Category Archives: Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – June 2020

From 8 – 14 June it is Diabetes Awareness Week and with that in mind we have chosen Gary Mabbutt as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month.

Gary was a professional footballer who made more than 750 appearances playing for Bristol Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur, and also won 16 caps for England. He is best remembered for his 16-year spell at Tottenham Hotspur, where he played from 1982 until 1998, winning the UEFA Cup in 1984 and the FA Cup in 1991.  His final appearance for the club came against Southampton on the last day of the 1997–98 season.

Gary has type 1 diabetes, and became an icon for many children with the condition. He famously appeared on the BBC’s children’s television programme Blue Peter where he demonstrated injecting insulin into an orange to show how he dealt with his condition on a daily basis.

After more than two decades in the sport, Gary is now Vice President and Patron of Diabetes UK, using his status as a well-known diabetic to raise awareness of the condition and encourage people with diabetes to live full lives. 

He currently works as an ambassador for Tottenham Hotspur football club as well as the Football Association, Diabetes UK and the Willow Foundation a national charity that provides special days for seriously ill 11-40 year olds.

Gary was awarded an MBE in the 1994 New Year Honours for services to football.

To find out more about Diabetes Awareness Week click here https://www.diabetes.org.uk/get_involved/diabetes-week

To find out more about Gary see here https://www.performingartistes.co.uk/artistes/gary-mabbutt

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month – May 2020

Mental Health Awareness Week will take place from 18-24 May 2020 hosted by the Mental Health Foundation with the theme of ‘kindness’. With this in mind we have chosen George Ezra as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month.

Georgeis a singer, songwriter and musician.  He first started supporting the mental health charity Mind after seeing friends and family affected by mental health problems. He then began experiencing anxiety himself after returning home from an intensive touring schedule and started encouraging his fans to donate to us throughout his UK tour in 2017. He has recently also opened up about his diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) on his podcast ‘Phone a Friend with George Ezra and Ollie MN’.

He has supported various initiatives including Time to Talk Day, Mind’s ground breaking partnership with the EFL and the Mind Media Awards.

George has held a number of fundraising shows for Mind at London’s Union Chapel and the Royal Albert Hall, raising over £170,000 to help fund vital services.

George was announced as an Ambassador for Mind in July 2019 in recognition of his outstanding dedication.

To find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week see here

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week

To find out more about MIND see here https://www.mind.org.uk/

To find out more about George see here https://www.georgeezra.com/

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – April 2020

World Austim Awareness Day is on 2 April and with this in mind we have chosen Chris Packham as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month.  Chris is a naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author.

He is particularly known for his work as a television presenter, which began in 1986 with the BAFTA-winning BBC1 children’s programme The Really Wild Show and nature photography series Wild Shots on Channel 4.

Since June 2009, he has co-presented the BBC Two nature programme Springwatch and its sister programmes Autumnwatch and Winterwatch.

He formed the production company Head Over Heels with producer Stuart Woodman, making wildlife programmes for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the BBC.

In October 2017, he presented a documentary about his experience as a high-functioning person with Asperger’s, ‘Chris Packham: Asperger’s and Me’ and at the same time he became an Ambassador for the National Autistic Society.

He is vice-president of the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, Butterfly Conservation, the Brent Lodge Bird & Wildlife Trust, The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and Grace Secondary School (The Sudan) and a patron of many others.

In 2011 he was awarded the Dilys Breese Medal, by the British Trust for Ornithology, for his “outstanding work in promoting science to new audiences”.

In December 2013, he was made an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton, having originally graduated from the university more than 30 years earlier.

In December 2014, Packham was voted “Conservation Hero of the Year” by readers of Birdwatch magazine in association with the online BirdGuides website for his work in publicising the illegal slaughter in Malta of millions of migrating birds.

In October 2016 he received a Wildscreen Panda Award for Outstanding Achievement and in 2019 he was awarded a CBE for services to nature conservation.

https://www.un.org/en/events/autismday/

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month – March 2020

World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. With this in mind we have chosen Samantha Baines as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month. Samantha is an award-winning comedian, actor, hearing aid wearer and Action on Hearing Loss Ambassador.

