EiDA16 Shortlisted Nominee
Lifetime Achiever Award
Ann has spent over 60 years working and volunteering in the disability field, and despite retiring in 2003 currently works as an External Verifier for NOCN’s new programme Pathways to Adulthood; a pioneering programme to help young people with learning difficulties to become as independent as possible. Ann has spent her entire professional life working with learners with special educational needs, and has been an extraordinary ambassador for ensuring many workplaces developed inclusive policies, so that learners with SEND needs were not disadvantaged. She has notoriously made significant advances in Albania, and is currently in her 20th year of voluntary work out there. In 1995, on a VSO project, she started the first Gateway (Mencap’s leisure clubs) in Eastern Europe, and personally raised £15k to purchase an apartment that is now a resource centre in Librazhd. Ann also spent 30 years volunteering for Sheffield Mencap, and is now Vice Chair of MEDPAK with branches throughout Albania. Her consistent commitment to diversity is phenomenal.