Tony, Jayne and Sam are valued members of our North Yorkshire Working Together group, which has been running since 2023 with support from Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).

The Working Together group do exactly that – they work together to speak up about the importance of staying well, and raise awareness of the things that can get in the way of having good health.

Over time, Tony, Jayne and Sam took part in training sessions with Inclusion North that supported them to become trainers. We sometimes call this being an ‘Expert by Experience.’ They use their experience of having a learning disability to train other people with learning disabilities, and also speak up about things that are important to people, especially concerning being able to live well for longer.

In 2024 and 2025 they delivered training sessions to 149 people all over North Yorkshire. The workshops were called Getting My Health Right for Me. This training supported people to understand things like:

·        Reasonable Adjustments and Annual Health Checks

·        Making sure people are on the learning disability register

·        Awareness of Cancer and different Cancer Screenings

Tony, Jayne and Sam used their voices and own experiences to speak up about what it means to get good healthcare. They want everyone to live longer, healthier and happier lives.

What did they tell us about their role in this work?

Tony’s feedback:

“I’m a self-advocate from Selby. I’ve been helping Jayne and Sam to do this working together group. We’ve been doing health stuff, like helping people. It’s for people with learning difficulties. I speak up for them.

They like playing poo bingo. There’s loads of things I like doing. It gets me out. I was a bit nervous at the beginning, but I got more confident.”

Sam’s feedback:

“We did Avatars. We made a booklet. It was good. My favourite was watching different videos. Some people found it interesting. I learned some big words.”

Jayne’s feedback:

“We looked at all different things about health. Cancer and things like that. It was good to learn about them because people might not know about them. I learned about things like breast checks and cancer awareness.

I liked doing the video. I liked delivering the training and the videos. The videos make me laugh. I liked Poo Bingo, they all enjoyed that one.

It helped me to speak out more. I never used to stand in front of people. I was scared about doing it then I thought I’d give it a go, and I did it. I just do it now. It’s helped my confidence.”

In November 2025 Tony, Jayne and Sam won the Gary Stark Citizenship Award at the Inclusion North 20th Anniversary Gala. This award is for people with a learning disability or autism who:

• Speak up for others

• Believe in fairness and equal rights

• Make their own choices

• Help their community

Tony, Sam and Jayne do all of these things and more. I have seen them grow in confidence as trainers and work brilliantly as part of a team. And I for one am incredibly proud to have worked with them in spreading important messages about living well for longer.