Matt Haig

Author

Matt is an award-winning author whose books have been translated into 29 languages. He writes fiction and non-fiction, for both children and adults, and is best known for his candid writings about mental health, often drawing on his own experiences. 

His novels The Radleys and The Humans have both won awards. His children’s book A Boy Called Christmas was called an ‘instant classic’ by the Guardian. It has been translated into over 25 languages and is currently being made into a film by Studio Canal, the creators of Paddington. The film will feature an all-star cast, including Jim Broadbent, Kristen Wiig, Maggie Smith, and Sally Hawkins.

Matt’s memoir Reasons to Stay Alive looked at both his lowest times struggling with anxiety and depression in his 20s, but also zoomed out to the wider lens view of the happy, fulfilled present he lives in now – one he couldn’t imagine at his most ill. The book broadens out further still, discussing how to make the most of our time on this planet. The book resonated wildly – it was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks.

Matt tweets regularly about mental health on social media to his audience of over 500K followers from across the world, generating an open discourse about mental health. Matt writes candidly about depression, anxiety and broader mental health and wellbeing to help both adults and children talk about, and manage, everything from day to day stress to serious mental health conditions.

This summer he toured with his critically acclaimed follow-up to Reasons to Stay Alive, called Notes on a Nervous Planet taking it to the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Meanwhile Matt’s latest children’s’ book The Truth Pixie Goes to School is generating lots of positive feedback from children and adults alike for the way the story addresses the stress that going to, or returning to, school can bring.

matthaig.com

Martyn Sibley

Disability Horizons

Martyn is a travel writer, blogger and founder of the lifestyle magazine Disability Horizons. He writes about independent living, accessible travel and assistive technology. Martyn began his career in product development at Scope, and now advises disability charities as a consultant. He is also an international keynote speaker.

With co-founder Srin Madipalli, Martyn set up the start-up accessible travel business Accomable. Both founders have Spinal Muscular Atrophy and use wheelchairs to get about. Accomable was billed as ‘Airbnb for people with disabilities’ and clearly listed (and verified) the accessible features of accommodation around the world. In 2017, the company was bought by Airbnb in a deal which made national headlines.

In 2011 Martyn and Srin also set up Disability Horizons, an online magazine by and for disabled people which discusses technology, relationships, sports, employment and travel. Martyn is keen to enable new talent, saying: “One of the most important things for inclusion is an optimistic and capable next generation. How better to nurture the next change makers than by showcasing disabled role models.”

Martyn is a keen adventurer and has written about travel to Australia, Japan, Mexico and Europe; taking a road trip around the US; skiing, hot air ballooning, flying a plane, scuba diving and even taking on the 874-mile route from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Martyn has a strong media presence appearing on the BBC, ITV and Channel 5, and writing for The Independent, Huffington Post, BBC Ouch, Disability Now and The Guardian. He has produced materials for Visit England and Lonely Planet and dipped his toes in working as a TV presenter. His travel memoir Everything is Possible was published in 2016 and documents his metaphorical and literal journeys as a disabled traveller.

Martyn is also a coach for social change professionals and works as a consultant for governments, businesses and the media.

disabilityhorizons.com

martynsibley.com

Book: Everything is Possible

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Lucy Edwards

Youtuber and reporter

For the past five years Lucy has been running a YouTube channel where she talks about living with blindness and breaking the stereotypes about blindness – mixed in with beauty tips and tutorials. Lucys YouTube video “Blind girl does her own make-up” went viral in 2015 making her a role model to thousands of viewers around the world.Lucy is a makeup expert with a unique perspective on how to use it, and the confidence it brings. Lucys say “This is something that is visual, but there are techniques to really make us feel good. Even though I can’t see a mirror anymore, I control the way I look because I have the strategies, and it’s made me feel more empowered.”

With 28K YouTube subscribers, her unique brand of beauty vlogging has led her to become the first blind brand partner of the US makeup giant CoverGirl and she is now an author to the first ever ‘Blind Beauty Guide’ recently launched on Amazon kindle.

