Dr Amit Patel is an author, disability rights campaigner, motivational speaker, and independent accessibility consultant.
He is registered severely sight impaired (blind) having lost his sight to keratoconus in 2013.
Amit has appeared in various online and print media in the UK and around the world, as well as featuring on BBC London News, ITV London News, Channel 4 News, Channel 5 News, and Sky Sunrise. He is a regular contributor to the BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio 4, BBC 5 Live, and BBC London Radio.
Amit Patel studied medicine at Cambridge and qualified as a doctor, specialising in emergency medicine and major incidents.
During medical school, Amit was diagnosed with keratoconus, a condition that changes the shape of your corneas, which is usually easily treated with a corneal transplant. However, Amit was one of the rare individuals for whom the transplants were rejected and despite traveling to the US for ground-breaking surgery, Amit lost his sight completely just one year after getting married.
Since then, Amit Patel has been on a journey to learn to live with his sight loss, from learning how to make a cup of tea again to walking using a white cane. Once getting to grips with the basics himself, Amit set out to help others who were new to sight loss, through volunteering with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Amit is now an active campaigner for accessibility, diversity and inclusion, speaking out against the issues that disabled people face daily.
In September 2014, and after only 6 weeks on the waiting list, Amit was matched to his first Guide Dog, Kika, a white Labrador. Together, Amit and Kika travel through London and its surrounds on a daily basis, charting their journeys, challenges and the people they meet on their travels via their Twitter accounts (@Kika_GuideDog and @BlindDad_UK) and Instagram (@Kika_GuideDog).
Amit is a total thrill seeker with an incredibly infectious and up-beat personality. He has worked with some amazing brand campaigns. Amit reached out to Toyota in 2018 requesting them to “Help me drive again”. He took on the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car challenge – Where he drove the 5th ever fastest time around the track! And he’s always looking for his next impressive and exciting project to challenge him (and Kika!).
Below: Amit Patel becomes the 6th fastest driver ever round the Top Gear Dunsfold test track
Amit’s first book, ‘Kika & Me’ is published by Pan Macmillan. Amit is married to Seema and they have 2 children alongside his Guide Dog Kika, who is 6 years old.
Amit has also proved to be an inspirational public speaker, addressing staff and business conferences for a large number of leading blue chip businesses. Such as American Express, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), The Eden Project, AXA, BCLP Law Firm, MUFG, NHS, The Small Awards, Smart Energy GB and Purple Beach.