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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.<\/p>\n
JJ was a\u00a0Royal Marine\u00a0with\u00a042 Commando and in May 2011, he sustained devastating injuries in an\u00a0IED\u00a0blast in Afghanistan where he suffered facial injuries, lost two fingers and his right elbow disintegrated.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In September 2014, JJ took part in the Invictus Games and was a medal winner in non-amputee cycling, he\u00a0Captained the\u00a0trike\u00a0team,\u00a0he received a gold medal\u00a0for the Men’s IRecB1 Recumbent Circuit Race, he won a bronze in the 1-mile\u00a0time trial and he also won a bronze medal in the\u00a04 \u00d7 100m mixed relay\u00a0race.\u00a0\u00a0 In July 2016, he returned \u2014 as an Ambassador \u2014 to the\u00a02016 Invictus Games, telling his story at the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n
JJ went on to work with the BBC on their coverage of the games as well as presenting National Paralympic Day for Channel 4.\u00a0 He travelled to\u00a0Rio, as a presenter for Channel 4’s award-winning coverage of the\u00a02016 Paralympics,\u00a0as well as appearing as a guest on\u00a0The Last Leg,\u00a0broadcast nightly live from a studio in Rio.<\/p>\n
In February 2017 JJ began presenting sports segments on BBC News and commentated on the Lord Mayor\u2019s Show.\u00a0 In 2018 the Commonwealth Games in The Gold Coast saw him presenting the BBC Sport’s TV coverage live on BBC One.<\/p>\n
To find out more about JJ and what he is doing see here https:\/\/twitter.com\/JJChalmersRM<\/a><\/p>\n