Purple is pleased to be recognised for the work it is starting to undertake to increase its international footprint.

Last Sunday, while the UK was starting to freeze, Mike Adams – our CEO – was being recognised at a Gala Dinner in Dubai as part of the inaugural Global Health Pioneer Awards. Unfortunately (for him!) he was unable to attend but sent a pre-recorded ‘thank you’ speech which you can view here.

Although the award was formally framed as a pioneer personality contributing towards improving the quality of life, it recognised Purple’s Disability Confident work in Dubai and the wider GCC countries during the past 12 months.

A spokesperson for the Awards said: “The (awards) are designed to recognise pioneers worldwide, strengthening the value of Dubai as a worldwide platform and to generate exchanges from a global uptake of the innovations and humanitarian approaches that fuel the search for improving quality and equality.

Exactly a year ago Mike was in Dubai delivering a workshop on Disability Confident and supporting their ambitions to become the worlds friendliest disabled city by 2020.

In a forthcoming blog, Mike will talk more about the work of Purple abroad, and our ambitions in this area in the future.