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

At 19 years old, Jill suddenly lost her sight from diabetic rhetinopathy. While adjusting to the huge change, Jill’s mum encouraged her to give hospital radio a go and she found her new passion. Jill studied sound engineering and came top of her class of eighty boys before taking a media degree at university and became a qualified journalist. Around 12 years ago Jill joined RNIB Connect Radio (originally Insight Radio) in Scotland, Europe’s first station for blind and partially sighted people.

Every week day Jill presents her show The Morning Mix on RNIB Connect. It’s a mix of great tunes, disability issues and listener call-ins, with her own unique mix of empathy, positivity and fun. She has also worked with BBC Radio Scotland hosting the Music Match and this year she took over a late night slot, presenting The Jill Barkley Show. Some of those listeners now tune in to RNIB Connect, too. As well as being a fantastic role model for what visually impaired people can achieve, Jill has been very open and frank about the challenges, including the breakdown she had a few years after losing her sight.

She’s an ambassador for RNIB and Guide Dogs UK, regularly speaks for both charities at events, and featured in a documentary about guide dogs on ITV. Jill’s a regular at festivals, where she reviews performances and interviews acts. She’s usually right at the front of the crowd at the shows, and has interviewed huge international stars including Dolly Parton, Guy Garvey from Elbow and Florence Welch from Florence + The Machine.

She also throws herself in to a huge range of things, from fire-breathing to conducting an orchestra, to flying a light aircraft!

To find out more about World Braille Day see here https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/world-braille-day/

To find out more about Jill see here https://twitter.com/Jill_Barkley

Monday 3 December is International Day of Disabled Persons 2018 with that in mind we have chosen Billy Monger as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Billy is a racing driver who first got behind the wheel of a vehicle at the age of three when his father bought him a go-kart.  He successfully progressed as a driver in Ginetta Junior and British F4 earning the nickname Billy the Whizz.

In 2016 Billy joined the F4 British Championships with JHR Developments where he took 3 podiums and finished 12 in the championships and remained with the team for 2017.

However on 16 April 2017 whilst competed in a race at Donnington Billy crashed into a stationery car at high speed resulting in devastating leg injuries which required double lower leg amputations.

Billy received huge support from his fellow drivers and the racing community raising £500,000 in 24 hours.  Despite his injuries his recuperation and rehabilitation have been such that he returned to the race track in July 2017 when he tested an adapted race car with additional hand controls at Brands Hatch.

In February 2018 Billy drove a single seater racing car for the first time since his crash when he tested a BRDC British Formula 3 car for the Carlin team at Oulton Park. The following month he confirmed that he would be racing for Carlin in the opening meeting of the 2018 BRDC Formula 3 series at the same venue.

In order to compete in F3, he and his family had to appeal to the sport’s international governing body, to change their regulations, as they had restricted disabled drivers from racing single seaters on the grounds of safety: the FIA decided to lift the ban in December 2017, allowing disabled drivers to race appropriately-modified single seaters as long as they could pass safety checks. In March 2018 less than a year after his accident Billy placed his Carlin British F3 car fifth on the grid and went on to finish an incredible third and walked onto the podium.

To find out more about Billy

https://www.billymongerracing.co.uk/billywhizz

To find out more about International Day of the Disabled

https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-3-december/idpd18.html

September is World Alzheimer’s Month and with this in mind we have chosen Fiona Phillips as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Fiona is a Broadcaster, TV presenter and newspaper columnist whose career in journalism started as a reporter for local radio, before moving to television with local BBC news and Sky news.

She joined GMTV in 1993 initially as the entertainment correspondent based in Los Angeles before becoming the main presenters of the show in 1997.  Fiona left the show after 12 years to spend more time with her children and care for her father.

Both Fiona’s parents were diagnosed with dementia. Fiona’s mother, Amy, had Alzheimer’s until her death in May 2006 and her father, Phillip, who was diagnosed with the disease shortly afterwards, died in February 2012.

Fiona is a passionate campaigner and ambassador for a number of national charities including, particularly, The Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Fiona’s latest TV show is Shop Smart: Save Money on Channel Five a show which offers guidance on finding great deals and offers, with tips, tricks and challenges to make sure shoppers are getting the best value for money.

To find out more about World Alzheimer’s Month see here

https://www.worldalzmonth.org/

To follow Fiona on Twitter see here https://twitter.com/realmissfiona

Disability Awareness Day takes place on 15 July and with this in mind we have chosen JJ Chalmers as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

JJ was a Royal Marine with 42 Commando and in May 2011, he sustained devastating injuries in an IED blast in Afghanistan where he suffered facial injuries, lost two fingers and his right elbow disintegrated.

He was put back together by a team of medics, having nearly 30 operations and consequently it gave him a new perspective on life giving him the confidence to follow his dreams.

In September 2014, JJ took part in the Invictus Games and was a medal winner in non-amputee cycling, he Captained the trike team, he received a gold medal for the Men’s IRecB1 Recumbent Circuit Race, he won a bronze in the 1-mile time trial and he also won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100m mixed relay race.   In July 2016, he returned — as an Ambassador — to the 2016 Invictus Games, telling his story at the opening ceremony.

JJ went on to work with the BBC on their coverage of the games as well as presenting National Paralympic Day for Channel 4.  He travelled to Rio, as a presenter for Channel 4’s award-winning coverage of the 2016 Paralympics, as well as appearing as a guest on The Last Leg, broadcast nightly live from a studio in Rio.

In February 2017 JJ began presenting sports segments on BBC News and commentated on the Lord Mayor’s Show.  In 2018 the Commonwealth Games in The Gold Coast saw him presenting the BBC Sport’s TV coverage live on BBC One.

To find out more about JJ and what he is doing see here https://twitter.com/JJChalmersRM

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