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Victoria Brignell

Victoria Brignell

Areas of Interest

Campaigner, Media

Honorary Award

Honorary Doctor of Arts, 2013

Biography

Victoria Brignell is a radio producer with the BBC and a disability champion. She is currently a producer for In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg. In the past, she has worked on a wide variety of programmes including: The Westminster Hour; Analysis; Woman's Hour; You and Yours and Start the Week.

Victoria has been tetraplegic - in other words, paralysed in all four limbs and her torso - since she was six years old, when a tumour in her spinal cord left her paralysed below the neck.

Victoria has raised funds for several charities. For instance, to support Motivation, a charity which helps people with mobility disabilities around the world, she collected sponsorship by attempting to memorise the names of all of the heads of state and heads of government of the 193 countries which make up the UN - a remarkable feat when there is a total of 336 names - and she managed an impressive 80%. Victoria has also undertaken a sponsored poetry reading marathon in aid of Save the Children, reading aloud the whole of the Iliad - all 15,693 lines of it - and supported Comic Relief by asking people to sponsor her to sing as many songs as possible by the great duo Flanders and Swann.

Alongside all this activity, over the years she has also found time to serve as Governor of a Primary School in West London, becoming Chair of the governing body's Curriculum Committee, and since 2011 Victoria has been a local Board member of Catalyst Housing Ltd, a large housing association with provides more than 20,000 properties in the South East of England.

Victoria has written widely and engagingly about disability and social-care issues, including for the New Statesman, where for four years she wrote a regular feature called Crip's Column. She has also written for Ouch!, the BBC's website about life with disability.



Citation

"Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to read the citation for Victoria Brignell for the award of Doctor of Arts, honoris causa.

Victoria Brignell is a radio producer with the BBC and a disability champion.

Victoria attended Chelmsford County High School, becoming deputy editor of the school magazine and playing an active role in the school debating society. She excelled at her studies, allowing her to gain a place at Downing College, Cambridge, where she read classics. After graduating, she undertook journalism training at Cardiff University and has worked as a producer for BBC Radio 4 since 2002.

Described as 'clever and sparky' by Mary Beard, professor of classics at Cambridge University, Victoria is currently a producer for In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg. In the past, she has worked on a wide variety of programmes including: The Westminster Hour; Analysis; Woman's Hour; You and Yours; and Start the Week.

What I have not mentioned up to this point is that Victoria has been tetraplegic - in other words, paralysed in all four limbs and her torso - since she was six years old, when a tumour in her spinal cord left her paralysed below the neck.

Since that time, Victoria has lived a remarkably active life. She has fond memories of her time at university, describing it as a "rollercoaster social life". Victoria remembers trips to films and plays, chaotic pancake parties, exuberant Christmas formal halls, subversive revues and surreal midnight walks along the Fen Causeway. Her highlights included being on the committee of the university's classics society; dining with Inspector Morse's creator; and becoming the Students' Union's Students with Disabilities Officer.

Victoria has raised funds for several charities. For instance, to support Motivation, a charity which helps people with mobility disabilities around the world, she collected sponsorship by attempting to memorise the names of all of the heads of state and heads of government of the 193 countries which make up the UN - a remarkable feat when there is a total of 336 names - and she managed an impressive 80%. Victoria has also undertaken a sponsored poetry reading marathon in aid of Save the Children, reading aloud the whole of the Iliad - all 15,693 lines of it - and supported Comic Relief by asking people to sponsor her to sing as many songs as possible by the great duo Flanders and Swann.

Alongside all this activity, over the years she has also found time to serve as Governor of a Primary School in West London, becoming Chair of the governing body's Curriculum Committee, and since 2011 Victoria has been a local Board member of Catalyst Housing Ltd, a large housing association with provides more than 20,000 properties in the South East of England.

Victoria has written widely and engagingly about disability and social-care issues, including for the New Statesman, where for four years she wrote a regular feature called Crip's Column. She has also written for Ouch!, the BBC's website about life with disability.

She feels strongly about the way people with disabilities are represented by the media, believing that disabled people have often been portrayed as either passive victims in need of charity or as super-heroes. Her particular interest has been to help increase the number of disabled employees in broadcasting. In recent years, she has mentored three young disabled people who wanted to pursue a career in the media, all of whom went on to successfully obtain posts at the BBC.

This commitment to speaking out for people living with disability springs from Victoria's belief that independent living is crucial, with disabled people having as much control of their life as an able-bodied person would have. She has said that she doesn't see her life as tragic or unfortunate, but that there are elements of being able-bodied that she misses; things such as being able to use a pen, the feel of a book in her hands and being able to give people a hug. But Victoria believes that becoming tetraplegic has given her a determination to accomplish as much as she can in her life. She feels that if she were not disabled, her life would certainly be simpler and she would have more opportunities, but she wouldn't be any happier. Her positive outlook means she feels her quality of life is higher than that of 99% of people on this planet.

For her inspirational and high-achieving approach to life, Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to present Victoria Brignell for the award of Doctor of Arts, honoris causa."