of people may suffer PTSD after an exceptionally traumatic event, such as a terrorist attack or a natural disaster. Experts said it was early days but the findings were worth exploring further.
