Gary McIntyre helped to start a collective advocacy group back in 2003 called Lanarkshire Ace, a special interest group of Enable. The group felt that it was a good idea to link with, and influence the way that the national organisation is run. They started off with four people and now have 35 active members. Recently they got some money to start a young person’s group and peer advocacy service.
Gary thinks that it was really important that people with learning disabilities are given the chance to meet in an informal environment to talk about things. When he lived in Kirklands Hospital there wasn’t anything like that to help both him and other residents, and it was only when he left, that he got an advocate to help him speak up for himself.
The group have done lots of things that he is proud of. Gary thinks that its biggest achievement to date is making “What Happens Next?.” Nobody in the group knew anything about the police and going to court. As anyone can be a witness or a victim, they think that people who find reading and writing hard, should be given information in a way that they can understand.
Gary thinks that all organisations should think about the way that they give out information, and should think a bit more about helping people who can’t read or write.
Gary lives in his own flat in East Kilbride.
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