Lucy has worked as a Broadcast Assistant for BBC Ouch!, and is a freelance reporter and journalist across many BBC departments. Her features have focused on accessibility and transport issues such as navigating train stations with sight loss, or the additional difficulties snow creates: when sound is dampened down and her guide dog isn’t certain where the kerb is.

Lucy often vlogs about her black Labrador Retriever guide dog Olga, and fundraises for the charity Guide Dogs UK. She has run both the Silverstone Half Marathon and the London Marathon with her running guide Steve, raising £3000. In 2017, in recognition of her work, she was honoured with the Guide Dogs Young Person’s Achievement award, and has continued to raise money ever since.

Lucy has also started to work with the charity LOOK UK, which helps young visually impaired people and their families, by holding workshops and talks in order to support blind people to be able to apply their makeup with confidence.

lucyedwardsofficial.com

Kerry Thompson

Blogger and disability campaigner

Kerry Thompson is a lifestyle and disability blogger living with Muscular Dystrophy, who uses her platform to promote awareness of the condition and a more accessible society. She says: “my dream is an equal world for all, that future me’s have inclusion and can live an accessible life with no worries.”

Kerry is a leading campaigner for the Changing Places campaign to increase the number of accessible toilet facilities available around the country. Through determined campaigning she has secured 35 Changing Places facilities at Tesco stores around the country. Kerry also appeared Muscular Dystrophy UK’s campaign video, with the Department of Transport, about the need for more accessible toilet facilities along the country’s motorways.

Working closely with the media team at Muscular Dystrophy UK’s Trailblazers, Kerry campaigns for the muscular dystrophy community, especially for young people living with the condition and their families. She challenges negative stereotypes around disability, focuses on how to live her best life and shares her wider health journey with tips she picks up along the way – such as learning to manage Type II diabetes. 

Accessible housing is another topic Kerry works to improve. She has worked with Disabled Living on their campaigns about the importance of accessible housing and sits on the accessible housing advisory board of housing association Habinteg. 

On Twitter you will find Kerry microblogging with the MDBloggersCrew where she spotlights the mental health factors of living with a life-limiting condition. Kerry also blogs about the ‘dark side’ of social media – that the platforms many people use as a lifeline for support are also the places where cyberbullying takes place. Kerry takes a pragmatic approach, balancing out the benefits and advising people to look after themselves. 

Kerry is AccessAble’s Champion for Milton Keynes and has been honoured this year with a BBC Three Counties People Awards for her work.

kerry-thompson.com

Jordan Bone

Beauty blogger and motivational speaker

When she was 15 Jordan was involved in a car accident which left her paralysed from the chest down, and with limited movement in her hands. This life-changing injury led her to experience severe depression. Unable to open her hands Jordan taught herself how to apply makeup again – something she had been passionate about before the accident. Combined with meditation, makeup worked as a kind of therapy helping her to regain her confidence and spread positivity.

Creating videos on YouTube, Jordan shares makeup tips and tricks, and talks about living with a physical disability. On YouTube alone she has over 194K followers, with her video My Beautiful Struggle being viewed over 6 million times after being shared by the actor Ashton Kutcher. Jordan also has huge audiences on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, where hundreds of thousands of people from across the world follow her makeup tutorials and motivational guidance. She has worked with leading makeup brands including with L’Oreal, Urban Decay, Liz Earle, Mark Hill and Illamasqua. 

One day, when Jordan’s webcam wasn’t working, she adapted by switching mediums and created her blog Jordan’s Beautiful Life instead. In 2017, Jordan released her autobiography My Beautiful Struggle, published by Trapeze. The book detailed how she coped with the effects of the accident as a teenager and into adulthood, and how she found inner strength and creative outlets.  

Jordan has raised money for the charity Spinal Research, and has spoken at schools and colleges, as well as for TV and radio campaigns, about both spinal injuries and road safety. 

In 2019 Jordan announced that she had felt she had moved on from much of the beauty vlogging, but that she would do it now and then as passion dictates, as she has decided to spend more time on motivational speaking.

jordansbeautifullife.com

Book: My Beautiful Struggle