A blind Blackburn man who wanted to follow his dream of scuba diving has won a national award.
Mohammed Salim Patel produced ‘Disabled scuba diving duo’ for BBC North West and follows two people as they attempt to scuba dive. It was named ‘Report of the Year’ at the Asian Media Awards which took place at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate.
The awards celebrate achievements in a range of categories in TV, radio, stage, online and creative media. Other winners on the night included broadcaster Sangita Myska, Hollyoaks star Harvey Virdi, seventies TV host Ayesha Brough and ITV’s Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana.
Mohammed pitched, produced, contributed to and edited the six-part series about the plight of a disabled scuba-diving duo - himself and a paraplegic athlete, Shaun Gash.
Accepting the award Mohammed, who is known as the Blind Journalist said: “I would like to thank the Asian Media Awards. Delighted and humbled to be standing here in front of all of you here today.
“I would like to use this opportunity to urge everyone in this room to push for more disabled people to be on screen, behind the mic and on the websites because we exist – we need to be listened to and our stories need to be told.”
He added: “My motto in life is that I may be blind but I have a vision. That vision has been shown today with this award.”
The series followed Shaun, from Morecambe, and Mohammed, on their journey to become disabled scuba divers, after finding that no dive centre or instructors were willing to train them because of their disabilities.
By implementing accessible filming practices, appropriate language and terminology, and disability awareness, Mohammed was able to secure funding from several charities, helping him set up a scuba diving experience for other blind people - which became the final episode in the six-part series.
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