She compared the charity’s first ever Laughing to Deaf comedy fundraiser in 2018, has acted as a spokesperson in the national media, featured in multiple social media campaigns, and this year will be returning to compare Laughing to Deaf at London’s Comedy Store, headlined by John Bishop.

Samantha’s acting credits include The Crown, Silent Witness, Call the Midwife and several BBC Comedies and she currently stars in Magic Mike Live in London’s West End. Samantha is also a broadcaster and works regularly with BBC Radio stations as well as writing children’s books!   She doesn’t let her hearing loss or tinnitus get in her way and is passionate about raising awareness of the signs of hearing loss and tinnitus as well as the mental health conditions that may stem from them.  

Find out more about World Hearing Day here https://www.who.int/activities/celebrating–world–hearing–day  

Find out more about Samantha here https://www.samanthabaines.com/  

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – February 2020

February is LGBT history month and with this in mind we have chosen Sue Perkins as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Sue is a comedian, broadcaster, actress, and writer. Originally coming to prominence through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc, who she met whilst studying at Cambridge University.  They gained early success being shortlisted for the Best Newcomers Award at the Edinburgh Festival. Together they have appeared in many tv shows or written for other performers.

Sue has been involved in a wide variety of TV shows including, amongst many others, Celebrity Big Brother, QI, Newsnight, Celebrity MasterChef, Question Time and Have I got News for You.

In 2008 she appeared on the show Maestro, in which celebrities were taught to conduct an orchestra, which she won.  She has given lectures for the Royal Television Society and taken part in several wide-ranging documentaries including those on the Dinnington Colliery Band, Mrs Dickens Family Christmas and World’s Most Dangerous Road.

One of Sue’s most famous TV roles was the joint hosting of The Great British Bake Off which she presented from 2010 -2017 when the show moved to Channel 4.  In September 2019 she presented ‘Japan with Sue Perkins’ and in 2016 began hosting the panel show ‘Insert Here’.

In August 2012, Sue appeared on Tatler’s list of high-profile lesbians in London and in 2014 she was ranked sixth in The Independent on Sunday’s Rainbow List.

To find out more about Sue see here https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0674065/

To find out more about LGBT History Month see here https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month

4 January is World Braille day and with that in mind we have chosen Mike Brace as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Born in Hackney, East London, in 1950, Mike has always loved sport. However, at the age of ten, his life dramatically changed. Blinded in one eye, after an accident with fireworks, Mike then lost sight in his second eye two years later from a detached retina. At 12, he reluctantly went to a specialist boarding school, but there he re-discovered his love of sport.

In 1973 he founded the Metro Sports Club for the Blind. Later, he helped set up The British Paralympic Association, British Blind Sport and the British Ski Club for the Disabled.

Mike went on to become a successful cross-country skier. He managed, and competed in, the Paralympic ski team. A talented and versatile athlete, aged 33, he completed the Devizes to Westminster 125-mile canoe marathon. It took him and his guide 27 hours of non-stop canoeing, without sleep, in the worst weather conditions in the history of the race.

As a board member of both the successful Olympic and Paralympic 2012 Bid Team, Mike was appointed to the London Organising Committee for London 2012 and later became CEO for the newly formed VISION 2020 UK, an organisation which unites various charities, including RNIB, and health services involved in sight loss.

Mike recently won this year’s lifetime achievement award at the RNIB See Differently Awards for his outstanding contribution to business, sport and charity, changing perceptions of disability and inspiring thousands. In 2003 Mike was awarded an OBE and, in 2009, a CBE for Services to Disabled Sport. He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of London in July 2016.

To find out more about World Braille Day see here https://www.un.org/en/events/brailleday/

To find out more about Mike see here http://www.mikebrace.co.uk/

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – December 2019

3 December is International Day of Persons with Disabilities and with this in mind we have chosen Mike Oliver as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month. Sadly Mike died in March following a short illness and this is the first time we have had a posthumous Champion. 

