News round-up: Lord Ashley; protests over Remploy closures

Lord Ashley of Stoke, 1922-2012

There was sad news last weekend as the death of Lord Ashley of Stoke (formerly Labour MP Jack Ashley) was announced. He was 89. Two years after entering Parliament in 1966, Ashley lost his hearing. At first he planned to resign his seat, but instead took a crash course in lip-reading and continued to serve in the House of Commons until 1992, when he entered the Lords.

Tributes and obituaries throughout the media have focused on Ashley's major role as a disability campaigner through the years - including pushing for live captioning on TV for deaf people, fighting for Thalidomide survivors and, in the last bill he introduced to the Lords in 2007, arguing for people with autism to be given Blue Badges. Lord Ashley also founded and chaired the All Party Parliamentary Disablement Group for over four decades.

At the end of last week, hundreds of workers at Remploy, the state-owned company which provides employment and placement services for disabled people, staged demonstrations outside government offices in London and Sheffield. They were protesting against plans to close 36 of the 54 Remploy sites this summer, which will leave 1,500 disabled employees facing compulsory redundancy.

More of the week's headlines

Breivik case 'shows insanity misconceptions' (BBC News, Friday 27 April)

The camera that says what it sees (BBC News, Thursday 26 April)

Louis Theroux on dementia: The capital of the forgetful (BBC News Magazine, Thursday 26 April)

Is this the year of disability on TV? (BBC News, Thursday 26 April)

Shock as Rupert Murdoch calls British Prime Minister's tragic disabled son 'retarded' during hacking testimony (Daily Mail, Thursday 26 April)

NHS reforms 'a risk to vulnerable children' (BBC News, Thursday 26 April)

'They treat her like she's Osama bin Laden': Family's outrage as TSA pats down their daughter, 7, who is mentally handicapped and has Cerebral Palsy (Daily Mail, Thursday 26 April)

Mind-controlled robot for paraplegics unveiled (The Telegraph, Wednesday 25 April)

Prospect of 'autism drug' raised after early tests (BBC News, Wednesday 25 April)

London 2012 Paralympics: organisers hail record broadcast deals (The Telegraph, Wednesday 25 April)

Anti-depressants 'may do more harm than good' (Daily Mail, Thursday 26 April)

Limbless Frenchman to swim around world (The Independent, Wednesday 25 April)

'Vicious' attack on disabled man in Fife (BBC News, Wednesday 25 April)

NHS care is 'disjointed' say family of anorexia victim (BBC News, Wednesday 25 April)

Glengormley grandparents deny killing disabled teenager Rebecca McKeown (BBC News, Tuesday 24 April)

Britain's oldest 20-year-old man has the body of a 160-year-old due to rare condition (Daily Mail, Tuesday 24 April)

Sinéad O'Connor cancels tour owing to bipolar disorder (The Guardian, Tuesday 24 April)

Suing the NHS over cheap blindness drugs is a risky business, Novartis (The Guardian, Tuesday 24 April)

Anti-depressants may not help autistic children: Study finds negative clinical trial results not published (Daily Mail, Tuesday 24 April)

Meet the blind designer who has had his own fashion show in Paris... and now he wants to crack Hollywood (Daily Mail, Tuesday 24 April)

Benefit cuts: Atos in the frame to deliver new disability tests (The Guardian, Monday 23 April)

Remembering 'humble' Lord Ashley (BBC News, Monday 23 April)

Guide dogs for the mind to fight dementia (The Independent, Sunday 22 April)

London Marathon 2012: David Weir and Shelly Woods secure wheelchair double to spur Paralympic hopes (The Telegraph, Sunday 22 April)

Obituary: Lord Ashley (BBC News, Saturday 21 April)

Labour peer Lord Ashley, 89, dies (BBC News, Saturday 21 April)

Paralysed woman to tackle marathon on robot legs (BBC News, Saturday 21 April)

Cultural blind spot? Chinese firm launches Helen Keller sunglasses (and they insist they knew disabled activist was blind) (Daily Mail, Saturday 21 April)

Half of all railway stations in Wales fail to meet accessibility standard (BBC News, Friday 20 April)

Sheffield protest over Remploy factory closures (BBC News, Friday 20 April)

Hundreds of disabled workers to protest over Remploy closure (BBC News, Friday 20 April)

Death of autistic boy shines light on national problem (The Independent, Friday 20 April)

Assisted suicide: One last helping hand (The Independent, Friday 20 April)

The Undateables: Channel 4's ad campaign is cleared by watchdog (The Guardian, Thursday 19 April)

Bullied autistic teenager 'failed by agencies' before death (BBC News, Thursday 19 April)

Education system failing children with autism (BBC News, Thursday 19 April)

Great Britain wheelchair rugby team through to Paralympic test event final (The Guardian, Thursday 19 April)

Father claims disability allowance for footballer soon (BBC News, Thursday 19 April)