James Medhurst
As a child, I was very successful in my schoolwork but found it difficult to make friends. I went to Cambridge University but dropped out after a year due to severe depression and spent most of the next year in a therapeutic community, before returning to Cambridge to complete my degree. I first identified myself as autistic in 1999 while I was studying psychology in London but I was not officially diagnosed until 2004 because of a year travelling in Australia and a great deal of NHS bureaucracy. I spent four years working for the BBC as a question writer for the Weakest Link but I am now studying law with the intention of training to be a solicitor. My hobbies include online poker and korfball, and I will be running the London Marathon in 2007. I now have many friends and I am rarely depressed but I remain single.
Articles by James Medhurst
Results 1 to 10 of 22
Society
Disabled on Big Brother
- 05 August 2008
- 4 comments
One of the earliest of my recruits on Weakest Link was a blind radio producer from Ayrshire called Michael Hughes. He is now nine weeks into his stay in the Big Brother house
Life & Society
You don’t have to be mad to work here…
- 20 May 2008
- 1 comment
It is not new for political figures to be affected by mental illness – Winston Churchill was famously manic depressive
Ideas
Nowhere to run
- 17 March 2008
- 1 comment
James Medhurst points out that the purpose of sport is not to create a level playing field but rather to compare like with like, especially within the context of the Paralympics.
Life & Society
Incitement to Confusion
- 23 January 2008
While the government's attitude to disabled people seems contradictory, the media's remains profoundly unsupportive
Life & Society
Making perfect babies
- 07 December 2007
James Medhurst turns his gaze on the controversial issue of selective abortion
Education
Scientific illiteracy
- 31 October 2007
- 1 comment
Novel educational techniques such as phonics may be trendy but where is the proof that they do any good?
Society
Looking for work is hard work
- 24 September 2007
- 1 comment
Being disabled means rarely finding the right job, irrespective of one's potential
Society
No place for tradition
- 30 August 2007
- 1 comment
Nostalgia for dated public transport systems does not make them any more accessible for those with disabilities
Life & Society
Charities are hamstrung by the law
- 24 July 2007
- 10 comments
One would have thought in a liberal democracy the promotion of debate and free speech is inherently beneficial, whether one agrees with its content or not
Life & Society
Anyone care about carers?
- 28 June 2007
- 51 comments
They talk a good talk, but do the politicians or anyone else for that matter really care about the carers









