Ade Adepitan

Why organisations work with Ade Adepitan

• He has lived disability discrimination in three intersecting dimensions – Nigerian-born, Black, and physically disabled in working-class East London – giving organisations a perspective on inclusion that is personal, structural and political, not theoretical.
• His Paralympic bronze, World Championship gold and 20 years as one of the UK’s first visibly disabled television presenters mean he speaks from earned authority on both peak performance and public representation – not campaigning alone.
• His Channel 4 documentary on Nigeria’s polio eradication prompted Bill Gates to invite him to address the Global Vaccine Summit in 2020 – evidence that his work on disability and global health has real policy reach beyond the broadcasting world.
• The 2023 RTS Best Sports Presenter Award and BAFTA-winning Paralympic coverage give him peer recognition from the broadcast industry as a communicator of genuine authority, which directly validates his use as a platform for any inclusion message.
• As Chancellor of Birmingham City University since 2024, he brings current institutional standing – and a live stake – in questions of access, diversity and representation in education and public life.

Biography highlights

• Bronze medallist, 2004 Athens Paralympic Games (wheelchair basketball, Great Britain); gold medallist, 2005 Paralympic World Cup, Manchester; silver medallist, European Championships
• MBE (2005) for services to disability sport; Honorary Doctorates from Loughborough University and the University of East London
• One of the first visibly disabled television presenters in the UK; over 20 years broadcasting for Channel 4 and the BBC
• Lead presenter, Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning coverage of the 2012 London Paralympic Games (alongside Clare Balding)
• RTS Award, Best Sports Presenter (2023), for Channel 4’s 2022 Winter Paralympics coverage
• Named in the Powerlist 2020 – 100 most influential Black British people
• Chancellor of Birmingham City University (from 2024), succeeding Sir Lenny Henry
• Speaker, Global Vaccine Summit: We Changed History (2020), at the invitation of Bill Gates, following Channel 4 documentary on Nigeria’s polio eradication

Biography

Disability rarely gets equal airtime in inclusion conversations – and when it does, it tends toward legal compliance rather than lived experience. Ade Adepitan MBE has spent over two decades making that distinction impossible to ignore: as a Paralympic medallist, a BAFTA-winning broadcaster, and now as Chancellor of Birmingham City University.

His credentials begin with sport. Contracting polio in Lagos at 15 months and growing up in East London, he reached the highest level of wheelchair basketball – winning bronze at the 2004 Athens Paralympics and gold at the 2005 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester. The disciplines of elite competition – preparation, decision-making under pressure, and recovery from setback – form the foundation of everything he brings to organisations on resilience and performance.

He became one of the first visibly disabled presenters on British television and has been a lead voice for Channel 4 and the BBC for over 20 years. That includes the BAFTA-winning 2012 London Paralympic Games coverage, the four-part BBC Two documentary Africa with Ade Adepitan, Climate Change: Ade on the Frontline, and extensive coverage of Paralympic Games from Athens to Paris. The 2023 Royal Television Society Award for Best Sports Presenter – for his 2022 Winter Paralympics work – came with judges describing him as a broadcaster of genuine insight and charisma, not a ceremonial accolade.

His reach extends into policy. His Channel 4 documentary investigating Nigeria’s polio eradication prompted Bill Gates to invite him to address the Global Vaccine Summit in 2020. He appears on the Powerlist of the 100 most influential Black British people. And in 2024 he became Chancellor of Birmingham City University, where his stated mission is to be a torchbearer for disability rights in education and public life. Organisations working with Ade Adepitan are engaging someone whose work has moved from screens into summits – and whose authority on inclusion is earned from all three directions at once.

Key speaking topics

• Disability inclusion and workplace accessibility
• Resilience and elite performance mindset
• Diversity, equity and representation in organisations
• Storytelling and the role of media in shaping social perception
• Global health advocacy and public responsibility
• Climate change and environmental impact
• Inclusion in education and leadership pipelines

Ideal for

• CHROs and DEI leads developing or stress-testing disability inclusion strategies
• Leadership conferences addressing the gap between ESG commitments and workforce experience
• Organisations with social impact and public accountability mandates
• Education sector and public institutions focused on access, representation and opportunity

Audience outcomes

• A sharper understanding of how disability inclusion differs from – and connects to – broader DEI programmes, grounded in direct lived experience
• An honest account of how resilience and elite performance are built over time, drawn from competitive Paralympic sport and a 20-year public career
• Insight into the role organisations and media play in either sustaining or dismantling the invisibility of disability
• Awareness of the strategic cost of treating disability as a compliance exercise rather than a cultural and commercial priority
• A credible, evidence-based challenge to the assumption that DEI commitments translate automatically into inclusion