Gina Patel
Nominee Profile
Location: Wednesbury
Gina has been an equality advocate for just over 13 years with her lived experiences in both visible and invisible disabilities including mental health as well as the south Asian and female communities.
Her work professionally began in 2010 at Changing Our Lives (a disability rights advocacy organisation) where she was given the opportunity visiting various services reviewing them against a set of Quality of Life standards of which she was involved in. She was also given the opportunity to work on a leadership programme for people from ethnic minority backgrounds and most recently she has been featured in two publications ‘Beyond the Stigma’ and ‘Colour Between the Lines.’
At present she is a proud co-chair of NHS England’s Disability and Wellbeing Network
and a trustee of disability advocacy charity CASBA Advocacy supporting people with learning disabilities across the south Birmingham area to advocate for themselves.
Outside of work she currently hosts “Saying It As It Is” podcast giving an opportunity to marginalised groups within society, providing them with a forum and a chance to express their stories that they otherwise would not have. Despite being in the early stages, her podcast has been heard internationally including Australia and US.
In the past, some of her work has been featured in national media such as being in GB News for her social media campaign #CPEverydayLife. Additionally she was featured in both Birmingham Live and the Daily Mirror as a disabled person experiencing loneliness and for Changing Places Awareness Day 2023, she presented a petition letter raising awareness of the Changing Places facilities for people with disabilities regardless of the severity of their needs at 10 Downing Street.
In July 2021 at TEDxWolverhampton she delivered ‘Disability and Ambitions’ highlighting her lived experience in the pandemic starting medical treatment, her career journey and the awareness of disability segregation sharing her experience in a day service for children and young people with all disabilities.
Her work professionally began in 2010 at Changing Our Lives (a disability rights advocacy organisation) where she was given the opportunity visiting various services reviewing them against a set of Quality of Life standards of which she was involved in. She was also given the opportunity to work on a leadership programme for people from ethnic minority backgrounds and most recently she has been featured in two publications ‘Beyond the Stigma’ and ‘Colour Between the Lines.’
At present she is a proud co-chair of NHS England’s Disability and Wellbeing Network
and a trustee of disability advocacy charity CASBA Advocacy supporting people with learning disabilities across the south Birmingham area to advocate for themselves.
Outside of work she currently hosts “Saying It As It Is” podcast giving an opportunity to marginalised groups within society, providing them with a forum and a chance to express their stories that they otherwise would not have. Despite being in the early stages, her podcast has been heard internationally including Australia and US.
In the past, some of her work has been featured in national media such as being in GB News for her social media campaign #CPEverydayLife. Additionally she was featured in both Birmingham Live and the Daily Mirror as a disabled person experiencing loneliness and for Changing Places Awareness Day 2023, she presented a petition letter raising awareness of the Changing Places facilities for people with disabilities regardless of the severity of their needs at 10 Downing Street.
In July 2021 at TEDxWolverhampton she delivered ‘Disability and Ambitions’ highlighting her lived experience in the pandemic starting medical treatment, her career journey and the awareness of disability segregation sharing her experience in a day service for children and young people with all disabilities.