A nine-year-old model who had both legs amputated as a baby has walked the runway at New York Fashion Week.
Daisy-May Demetre, from Birmingham, is believed to be the first double amputee child to walk in an official New York Fashion Week show.
Her father Alex said she was “amazing” and “felt really proud of herself” as she modelled for brand Lulu et Gigi.
She is set to model at the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Fashion Week later this month. More
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/
Emma from Greenwich set up the Wheelie Gang because her daughter Evie had no friends in her school in a wheelchair.
But now, after seeing how many children in wheelchairs feel the same as Evie, Emma’s project has grown into something she hopes to expand across London.
Emma uses her local community centre in Greenwich to organise disabled-friendly sports and crafts for children. More
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/
Dear Colleagues
Promotes equality, diversity and inclusion
Celebrates the diversity of its staff and students
Shapes its recruitment approaches to support diversity
Develops its training offer to support staff to advance their careers
Develops and delivers teaching and learning to students from diverse backgrounds.
If yes, then how about joining one of our five Staff Networks: Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), LGBT+, Disability, Faith and Women’s Network.
Regular Staff Network meetings are being held and focus on planning work that helps promote diversity and inclusion across the University. These networks have a direct communication channel to Senior Management through the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Interested?
If you are interested in being a part of any of these inspiring groups, please contact Naseer Ahmad in the EDI Team on: n.ahmad@greenwich.ac.uk.
For LGBT+ network contact Paul Nicholson-Lewis on: lgbt@gre.ac.uk
Best Regards
Gail Brindley
Director of Human Resources
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan set out how we will provide an environment where you can flourish and achieve your full potential.
We want to see the university reflect the diversity of the community we serve. To help us achieve this we are launching the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy 2019-22, along with our Action Plan.
The key aims of the EDI strategy are:
We see diversity as a strength which should be encouraged, celebrated and promoted across our staff and student communities.
To find out more about the actions we will take view the full strategy and action plan.
Deaf Awareness Week takes place between 6 and 12 May and with this in mind we have chosen Mat Gilbert as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.
Mat is a professional rugby union player currently playing for Hartpury College RFC. Mat joined Hartpury from Worcester Warriors, having also played for Bath Rugby, the Scarlets and Modigliano (Italy).
Apart from being an experienced player, Mat is unusual in that he has achieved all of this despite being severely deaf – he has played for the England Deaf team on numerous occasions and is tireless in his efforts to encourage more opportunities for deaf children to get involved in the sport.
Mat is a long-serving ambassador for the charity Action for Hearing Loss. He supports many fundraising events across the UK and has been the guest speaker at the charity’s annual Christmas Carol Concert.
To find out more about Deaf Awareness Week see here
To find out more about Action for Hearing Loss
Dear Colleagues
Would you like to have a say in how the University:
If yes, then how about joining one of our Staff Networks. We are particularly keen for staff to join these Staff Networks: Disability, Faith and Women’s Network.
Regular Staff Network meetings will be held and will focus on planning work that helps promote diversity and inclusion across the University. These networks will have a direct communication channel to Senior Management through the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Interested?
If you are interested in being a part of any of these inspiring groups, please contact Naseer Ahmad in the EDI Team on: n.ahmad@greenwich.ac.uk.
Best Regards
Gail Brindley
Director of Human Resources
On 2 April it is World Autism Awareness Day and with that in mind we have chosen Rosie King as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.
Rosie is a writer and public speaker from Wakefield. She is currently studying creative writing at university and wants to go on to teach and support people with learning disabilities, as well as pursuing her career in writing, and speaking.
Rosie and her brother Lenny are autistic and their sister Daisy has Kabuki syndrome. Rosie is passionate about sharing their unique experiences of life and increasing public understanding.
Rosie has delivered a very well received TED talk, has spoken at conferences and has been interviewed widely in the media. She is one of the writers of popular CBeebies series Pablo, and also voices one of the characters.
Rosie has worked with the National Autistic Society in various ways, starting when she was a teenager in the Young Campaigners Group.
In the intervening years, she’s spoken at Professional Conferences, led a Q&A on the Society Twitter channel, and supported campaigns. Rosie has worked on many media opportunities, including BBC Breakfast and the One Show.
Rosie is a passionate speaker who offers a positive and thought-provoking insight into autism.
To find out more about Rosie see here
https://www.ted.com/speakers/rosie_king
To find out more about World Autism Awareness Day see herehttps://www.autismspeaks.org/world-autism-awareness-day
21 March is World Down Syndrome Day and with that in mind we have chosen Sarah Gordy as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.
Sarah is an actress who has Down syndrome. She gained her first professional acting job on the ITV television series, Peak Practice, and subsequently landed many other TV and theatre roles.
She is best known for her roles as Orlando Quine in Strike: The Silkworm and Lady Pamela Holland in the BBC TV series Upstairs Downstairs. She has also acted in episodes of Call the Midwife, Holby City and Doctors. As well as these BBC shows, she has acted in short films, radio dramas, commercials and many theatre productions.
In 2014 she appeared in an episode of Call the Midwife, in which the episode highlighted the treatment of people with physical and intellectual disabilities in British society in the late 1950s.
She also appeared in the BBC Radio 4 play, Resurrection, has read four “Bedtime Stories” for CBeebies and in 2014 she broke new ground by playing a central character without a disability in the play Crocodiles at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.
Sarah is also one of the principal dancers for Culture Device Dance Project, an experimental dance company for professional dancers with Down syndrome. She has performed in Germany, Macedonia, UK and Ireland. She performed a series of dance pieces at the My Perspective International Photography Competition Awards Ceremony in June 2016 which is held each year by the Down Syndrome Association (DSA).
In 2013 when she was nominated for the BBC Sussex and Surrey Community Heroes Award which she won. She was given the Arts Award in Lewes Town Council’s Civic Awards in 2014 for service to the people of Lewes and her work in the Arts, especially for disabled people living and working in Lewes.
In November 2018 she was presented with an MBE for services to the arts and people with disabilities becoming the first woman with Down syndrome to receive the award. The following month she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Nottingham, becoming the first person with Down syndrome to be awarded an honorary degree by a British university.
Sarah is a celebrity ambassador for Mencap and Patron of Circus Starr.
To find out more about World Down Syndrome Day see here https://www.worlddownsyndromeday2.org/
To find out more about Sarah see here