World Braille Day takes place on 4 January and with that in mind we have chosen Robin Millar as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month.

Robin is a record producer, musician and businessman and was born with retinitis pigmentosa. He has conquered blindness to become one of the world’s most successful ever record producers with over 150 gold, silver and platinum discs and 55 million record sales to his credit. His 1984 production of ‘Diamond Life’ the debut album by Sade was named one of the best ten albums of the last 30 years at the 2011 Brit Awards.

He has also developed and run a string of successful businesses in car hire, music recording and publishing and is currently Executive Group Chairman of the Blue Raincoat Chrysalis Group, which handles 150 artists and thousands of iconic songs, including “Simply The Best” and “Nothing Compares To You”.

He has worked as a fundraiser for vulnerable people for 30 years and in March 2012 Millar underwent a 12-hour operation to install a bionic retina in his right eye to help research into future treatment for blindness.  Although the implant had to be removed after rejection in autumn 2013, the research has made giant steps in the understanding of possible ways to restore sight in the future.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.

He is currently Chairman of Blue raincoat Music and of CMO Artist Management and Patron of Finding Rhythms, who record and release music from prisoners in UK prisons.

He has been a trustee of Creative & Cultural Skills UK since 2009, is a trustee of The Vietnamese Boat Peoples Appeal, a patron of anti-suicide campaign CALM and Global Advisor to the UN Young Voices mission.

To find out more about Robin see his website http://www.robinmillar.org.uk/

To find out more about World Braille Day see here

https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/world/world-braille-day