Mikey Hughes spent the summer of 2008 in the Big Brother house, watched 24 hours a day by millions of viewers.
Before going into the house Mikey described himself as wacky, zany and non-conformist. He certainly lived up to that description! After 12 weeks in the house, he also proved he's a survivor.
About Mikey
Michael Hughes (33) from Kilwinning, Ayrshire, a presenter and producer on RNIB's Insight Radio, was a housemate in 2008's Big Brother. He was the first blind person to join the UK show.
Find out more by reading Michael's story as producer and presenter of The Early Edition on Insight Radio.
Raising issues
A blind person appearing in such a high profile show presented many opportunities to challenge stereotypes and attitudes to blindness amongst the public.
Blind people are often relegated to niche specialist programmes either on TV or on radio. Even when they feature as characters on dramas or comedies they're often played by sighted people. The effect of this 'invisibility' is that many people don't understand blindness. They have very little idea about the challenges that someone who is blind might face and they have little experience of seeing someone who is blind get on with their life and live independently.
So, the impact of having someone blind on Big Brother, with all the media interest that the programme generates, could be profound. However, it is important to note that no one person can be expected to represent all blind and partially sighted people. We hope that audiences and housemates judged Michael as an individual first and foremost and that his blindness did not define him.