Daniel Biddle
Accessibility Advocate
Daniel Biddle’s life changed in 2005 in the 7/7 London terrorist bombing: the blast catapulted him through train carriage doors onto the track. At the age of 26, he lost both legs, his left eye, his spleen and the hearing in his left ear. He spent eight weeks in a coma, and a year in a rehabilitation hospital.
Despite developing post-traumatic stress disorder and suffering a nervous breakdown, Daniel retrained as a qualified access consultant and set up Nationwide Access Consultants Ltd – a ‘one-stop shop’ for disability and physical access issues. Daniel works with the NHS, retailers and hotels.
He is determined to turn his harrowing experience into a positive by advocating for disabled people. He organised Monmouthshire’s first Disability Confident networking day, and has worked with the Welsh Government, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Police on disability issues. Daniel volunteers with Gwent Police, training their officers on disability issues and hate crime.
Daniel compiled and hosted the Leonard Cheshire disability employment summit in 2018 and has given numerous talks around the UK. He was awarded the Gwent Good Citizen Award in 2016 for campaigning against disability hate crime, and the Pride of Gwent Award in 2018 for his work to improve disability awareness.
Daniel has begun working for Leonard Cheshire as an area manager on a project across south Wales.
“When I acquired my disability back in 2005 I just couldn’t imagine the impact it would have on my life, I quickly realised that the person I am will forever be overshadowed by my disability and it is this that drives me forward to show that as a community our disabilities are part of who we are but not the entirety of who we are, and our abilities far outweigh our disabilities and it is this this drives me to push for greater inclusion and access to the work place, to society and to life in general”.