This disabled school boy gets to show bullies his 'awesome' new bionic hand

A nine-year-old who was bullied for having only one hand has become the first boy in the UK to be fitted with a new child-sized bionic hand.

Josh Cathcart, from Dalgety Bay in Fife, was tormented by classmates for his disability but now he said he cannot wait to show off his "awesome" new hand to friends at school.

His parents Clare and James told the Press Association they were motivated to find a solution after Josh became withdrawn because of the bullying and they came across Touch Bionics in Livingston, West Lothian.

Touch Bionics had just developed the i-limb Quantum, an extra-small prosthetic which gives Josh a range of motion.

Alison Goodwin, a prosthetist at Touch Bionics, told the BBC:

We do fit the hand worldwide but he's the first one that we have fitted here in Scotland, so it's great that he's a local lad.

Josh is delighted with his new hand, which he can control by gestures and movements which signal electrodes on the surface of his skin within the prosthesis' socket.

I got to put it on about two days ago. I can stick my thumb up. I can make a pinch grip, I can get a grip for cutting with a knife, I made myself a bagel yesterday. I can open bottles and packets, I can build Lego and pull my trousers up.

• Josh Cathcart

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