Mike Brace CBE, DL

At ten, a firework concealed in a medicine bottle by some other children exploded in my face and blinded me. Sport was already part of who I was. In the years that followed, it became the thing I held onto. 

I went on to compete in six Paralympic Games, beginning with the very first Winter Paralympics in 1976which were the first games -summer or winter – to include vision impaired athletes. I completed two London Marathons, two ski marathons and the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Marathon… over 125 miles, which was exactly as tiring as it sounds. I've attempted over 50 different sports. I'm still adding to that list. 

In parallel, I trained as a social worker and spent 25 years supporting vulnerable families in some of London's most complex boroughs. Later, I set up and led VISION 2020 UK — an organisation bringing together voluntary bodies, health services and statutory agencies around vision and sight loss. Visably, now Visably was one of its member organisations.  

I also feel immensely privileged (as not many people with a disability get the chance) to serve on Governmental working groups, Chair a small I.T. company and serve on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic bid team and organising committee.  

In some ways, I've been finding my way back here ever since. 

I was awarded an OBE and then a CBE for services to disabled sport, and appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of London. At 31, I appeared on This Is Your Life – ambushed outside BBC Bush House by Eamonn Andrews, after being lured there under false pretences by Brian Johnston. On the way to the studio I wondered whether I'd already done everything I was going to do. I'm glad I was wrong. 

I became Chair of Visably's Trustees in 2024. The charity is going through its most exciting transformation in decades: becoming a technology empowerment service, not just a device charity. That shift is one I have  believed in my whole working life. I'm here to make sure we do it properly. 

My guide dog King arrived in 2019 and remains thoroughly unimpressed by my achievements.