• Where am I?
• Home »
• How to get involved »
• Be a Champion

Be a Champion

Our Patrons

We are very happy to welcome Professor Simon Baron Cohen as our first patron.

Simon is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge. He holds degrees in Human Sciences from New College, Oxford, a PhD in Psychology from UCL, and an M.Phil in Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry. He held lectureships in both of these departments in London before moving to Cambridge in 1994. He is also Director of CLASS (Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service), a clinic for adults with suspected AS.

“I am delighted to be a Patron of VoiceAbility and am proud to be associated with their important work supporting people with learning difficulties and mental health issues in every aspect of society. They have achieved a lot already and I wish them every success as they continue to grow as a charity and transform the lives of people with learning disabilities and mental health problems and their familie

---

Our Champions

Fran Williamson

Our first Champion is a Champion in her own right. A World Champion, A Paralympic Champion and now a VoiceAbility Champion. Fran tells us in her own words, why working with VoiceAbility is so important to her:

"Since 2006 (when I started a social policy degree) I have become extremely interested in the issues surrounding disability – so much so that the majority of my first degree was based around disability and I am now studying for a Masters Degree in Disability Studies. However, my interests don’t just stop at politics and policies; I am keen to encourage people to feel positive about disability and difference. Often people, non-disabled and disabled alike, can attach a feeling of “doom and gloom” to impairment and disability.

As a Paralympic swimmer who has won five World Champion titles and six Paralympic medals, I like to think my experiences challenge the “doom and gloom” perspective. I also like to think, that by sharing my experiences, I have helped to inspire a handful of individuals to take an extra positive stance on life and go for their personal goals and ambitions. Added to this, after living independently for almost eight years now, I am all too aware of the hurdles and obstacles disabled people can face whilst attempting to achieve self-directed independence. Granted, moving out and moving on is difficult for just about anyone but; for a disabled person it is much harder, especially when having to deal with numerous people in order to access the necessary support systems. In effect these two issues condense my core interests within the world of disability: independent living, positive attitudes and the need to be able to dream big and go for what feels like the impossible.

As such, when I was approached by VoiceAbility, a charity that is “passionate about strengthening voice, championing rights and changing lives”, I was extremely excited about the prospect of working with people who believed in very similar visions and values as myself. To achieve the things I talk about above, individuals need to have a voice that can be heard loud and clear so they can get what they want rather than what others might decide they need – a fundamental principle of the VoiceAbility mission.

After talks with members of the VoiceAbility team, I was left in no doubt that this was a charity I had to work with! With my new title of VoiceAbility Champion, I am extremely proud to be part of the work the charity undertakes and endorses. Also, and most importantly, I very much look forward to seeing the work they do, first hand, and meet with some of the service users personally."

We're very excited about working with Fran and of course supporting her journey to the Olympics next September.  You can read more about Fran's journey on her website and you can follow her twitter feeds at twitter.com//Frannywill and twitter.com//franswimsto2012