Parmi Dheensa

Parmi Dheensa, is an award-winning social innovator and humanitarian, disability human rights activist and neurodiverse , sharing lived disability experiences with her youngest son, a disabled and adventurous changemaker.

Parmi is the founder and Executive Director of ‘Include Me TOO’ charity, working with disabled children, young people and their families from racialised and marginalised communities. She has overseen and developed a range of services, resources, training at local, national and international levels covering areas of intersectionality, participatory approaches, inclusive practice, policies, and safeguarding, for disabled children, young people and their families promoting a disability human rights-based ethos.

Parmi’s work has been dedicated to addressing discrimination through the lens of intersectionality and many years as a anti-racism consultant and advocate. Her work focuses on enabling others, increasing their access to spaces to share their experiences to challenge systematic and structural barriers and hierarchy to reduce inequalities and end discriminative practices.

Kristiina Cooper

Kristiina is a journalist at the BBC, a volunteer for the advocacy charity, VoiceAbility and mother to George, 16, who has Down’s Syndrome. She’s committed to ensuring people with learning disabilities lead fulfilling lives and believes the best way to overcome challenges is to join forces with like-minded people.

She works at BBC Westminster where she’s been reporting on politics for over 30 years. She’s an experienced editor, writer and broadcaster with a specialist knowledge of Parliament, public policy and the law-making process. She’s gained a great deal from her voluntary work at VoiceAbility where she’s supporting adults with learning disabilities to become self-advocates.

When Kristiina isn’t spending time with family she’s catching up on her reading, walking in the Hampshire countryside or trying to learn Finnish.

Jordan Smith

Jordan has many lived experiences and is a self-advocate who lives in Colchester in Essex. He is a former self advocate representative body member and former co-chair of the representative body of learning disability England.

He currently is a quality consultant at Dimensions UK and chair of Dimensions council.

Jordan is passionate about people with learning disabilities having good lives working alongside their families, friends and their supporters. He also wants to see people who don’t use words and use other ways to communicate and have complex needs to have the right to a good life too. In Jordans spare time he coaches and plays football with other people who have a learning disability or are autistic. He loves cake

Jan Walmsley

Jan is a self employed academic. Her particular interests are inclusive research, self advocacy, and the history of learning disabilities. In 1994 she co-founded the Social History of Learning Disability Research Group at the Open University which pioneered inclusive approaches to recording and sharing the history of learning disability – the Group celebrates its 25th Anniversary in 2019. Jan also coordinated the LDE Academics.

Jodie Williams (Co Chair of Trustees)

Jodie lives in Sunderland which is in the North East of the country.
Jodie says: 
People say that I am hardworking and very reliable, I do great job of supporting other people, brilliant at using different ways of communicating with people, am kind and generous and have a great sense of humour.

I am a Director of a company called Sunderland People First which is a self-advocacy company. The work I do there is to support others to have a voice, to make sure that people with a learning disability have good lives. I have lots of experience of working with organisations that deliver services and support people with learning disabilities, for example other community/ self-advocacy companies and groups, NHS England, Local councils, and local CCGs and Health trusts.
I am really involved in Transforming Care work locally, regionally and nationally and have been an expert by experience advisor at Care and Treatment reviews since the Transforming Care Programme began in the North East back in 2014.

Other work I do, extra to my work at Sunderland People First, am an expert advisor on the NHS Learning Disability and Autism advisory group and a Director for Inclusion North.

I am delighted to be a trustee with Learning disability England as I want to make sure that lives of people with a learning disability are improved and people are heard and that the government listens.

Lisa Hopkins

Lisa is Chief Executive at SeeAbility. SeeAbility is a charity which supports people with learning disabilities, autism, and sight loss. Lisa began her career in Canada as a Support Worker and subsequently became a Behaviour Consultant working alongside people whose behaviour was described as challenging. Prior to taking up her role at SeeAbility, Lisa was Managing Director at Dimensions UK, where she worked for 9 years.

Liz Tilly

Liz is strongly committed to the full inclusion of people with learning disabilities in all aspects of life, and has had regular professional and social contact with people with learning disabilities for over 40 years.  
Liz is the founder and director of Building Bridges Training, a social enterprise of people with a learning disability which provides training and does research focused on making a difference to people with a learning disability. Liz also works part time as a senior lecturer in social care at the University of Wolverhampton. She also set up and is a trustee and volunteer with the charity Jigsaw Events which provides people with social and leisure opportunities.

Previously she founded and for twenty years was Chief Executive of a voluntary organisation in the West Midlands which provided a wide range of services and opportunities for people with learning disabilities. Prior to this, her career was in special education.

Paula Braynion

Paula has been MD with Future Directions since it was founded. Previously worked as Director of Operations, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Nursing in the NHS. Paula is passionate about ensuring Future Directions is a values led organisation and these values are lived out at every level of the organisation. Paula believes that living out the values will make a real positive difference to peoples lives. Worked as a Nurse Therapist and Nurse Consultant in medium and low secure care for a number of years. Moved to Pennine Care as Deputy Director of Nursing and was appointed as Service Director, Specialist Services in rehabilitation and high support, CAMHS and drug and alcohol services in 2007.

Sarah Maguire (Co Chair of Trustees)

Sarah is also Chief Executive at Choice Support. Choice Support supports nearly 2,500 people with learning disabilities and other social care support needs. Sarah has worked with people with learning disabilities for almost 30 years. Her work began supporting people to move out of long stay institutions in the 1980’s. Sarah has been a training manager, an Operations Director and the Director of Quality and Safeguarding for Choice Support. Sarah is part of the steering committee for the Driving up Quality Alliance and a founder Board member of the Association of Quality Checkers.