2006
Mr Peter White
HonMA in recognition of helping advance the rights of disabled people and his work to highlight the cause and effects of the ‘disabling’ society.
Peter White is a campaigning journalist who has helped advance the rights of disabled people. Well known as the BBC’s Disability Affairs Correspondent, Pter has been blind since birth and became the first totally blind person to produce reports for TV news. For over 30 years he has represented and articulated the struggles of disabled people.
His work to highlight the causes and effects of the ‘disabling’ socity has also been hugely influential for students on NTU courses.
Peter first began broadcasting for BBC Radio Solent in 1971, having ‘door-stepped’ the station before it even opened. He first presented In Touch, Radio 4’s celebrated programme for visually impaired listeners, in 1974. HE has also presented and edited Same Difference, Channel 4’s programme on disability; presented and produced Link, Central TV’s magazine for disabled people; and was behind the acclaimed series No Triumph, No Tragedy. Other radio shows on which he has worked include Pick of the Week, You and Yours, From Rags to Riches, Barding or Biting? And a series of features called Blind Man on the Rampage. His autobiography See It My Way, was published in 1999.