Sophie Morgan
Journalist, Presenter, Artist and Activist
Sophie first appeared on our TV screens in 2005, as part of Ade Adepitan’s Beyond Boundaries TV show, where 11 disabled people trekked across Nicaragua. Sophie at that point had only been using a wheelchair for two years: she was in a traffic accident the day after her A-level results, sustaining a T6 spinal cord injury.
Sophie studied art at Brighton and Goldsmiths, before appearing on Britain’s Missing Top Model in 2008. The reality TV show looked to crown a winner from a group of eight disabled models. The experience led Sophie to design the mannequal – a wheelchair-based chair for shop mannequins. The product was created to fit seamlessly into shop displays, both improving visibility and signalling to disabled customers – and their friends and families – that retailers accessible and welcoming to disabled customers.
The mannequal was used in a number of central London stores, particularly around the Paralympics, but Sophie was frustrated at the lack of traction from retailers on an ongoing basis. Ten years on, and Sophie is still working on the mannequal, and has some promising projects in the works with some major retailers.
Sophie has also modelled for a number of designers including for Stella McCartney’s Adidas capsule collection My 2012.
In 2012 Sophie had a small role in presenting the London 2012 Paralympics, leading to more presenting work, including the BBC documentary The World’s Worst Place to be Disabled? In 2015. By 2016 Sophie was co-presenting the Rio Paralympic games live every day in the primetime 4:00-7:00pm slot. She will be presenting the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics next year.
Sophie is a member of Ofcom’s content board. She is also a patron of Scope and an ambassador for Leonard Cheshire Disability. She also supports the charities Human Rights Watch and Lumos.