Toby Churchill

He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree (DEng) from the University of Bath in 2010.

Dissatisfied with the rudimentary communication aids then available for people who cannot speak, he designed the first Lightwriter communication aid for his own use and, after meeting other people with similar needs, started to manufacture them. He set up Toby Churchill Limited in 1973 to manufacture portable text-based communication aids.

His inventions appeared four times on Tomorrow's World during the 1970s.

The company won a number of awards including a British Design Award in 1969, a Department of Trade and Industry Languages for Export Award in 1996, and the Queen's Award for Export in 1995 and 1996.

In 1968, aged 21, Toby contracted encephalitis from swimming in a polluted river while working in France as part of his degree course. Within 24 hours he became totally paralysed and without speech. Doctors initially diagnosed his lost speech as a sunstroke but subsequently realised it was more serious. Then French President, General de Gaulle, heard that someone with the surname Churchill had been taken seriously ill and, mistakenly assuming Toby was related to Sir Winston Churchill, arranged for him to be flown back to Cambridge airport in his private jet. Toby spent six months in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge in a locked-in condition and was subsequently transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital for rehabilitation, where he spent a further nine months.

Toby Churchill DEng FRSA (born 29 June 1947) is a disabled British entrepreneur. He founded a company manufacturing communication aids for people who cannot speak.