On 14 July it is Disability Awareness Day and with this in mind we have chosen Sophie Morgan as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

In 2003 Sophie was left paralysed from the chest down after a road accident when she was 18 years old after which she was determined to channel her adversity into opportunity.

In 2004, 9 months after her accident, she took part in the first series of BBC Two‘s Beyond Boundaries, which followed 11 disabled people on an expedition to traverse 220 miles across Nicaragua from its Atlantic coast to its Pacific coast.  She haS also appeared in Britain’s Missing Top Model where women with disabiliities competed to become a model, challenging boundaries in the beauty and fashion industries in which she came runner up.

In 2013, she presented Licence to Kill, a documentary for BBC Three about road accidents like hers caused by young drivers. Following broadcast of the film, Sophie teamed up with BBC Learning and Drive iQ to launch the Licence to Kill Schools Tour, visiting schools and colleges to promote young driver safety. The tour was endorsed by organizations including Road Safety GB, Transport for London, and RoadSafe.

Sophie has now worked as a reporter for the BBC and Channel 4 appearing on Horizon, The One Show and No Go Britain.  She has also become a presenter for Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympics in 2012 and 2016 and the 2016 IPC European Swimming Championships.

Sophie has been involved in many campaigns including The Back Up Trust providing support for people with spinal cord injuries, she is a patron of Scope, an ambassador for Parallel London and she has assisted in promoting SEAT a programme to help disabled youths to drive.  She also designed the ‘Mannequal’ a wheelchair for a mannequin which was installed in Adidas and Debenhams.

To find out more about Sophie see here https://www.sophiemorgan.com/

To find out more about Disability Awareness Day see here https://www.disabilityawarenessday.org.uk/show/