Adapting to life with a disability is a challenge many of us won't face.  This week our Host and CEO, Stuart Elliott had the pleasure of speaking to Dr Amit Patel, talking about his journey with an unexpected disability; we hope to enlighten our listeners with his incredible story and how he learned to navigate the world in a completely new way.

Dr Amit is an Accessibility Consultant, Motivational Speaker, Writer, and Disability Activist. Amit lost his vision overnight in November 2013, amid the prime of his career as a Trauma Doctor. Since accepting his sight loss, he has been a powerful advocate for disability rights. In 2020 he wrote his first book Kika & Me, which explores his experiences of being visually impaired and how much having a guide dog changed his perception.

In this episode, Stuart and Amit look into what happened to Dr Amit’s vision, how his feelings adapted over time to his sight loss, changing career unexpectedly, coming to terms with his disability and how organisations can break down the barriers to become more inclusive.

For any of our UK listeners with children, you can watch Kika and Amit in Dog Squad on BBC iPlayer here.

Key Timestamps:

• 01:04 – Introducing Dr Amit Patel
• 04:23 – Early career journey
• 07:09 – What happened to Dr Amit’s sight?
• 16:07 – Feelings around his sight loss
• 20:49 – Coming to terms with his sight loss
• 24:03 – How Dr Amit became a Disability Activist
• 31:42 – Applying for new roles
• 39:58 – Navigating barriers
• 41:39 – What are people doing well in the disability space
• 52:07 – Breaking down barriers and being more inclusive

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