The Good Lives Series: Effective Voice
John Hersov, who has worked closely and supported self-advocates with learning disabilities since the 1980’s, reflects on his experiences, what has changed since he began his career, and how self advocates have shaped his outlook today…
I have always liked working with groups of people with learning disabilities and autism.
I taught “Speaking for Ourselves” classes at the City Lit Adult Education Institute in Central London through the 1980s and 1990s.
At present, I am working on a project celebrating “Students with Learning Disabilities at the City Lit (1979 -2025). This programme of classes is still going strong after 45 years.
I supported Mencap’s London Division Participation Forum group for eight years from 1982 onwards, which is where Gary Bourlet and I first worked closely together.
In the 1980s and 90s, I worked with groups of residents in long stay hospitals, as well as with Housing Associations in the community.
From 2007 for 16 years, I built up and co-ordinated Transport for London (TFL)’s Valuing People Network.
This gave people with learning disabilities from all over London the chance to share their experiences of using public transport with TfL’s managers and staff at day long meetings three times a year.
You can read about this work and more in the “Mind The Gap!” chapter, produced for the 2024 book “Rights in Practice for People with a Learning Disability – Stories of Citizenship”.
Currently, the SCIE Fliers are at 3.5 years and counting, highlighting the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)’s commitment to Co-production.
Our latest film “Making Things More Equal” (about health inequalities) was released in January 2025, and we have been sending it round to the self-advocacy groups and individuals whom we already know:
We also produced an easier to read and understand version of SCIE’s Guidance document.
We hope you like it. Please give your feedback to:
More recently, Anne Corrigan, Sedley Wilson and myself were on the panel of the SCIE webinar in discussions about the Guidance document.
When I meet up with people, the interesting thing for me is to see what kinds of connections you can find between the members of a group.
Not obvious ones like “Which football team do you support?” or “Do you like Taylor Swift?”, but more to do with how each person sees the world and the different ways that the people in it behave.
You are drawing on their experiences of life, in order to get their own opinions before they start to bounce ideas off one another.
Obviously, the growth of the self-advocacy movement during the time that I’ve been doing all this, means that we have often talked about wanting to be treated better by others, and not be labelled and limited by misleading, hurtful and medicalised terms.
Another thing is that I am constantly learning from, and with, the people that I work amongst. My own expectations are constantly challenged; my own limited view of the world is pushed to expand due to the persistent pressure of other people’s opinions being freely expressed.
I recently attended the Question Time event organised by the Lewisham Speaking Up (LSUP) People’s Parliament.
For one hour, LSUP members asked questions of three local MPs, one of whom is a Government Minister.
There was an electric atmosphere as people with learning disabilities from this part of London talked from their own life experiences, and made tough statements about how the system has failed them for so long in so many areas (health, housing, benefits, employment, better access to community facilities).
I hope that other self-advocacy groups will find similar ways to connect publicly with their local Parliamentary representatives. This is even more important in the times we are living through now.
The Good Lives Framework is another way that we can all tell policymakers what people with learning disabilities want and need to live well.
Chapter 5 reminds us of the continued importance of self advocacy, in order that people can get their voices heard.