Mike was a Professor Emeritus of Disability Studies at the University of Greenwich who spoke, wrote and published books including Understanding Disability, The Politics of Disablement and The New Politics of Disablement.

He was the first Professor of Disability Studies and was best known as the person who named and popularised the concept of the ‘social model’ of disability which states that it is the way society is organised which is disabling, not a person’s impairments or medical diagnosis.

In his work he comprehensively explained that society is the disability not the individual and goes on to demonstrate that by changing society by removing disabling barriers, disability could be minimised to the point of eradication. As Mike once described it, this different approach to disability: “changed it from being a medical issue to being a human rights issue.”

Countless change-makers who have shaped the legislation, policies, and world which exists today credit him and the social model as being their ‘lightbulb moment’. The initial concept was not his own creation: the principles were laid out in a 1976 pamphlet produced by the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Discrimination. However, Mike developed the term and popularised it with his 1983 book Social Work With Disabled People.

The book was originally written as course materials for healthcare professionals Mike was training, but it came out at a fortuitous time for the growing disability rights movement. The social model gave campaigners the framework to address disability discrimination, and the concept became a tool to address underlying assumptions.

Mike is remembered as the father of the social model, the person who founded disability studies as an academic discipline, and the man who ignited a movement and changed the lives of millions of disabled people around the globe.

  To find out more about International Day of Persons with Disabilities see here  

https://www.un.org/en/observances/day-of-persons-with-disabilities

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – November 2019

World Diabetes Day is 14 November, with that in mind we have chosen Henry Slade as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Henry is a professional rugby player who signed his first professional contract with Exeter Chiefs at the age of 18, the same year in which he also developed type 1 diabetes.

He has adapted to life with diabetes but admitted there was a moment he thought his career may have come to a premature end.  He could not understand how he could continue to play and have diabetes.

Fortunately he was told his rugby career would not be jeopardised, providing he was able to control his diabetes.  He quickly educated himself on what management routines worked for training and matches, what worked best for himself and took advice from fellow rugby professional Chris Pennell who is also diabetic.

Henry has not let his diabetes hinder any of his ambitions.  He was called into the England squad in 2014 and is currently part of the England Squad at the World Cup in Japan.

When asked if diabetes has changed him, he answered: “I wouldn’t say it’s changed my life. The way I look at it is you can’t change what’s happened to you. I’ve got diabetes and it’s something I just have to live with.

To find out more about World Diabetes Day see here To find out more about Henry see here

The Shaw Trust Power 100

The Shaw Trust Power 100 which lists the top 100 most influential disabled people includes a tribute to Mike Oliver a former member of staff of the University.

This year the list includes 4 former Inspirational Diversity Champions of the Month namely, Sophie Morgan, Matt Hampson, Tani Grey-Thompson and Ade Adepitan.

Information about the Trust and this year’s list can be found here

https://disabilitypower100.com/

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – September 2019

World Alzheimer’s Month is the international campaign every September to raise awareness and challenge the stigma that surrounds dementia. September 2019 will mark the 8th World Alzheimer’s Month. The campaign was launched in 2012 and World Alzheimer’s Day is on 21 September each year.

With this in mind we have chosen Scott Mitchell and Barbara Windsor as our Inspirational Diversity Champions of the Month.

Both are former actors and have been married since 2000.  Barbara, well known in the role of Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders, is currently living with Alzheimer’s.  Barbara was diagnosed in 2014 but her condition was only made public in 2018.

Together they are campaigning to raise awareness of the condition and for more support for the families and those affected by Dementia.

Scott and Barbara led the charge for Dementia Revolution, a unique ground-breaking campaign formed by Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK, helping to raise over £3 million towards dementia research.

Dementia Revolution was the chosen charity for this year’s London Marathon and Scott and fellow Eastenders friends of Barbara’s decided to raise money for the cause by running in the name of Barbara’s Revolutionaries.

Scott and Barbara have recently become Ambassadors for the Alzheimer’s Society and continue to fight against dementia.

To find out more about World Alzheimer’s Month see here https://www.alz.co.uk/world-alzheimers-month

To find out more about Dementia Revolution see here https://www.dementiarevolution.org/