O'Mara wants to pick up casework and start running surgeries, but first he needs to find an office and recruit some employees to help him. When BuzzFeed News speaks to him he's singlehandedly fielding 200 emails per day and organising his own meetings – jobs normally handled by MPs' staffers. His first priority over the summer recess, which only began on July 20, will be recruiting staff and setting up Sheffield Hallam's first ever constituency office for a Labour MP.



In his first few weeks in the job, O'Mara has encountered a few more difficulties than many other new MPs. He has cerebral palsy hemiparesis, and is one of just six disabled MPs – less than 1% of parliament’s total membership, compared to the 16% of working-age adults in the UK who have disabilities.

The right side of O'Mara's body is significantly weaker than the left, and the main symptom of his disability is fatigue, he says, meaning he can’t stand for long periods of time or spend too long walking about, and he sometimes struggles with stairs. And he says parliament hasn't always been equipped to accommodate his needs.

He had to ask for a chair to be reserved for him in the House of Commons after he turned up to his first Prime Minister's Questions in good time but found that all the seats had been taken. He also has to contravene the strict Westminster dress code by wearing a T-shirt instead of a shirt, as his fingers can't do up the buttons – a request that Speaker John Bercow was happy to accommodate.



"There have been a couple of teething problems, [such as] getting a seat in the chamber at busy times, but that's being rectified," he says. "I arrived at PMQs and all the seats were taken. I didn't feel comfortable asking someone to give up their seat for me. I would prefer an adjustment to be made, but that will come in time.



"You can't just wave a magic wand – because it's an old building it's not the epitome of accessibility. There's a limit to what you can do but there are little things that can be done, like having adequate signs on the walls, on the rooms." He says the building is large and difficult to navigate, and would be improved by simple directions posted in the corridors. "These are all things that can be done. Adjustments can be made."

He says it's disappointing that he is having to ask for changes to be made to accommodate his disability in the very building where the latest version of the Disability Discrimination Act was passed more than a decade ago.

"Parliament should be leading the way, should be getting that right," he says. "We've had 12 years to be doing that. It's the building that leads the country, the people that lead the country, who aren't doing more in leading the way. They can make those little changes and make things a lot better."