Simon leaves his parents' home and gets his own place. But, as he explains, independence for someone with severe spinal cord injury is relative. He details his daily routine and his new life with a carer ever-present. Simon bemoans the fact that many of his carers don't seem to be trained sufficiently to manage his injury. Many of them, he says, just aren't interested in helping him get out and about. It's clear that the calibre of Simon's carer determines how well his day goes.

Simon chats with Ade, one of his longest-serving carers. Ade gives a touching account of their time spent together.

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In this conversation, Simon tells us about how he met his wife. He'd had multiple relationships before, but with Jen, he says, he felt he could truly be himself and be open about his disability.

We're joined by Dr MO BELAL, a consultant urologist, who became paralysed after being hit by a falling tree whilst cycling. Despite his disability - he's paralysed from the waist down - Mo has gone back to work as a surgeon, earning him the title, Britain's First Paralysed Surgeon.

Mo, very candidly, discusses how his injury has affected his relationship with his wife: " it does dramatically change your

relationship with your wife...having to change the whole paradigm because there's a physical problem...the way I look at it is that with the medication, with the injections, I'm able to have erections. And actually, that's real positive."

Both Mo and Simon point out the lack of privacy when you have carers at home. Mo's family do without their help, but Simon has 24/7 support.

They consider some of the technological innovations that have helped Mo back work as a surgeon.

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Simon tells us more about life after the catastrophic car accident that left him paralysed from the neck down. In hospital he had multiple surgeries, he describes undergoing a painful circumcision.

At first, he resisted using his wheelchair, ‘accepting the wheelchair would be me accepting that I was now disabled’.

After a few years, Simon, aged about 20 leaves home and lives away from his family with the help of carers. ‘ That was what changed everything for me’ he says.

Striving for independence and ‘normality’, Simon goes clubbing with his mates and we hear about his romantic encounters.

Our Simon Shaw meets another Simon Shaw. This one’s a doctor who specialises in the rehabilitation of people who suffer spinal injuries at Britain’s top unit at Stoke Mandeville hospital. They both reflect on the improvements that have been made in the treatment of spinal cord injuries in the 40 years since Simon sustained his.

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