Darren Harris Speaker | Teen Speakers & Sports & Lifestyle & Assemblies and Celebrations Events & Well-being & Disability

Darren Harris

Unblind your mind! Overcoming adversity to become the most capped England blind footballer inspiring others to transform their lives

Losing his sight after being diagnosed and treated for cancer of both eyes aged fifteen months, Darren ended up winning 162 caps and 10 World and European medals, making him England’s most decorated blind footballer.

Unblind Your Mind® founder, Darren Harris, is a speaker, facilitator and coach on overcoming adversity. His expertise blends his lived experience, personal stories and psychology study to get bottom-line results for his audience.

Born out of the realisation that your eyes are useless if you don’t use what’s between your ears, Unblind Your Mind ® is both a maxim and process that views adversity from 4 different perspectives to improve confidence, resilience and focus so his audiences can tackle obstacles like a professional.

Darren has experienced adversity throughout his life including a cancer diagnosis, sight loss, bullying, school exclusion, homelessness and Paralympic disqualification. He is now England’s most capped blind footballer, a dual Paralympian, bestselling author, corporate governance practitioner, and recipient of an honorary doctorate.

He has worked with over a hundred schools, colleges and universities that want a positive role model for both student assemblies, awards celebrations, and awareness themes; and teacher CPD at twilight sessions and INSET days. His inspirational sessions are also available as talks, workshops, half or full day options, and suitable for primary, secondary, further and higher education settings.

Testimonials from Teachers

"Darren is an amazing speaker. He's spoken to a number of groups of students who have given glowing feedback. His storytelling is compelling his ability to motivate and focus young people is fabulous. I thoroughly recommend him as a guest speaker."

– Helen Newton, Assistant Principal, Dudley College

"Darren made such an incredible impact, we invited him twice within a month. His talk inspired 70 of our FE performing arts students. He opened their eyes to the possibility of setting and achieving massive goals for themselves. If you want an A-grade speaker, you need look no further than Darren Haris."

– Andy Oakley, Music Media and Performing Arts Co-ordinator, Nottingham College

"I invited Darren to deliver a guest lecture to my third year undergraduate students. Darren was fabulous and was really well received by the students. His ability to connect and engage the students was second-to-none. The lecture went so well I asked Darren to come back the following semester to do another lecture."

– Katrina McDonald, Lecturer in Sports Coaching , Anglia Ruskin University

"Darren was great! The students very much enjoyed his inspiring stories and presentation"

– Kamaljit Kaur Dhillon, Assistant Head of Sixth Form/ICT & Computer Science, Shireland Collegiate Academy

"Darren was really good thanks! He was very inspiring to our students."

– Olivia Robinson, Communications and Marketing Coordinator and Summer School Lead, Lutterworth High School

"The events went great with Darren thank you."

– Joanne Thomas, King Charles I School

"A huge thank you Darren for the talk you gave - it was so well received and pupils have come to chat to me about it about how interesting and inspiring it was - thank you and thank you for stepping in at the last minute - and for the piano playing!"

– Sophie Kilmister, Head of Seniors , Kingham Hill School

"From the moment Darren arrived, he was enthusiastic and positive. He delivered an excellent talk on his life and how he has faced challenges due to his blindness.He encouraged the audience to speak up as well which was good and he also made them laugh a couple of times. His delivery was very good and we have since had feedback saying that his talk was inspirational. I thought it was great that he put time aside at the end to speak to guests and particularly one of our visually impaired students and her mother, who he spoke to for quite a while afterwards, which we really appreciate. I would recommend him."

– Mrs C. Taylor, Duke of Edinburgh Administrator, Oxted School

"Darren was fantastic from start to finish, he understood the purpose of our event and tailored his approach to suit our audience of senior leaders and CEOs. His talk was impactful and had a good level of audience engagement which helped spark conversation and ideas, he brings to life his personal experiences in a way that helps the audience to connect with him. I would highly recommend Darren to anyone looking for an uplifting motivational speaker, he was brilliant!"

– Aaron Caisley, Associate Director, Marketing and Recruitment, West Herts College

"Darren was amazing – such an inspirational person right from the first meeting to the end of the event. Feedback after the event was excellent. His speech was interesting and inspirational, and he related very well to pupils of all ages. Thank you for recommending him."

– Adrian Meadows, Headmaster, The Peterborough School

"Darren was great! He was super engaging and feedback from parents and pupils has been really positive."

– Nicola Stephens, Deputy Head Pastroral, Teesside High School