Winners Of The RADAR People Of The Year Awards 2008

Main Category: Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Article Date: 03 Dec 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Award winners will not be aware they have won until after the ceremony on 1st December - please don't spoil the surprise!

RADAR is pleased to announce the winners of the People of the Year Awards 2008. The awards were presented at a glittering ceremony at Battersea Evolution on the evening of Monday 1st December 2008.

The winners by category are:

Person of the Year Award

Sponsored by Royal Mail Group, presented by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Rt Hon James Purnell MP):

Winner: Jonathan Naess, Director, Stand to Reason

Jonathan was nominated for his work in establishing Stand to Reason, an organisation set up to break down discrimination on mental health grounds. He encouraged the first ever national leader to speak openly about his experience of mental health problems (the former Norwegian Prime Minister), then created a form of viral campaign through which senior city bankers, lawyers and others 'came out' about their experiences of mental ill-health and hit a nerve with the media.

Public Sector Award

Sponsored by Office for Disability Issues, Presented by Mayor of London Boris Johnson

Winner: NHS Highland/Highland Council

NHS Highland and Highland Council worked together to produce Love Is… a serious taboo-breaking programme - a public sector partnership that engaged people with learning disabilities in securing their human rights to personal relationships. Training in the new rights-based policy for staff in the local NHS, local authority - and every organization they contract with - is now mandatory. This ground-breaking user-led scheme is helping to end a history of denial of sexual and human rights for people with learning disabilities and provides a model of good practice for others to emulate.

Highly Commended: South West London and St. Georges NHS Mental Health Trust and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service

The judges were so overwhelmed with the quality of nominations in this category that very unusually they decided to highly commend 2 organisations: South West London and St. George's for breaking down the 'them and us' culture of health services - 31% of recruits to the most senior management and professional jobs have personal experience of mental health problems - and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service for their commitment and innovative thinking on reducing the risk of fire for people with every type of impairment or health condition.

Business Award

Presented by Trevor Philips, Chair, Equality and Human Rights Commission

Winner: Lloyds TSB

Lloyds TSB have integrated disability equality right across customer service and employment. They have gone way beyond welfare to work - and enabled disabled people to fully develop their careers. They have made reasonable adjustments for 3500 staff, run personal development courses that measurably improved performance and have significantly increased disabled people's participation in management grades. They have acted to make call centres, websites, bank statements (and more) accessible - and require their contractors to meet accessibility standards.

Media Award for Factual Programming

Sponsored by Sky, presented by Joyce Ohaja, News Presenter, ITV News Channel

Winner: Britain's Missing Top Model (Love Productions for BBC Three)

This is a bold series that challenged the usual aesthetics of disability within a popular format. It illuminated and discussed prejudices and focused on real life issues - like where to get decent clothes - and on how disabled women feel, not just what they can do.

Highly Commended: Blue Peter (Children's BBC) and Care in the UK Season (BBC Radio 4)

The judges would like to highly commend these two programmes: Blue Peter, a great example of CBBC's commitment to the ordinary inclusion of disability within children's TV, and BBC Radio 4's Care in the UK Season - a unified and informative series, which made an important topic accessible and influenced policy.

Media Award for Fictional Programming

Sponsored by Sky, presented by Matthew Goode (Starred as Charles Ryder in the recent film adaptation of Brideshead Revisited)

Winner: Coming Down the Mountain (Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC 1)

This film contains a compelling portrayal of sibling relationships - which was brilliantly illuminated by the experience of disability. The clever plot and outstanding performances, including one by Tommy Jessup, made a fantastic winner.

Highly Commended: Recovery (Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC 1)

This highly moving film, starring David Tennant, examined the relationship between a man recovering from total memory loss following an accident and his wife. The judges described the film as an awesome and moving piece of work with outstanding performances.

Disabled Entrepreneur Award

Presented by Sadaqat Ali, a member of the RADAR Leadership Programme

Winner: Albert Thomson, Founder of Action Amps

Albert took his experiences of injury in Iraq, followed by amputation, and turned them into a successful business, with amputees delivering realistic training simulations to the emergency services and the military in responding to crisis situations.

Young Person's Award

Presented by Kelly Knox, Winner of Britain's Missing Top Model, Jonathan Phang, Models' Mentor on Britain's Missing Top Model, and Marie O'Riordan, Editor of Marie Claire Winner: Ben Fletcher

Ben is one of IBM's youngest ever master inventors. At 27 he already has 20 patents. His personal experience of Ushers syndrome informs both his ground-breaking work on IT accessibility and his belief that diversity and inclusion make for greater creativity and innovation at work.

Highly Commended: Nathan Giles

The judges have highly commended Nathan Giles, who at the age of 12 researched children's rights and used his findings to influence the UN and UK Government. This young man has already amassed a great deal of campaigning experience and we look forward to seeing much more of him in the future.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Presented by Baroness Jane Campbell

Winner: Sue Maynard Campbell (deceased)

Sue was nominated independently by a number of different people. She put her legal and organizational skills quietly at the disposal of countless disability groups and individuals, supporting new organizations to grow and develop, setting up successful companies and campaigns and influencing major businesses to develop their accessibility. She campaigned on issues from the right to life to equal access to health services - and through persistence she succeeded. Sadly she died earlier this year and is sorely missed by all who knew her in the disability movement. Her award will be collected by her sister, Alice Maynard.

Chief Executive of RADAR Liz Sayce, comments:

"I offer my warmest congratulations to all the Award winners and Highly Commended Entries this year."

"The RADAR People of the Year Awards celebrate pioneers of difference who together are making Britain a fairer place for everyone living with ill-health, injury or disability. This is a simple matter of social justice. It also makes economic sense - those companies that draw their workers from across all communities as well as seeking as wide a market as possible for their goods and services are best able to withstand economic hard times and come out strong. Those public services that serve the whole community quite simply provide better services for everyone."

"RADAR works with partners from all sectors of society to make equality and human rights for all disabled people a reality. We celebrate the achievements of every one of the shortlisted individuals and organisations who this year have helped to bring that vision closer. "

Notes

1. RADAR, founded in 1977, is the UK's largest disability campaigning network with over 900 individual and organisational members. RADAR stands for the Royal Association of Disability and Rehabilitation.

2. RADAR is a charity run by and for disabled people that depends on the financial and voluntary support of others including public donations. To find out more please visit our web site http://www.radar.org.uk or call 020 7250 3222 / minicom 020 7250 4119 or email radar@radar.org.uk

3. The RADAR Awards 2008 Judges are:

Mike Adams, Essex Coalition of Disabled People
Ben Summerskill, CEO Stonewall and Equality and Human Rights Commissioner
Bill Campbell, CEO, Inclusion Scotland
Dr Paul Darke, academic, writer and broadcaster: Chair of Media Judging Panel
Mary Fitzpatrick, BBC Editorial Executive of Diversity
Diane Freeman Sider, film and television producer
Martin Lucas, television producer
Andrew O'Connell, factual commissioning editor Sky One
Susan Scott-Parker OBE, CEO, Employers Forum on Disability
Edward Stourton, presenter, BBC Today programme
Peter White, BBC's Disability Affairs Correspondent: Chair of Main Judging Panel

4. More information on the Awards can be found at: http://www.radar.org.uk/awards-2008/

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