Simon Sansome

Journalist and Disability Campaigner, Ability Access

Following a life changing injury aged 32, which left Simon disabled from the waist down and forced him to take early retirement. He returned to university to study journalism and pursue his passion for writing.

In 2016, while at De Montfort University Simon set up a Facebook page called Ability Access with the idea of raising awareness of and improving disabled access. Little did he know that the Facebook page would create global impact.

In its first year Ability Access won the Jesse Jackson Prize and the awards have kept coming. Ability Access now reaches more than 20 million people a month.

Through the popularity of Ability Access, Simon now has a blog and presents a successful podcast – While Disabled – in which he interviews celebrities. He is also working on his own TV show and has a new science fiction programme called Three Blind Mice in pre- production. Furthermore, he has written a new show, which will be a spin off of The Bill, called Sun Hill – staring Graham Cole (PC Tony Stamp) which is at commissioning stage. Simon is also in talks with a number of radio stations about a weekly show called Disability Hour, a weekly magazine show featuring topical and historical issues around disability.