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Listener Week: MND and women, Not being a granny, Studying later in life

Listener Diana joins us to discuss her MND diagnosis and how the disease impacts women.

Motor Neurone Disease is a condition that affects nerves found in the brain and spinal cord which tell our muscles what to do. The disease is life shortening and there is no cure. One listener, Diana Keys, was diagnosed in May 2023. She tells us about her experience and asks why does representation of MND in the media skew so heavily towards men?聽Diana is joined by Dame Pamela Shaw, an academic neurologist and world-leading researcher in MND.

Listener Sally Ruffles describes herself as a聽68 year old woman with one daughter and no grandchildren. She got in touch with Woman's Hour for Listener Week聽 to say: "There鈥檚 this common assumption that having grandchildren is always a wonderful thing. But nobody really stops to think that not having them might also be okay鈥攐r even a positive thing for some people."聽 She joins Nuala with her daughter Hannah, who persuaded her mother to write to Woman's Hour, to discuss why it can be difficult to talk about not being a grandparent.聽聽

We talk to women living full time on the UK鈥檚 waterways. Charlotte Ashman is an artist and print maker and Jo Bell is a writer and former UK Canal Laureate. They tell us about their lives, their work and the pros and cons of narrowboat living.

Have you ever thought about going back to school? Recent graduates Sue Goldsmith & Rahat Ismail both returned to studying later in life. They join Nuala to discuss what took them back to education and the value of lifelong learning.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Emma Pearce

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57 minutes

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  • Wed 6 Aug 2025 10:00

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