My history in self advocacy

By Brian Stocker, self-advocacy specialist 

I have been in the self-advocacy movement for many years and this started at Lambeth People First where I was working as a volunteer. I then started working with People First (Self Advocacy), on their Management Committee; this was in the early 90’s.   

Myself and a few others set up Hackney People First as a user led group and I got a job as a project worker, I was also part of the team that set up Sutton People First after speaking to the local council.  I then got a job as a project worker at Sutton People First.  After that I joined a team which set up Newham People First and I worked there as a project worker and later as a manager.  I worked there for 17 years starting in 1994. I retired from Newham People First in 2012.

My original role at People First Self Advocacy was as a member and I then I was on the Management Committee. I then stood down from the Management Committee and People First have employed me since September 2013. My new job title is Supporting Each Other Equals Power Project Co-ordinator. 

I have a lot of knowledge and experience of working with user led organisations and campaigning for the rights of people with learning difficulties.  Self-Advocacy has been a big part of my life and it will always be.  Without Support it is very hard for people with learning difficulties to get what they want let alone need, if you do not get the right support it affects your health and wellbeing, both physical and mental.  Often for someone who has a learning difficulty, it can be a fight to be heard and get the support that you need.  

To be able to give this kind of support in the Supporting Each Other Equals Power project makes me really proud, it is easy for me to understand the difficulties of not having support because of my real life experience. This is why it is such an amazing project, because people with learning difficulties who have the experience run it.  I have often been in the shoes of the people that we see and support.

Supporting Each Other Equals Power is a free peer support project being run in Lambeth which aims to deal with loneliness and people with learning difficulties being left out of society.  It also looks to make sure people have the peer support that they need to have control over all parts of their lives.  We support people in any area of their life to get the services they need.    

I am proud of my story and what I have achieved, there are a lot of people with learning difficulties who want to do the same thing and can do the same thing if they have the right support. My life has gone through four stages. It all started in a long start hospital in South Ockington.  From there I went into a group home and day centres, this was boring and I could not be who I was.  

Next, I moved to supported living and employment training which was much better, but I was treated different and separate from rest of society. Now I am an independent person who has control over my life.  I have a good life, a paid job which is a real career and my own place to call home. People with learning difficulties can achieve anything in their lives if they want to. They just need people to listen to them and give them the right sort of support.