Great news! DH Co-Editor, Martyn Sibley, has been nominated for the Positive Role Model category at the 2015 National Diversity Awards! See the official press release below… and please vote for him!
The 2015 National Diversity Awards ceremony celebrates some of the excellent and inspiring achievements of positive role models and community organisations from across the UK. The awards aim to recognise nominees in their respective fields of diversity including age, disability, gender, race, faith, religion and sexual orientation.
Martyn’s Bio
“Born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and raised in Cambridgeshire, I went through mainstream education up to Masters level. Following a few years living and working in London for the national disability charity Scope as a fundraiser, I left to explore the world and innovative projects.
My overall aim is to show to other disabled people what can be achieved. I try to do this in a very empathetic way. I also try to educate society about the barriers that stop disabled people from being equal citizens.
I co-run an online lifestyle magazine Disability Horizons, collaborate with national media, charities and tourist boards. I enjoy writing, speaking and presenting videos to achieve my goals.
As Disability Horizons does now reach 30,000 people, we are launching new projects such as DH Discounts and Accomable. Essentially Groupon and AirBnB (respectively) for disabled people. Both websites were launched to help deal with the high costs and inaccessible accommodation problems faced by many disabled people.
Beyond my business and media work I travel a a fair bit. In recent years I’ve been to Mexico, NYC, California, Australia, Japan, and all over Europe a few times. These trips provide great fun for me and my fiance, and involve content creation and partnership work for Disability Horizons and my own blog”
The National Diversity Awards 2015 in association with Microsoft will be held in Liverpool on September 18th. Britain’s most inspirational and selfless people will come together to honour the rich tapestry of our nation, recognising individuals and groups from grass roots communities who have contributed to creating a more diverse and inclusive society.
The largest diversity awards ceremony of its kind has attracted a growing list of top employers such as Sky, Financial Ombudsman Service and Price Waterhouse Coopers.
The prestigious black-tie event has also gained support from a number of celebrities including Stephen Fry, Misha B and Ade Adepitan.
Theresa McHenry, of Microsoft UK, said ‘The National Diversity Awards 2013 were thought provoking, humbling, inspiring, and not least, entertaining. This is the reason Microsoft are delighted to continue to be involved and have committed to sponsoring the National Diversity Awards 2015’.
Amongst last year’s winners was James Partridge, who spear-headed campaigns for social change and pushed for anti-discrimination protection. Jessica Huie took home the entrepreneur of excellence award for race, faith & religion, for setting up the UK’s most successful multicultural Greeting Card and Gift Company. Birmingham LGBT were also recognised for opening the first LGBT Health & Wellbeing Centre in England and Wales
The National Diversity Awards received an astonishing amount of nominations for last year’s event.
Paul Sesay, Chief Executive of The National Diversity Awards said, ‘It is an honour to witness the extraordinary journeys of Britain’s unsung diversity heroes, and we will continue to recognise their extraordinary achievements during 2015’.
‘I know another fantastic spectacle of role models will be delivered and recognised this year’. Nominations are now open and close June 21st 2015 – so don’t miss out on your chance to get involved!
Shortlisted nominees will be announced shortly after this date.
To nominate Martyn Sibley please visit: www.nationaldiversityawards.co.uk
Or for a nomination form please email: emma@nationaldiversityawards.co.uk
Check out…
• Martyn Sibley: fears, limits and hurdles
• Faiza Siddiqui: my sex life after injury
• We need more disabled women on TV
Get in touch by messaging us on Facebook, tweeting us @DHorizons, emailing us at editor@disabilityhorizons.com or leaving your comments below.
