James Partridge
James Partridge (born 30 October 1952) OBE is the founder and Chief Executive of the charity Changing Faces.
Early life
Born in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, and educated at Clifton College, Bristol, Partridge sustained 40% burns to his face, upper body, arms and hands in a car accident at the age of 18 in 1970. A year later he went up to University College, Oxford, from where he graduated with an MA in Politics, Philosophy & Economics in 1975. After studying for an MSc in Medical Demography at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, he became a health economist in the National Health Service.
He married Caroline Schofield in 1978 and moved to her native Guernsey where he became a dairy farmer and later worked as an economics teacher. They have three children.
Changing Faces Charity
Partridge wrote 'Changing Faces: the Challenge of Facial Disfigurement' about his experience and this was published by Penguin Books in 1990. A series of meetings over the following two years led him to found Changing Faces in 1992.
Changing Faces is a United Kingdom charity supporting and representing children, young people and adults who have disfigurements to the face, hands or body, whether present from birth or caused by accident, injury or by illness or medical episode. It campaigns to change public opinion and combat discrimination, and to help and support those with a visual difference.
Channel 5
On Monday 16 November 2009 Partridge fronted the lunchtime bulletin for a week for Channel 5 in an attempt to try to break down prejudice.[1][2]
Awards
- One of eight RADAR 'People of the Year' (1992)
- Honorary Doctor of Science, University of the West of England (1999)
- Order of the British Empire (2002)
- Human Rights Lifetime Achievement Award, RADAR (2003)
- Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (2005)
- Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Bristol (2005)
- Third Sector award for Most Admired Charity Chief Executive (2010)
- Beacon Prize for Leadership (2010)
- Lifetime Achievement Award, The National Diversity Awards (2013)
References
- ↑ "Disfigured newsreader for Five". BBC News. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
- ↑ "Newsflash: it's time to face up to disfigurement". The Independent. Retrieved 13 October 2014.