020 8914 8966
020 8914 8966
Ian Hamilton is a well-known journalist, BBC Scotland presenter and well-known Scottish documentary maker. He specializes in social affairs with a focus on disability and communities.
With over three decades of experience, Ian joined BBC Scotland News in 2000, working in both radio and television. He brings a wealth of knowledge to his work in news and documentaries
Blind since birth and a guide dog owner, his talks have been described as inspirational, thought provoking, entertaining and motivational. He hosts the television series ‘My Kind of Town’, exploring communities across Scotland.
As a blind journalist, Ian’s engaging presenting and accessible writing style extends to his Substak Blog, where he shares humorous insights and stories from his experience as a reporter on the road, often accompanied by his guide dog, Major.
Ian talks about being a disabled reporter and its challenges, working both in the UK and abroad. He has wide experience of being a speaker over a range of events from dinners and conferences to workshops and breakout sessions.
Ian Hamilton also talks about the importance of disability rights, employment and training, education, and technology and of course, diversity within broadcasting.
Speaking Topics:
- Motivation
- Disability
- Broadcasting
- Leadership
Ian works as a reporter for BBC Scotland and Radio 4, regularly covering a variety of programmes for news, sport, and features, including Sports Weekly, Reporting Scotland and Newsnight Scotland. He was also a regular on Radio 4s programme ‘In Touch’, ‘You and Yours’ and the award winning ‘Home Truths’ with the late John Peel. Ian branched into web casting for BBC Scotland where he hosted an Election Special at the last Scottish parliamentary election.
Documentaries:
In 2019 Ian presented on BBC Scotland, “Not in Plain Sight” where Ian investigated cerebral visual impairment, wherein the part of the brain that deals with vision does not work properly. He asked the question, are there people out there having problems with their sight that not even they know about and can this lead to being misdiagnosed?
Moving forward to 2020 and Ian Hamilton was filming a new documentary series in Scotland called “My Kind of Town”. Here Ian was looking at the past, present and the future of Scottish towns.
He became a columnist for The Herald newspaper with an irreverent and amusing look at the trials and tribulations of life as a blind person. His talks reflect a thought-provoking insight into the human side of being blind. Topics like The Blind Spy, Walking Holidays, How to Avoid the Public when Blind, Sailing without a Compass are a few of the entertaining articles already published. Ian uses his life experience to motivate others and encourage them to look at the positive when dealing with every day life.
Tall Ships:
Hands on experience has provided material for tackling blind golf, and sailing tall ships. In the late 90s Ian was in the forefront of community broadcasting. It was around then he chaired the Association of Small-scale Scottish Broadcasters.
In 2017 completely blind Ian joined the crew of The Lord Nelson. This was a 55-metre sailing ship, crewed by a mixture of the disabled and the able-bodied. For Ian it was the voyage of a lifetime!
Ian reported, everyone took an equal share of the work, from manning the night watch, to cleaning the toilets. Also, someone had to hoist the sails.
The plan was to sail the ship from Aberdeen through the Pentland Firth and down the west coast of Scotland to the Isle of Man. The ship had a crew of fifty people. This meant Ian had the chance to helm the ship: an amazing experience for someone who can’t drive a car.
Prior to joining the BBC Ian worked for a disability theatre company. He toured Scotland delivering workshops in self confidence and self esteem to disabled people.
An after-dinner speaker for the Round Table, Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation for the Blind. Ian has chaired a number of conferences and has also been keynote speaker and facilitator. His talks have been described as ear-and-eye-opening. They are also, inspirational, sometimes contentious and most of all very entertaining.
Ian Hamilton takes a blind look at… mountaineering, golfing, sailing, cooking, fashion, shopping, office politics, art, technology, becoming a blind spy.
Ians’ dogs:
In 2011 BBC One Scotland featured Ian in a documentary when he had to find a new guide dog. For eight years Ian had relied on his trusted guide dog Moss. Unfortunately Moss was getting old and had to retire. Born to Lead, charted Ian’s journey as he tried to find a replacement dog. The dog Ian found was named Renton. Renton was to be Ian’s constant companion for the following 5 years but was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. In 2017 Ian was introduced to his current dog, a cross black retriever called Major.
Ian sees his guide dogs as a key to his independence. His film uncovered the startling fact that across Britain 180,000 visually impaired people never leave their home alone.
You can follow Ian’s Twitter feed here: @IHamiltonbbc
