The new trustees are:
Yogi Amin: Irwin Mitchell solicitor and partner Amin leads the 80-strong Public Law Department including 50 legal staff members. He is listed in the directories Legal 500 and Chambers as a leader in human rights law, community care law and mental capacity law. For over 8 years he was a trustee for the Independent Living Funds, which enabled severely disabled people to live independently in their own homes.
Lucy Kathryne Edge: Chief Operating Officer of technology and innovation company Satellite Applications Catapult, Edge is a space engineer and previously ran Spacecraft and Customer Operations for UK based satellite operator Avanti Communications. A passionate advocate for regional economic development, Edge has held Non-Executive Director roles at the Eden Project, the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, and is a Governor at Truro and Penwith College.
Jackie Pollock: Technical lead for digital technology solutions firm Kainos Group Plc, Pollock leads digital transformation in NHS Trusts to create a paperless health service. A long-term mental health and learning disability advocate, Pollock has volunteered at Mencap Network Partner Carrickfergus Junior Gateway in Northern Ireland for more than 21 years and has chaired the organisation for the past five years.
Derek Lewis, Chair of Mencap trustees, said:
“We are delighted to welcome Yogi, Lucy and Jackie to Royal Mencap Society’s Board of Trustees. They will bring further invaluable understanding of learning disabilities to the board as well as highly relevant knowledge in areas such as disability law, digital technology, community support and volunteering. Their contribution will be complemented by the increasingly important role played by Mencap’s Voices Council – a group of people with learning disabilities with whom the board works to ensure the charity’s strategy and programmes are informed and developed by people with learning disabilities.
We are deeply grateful to our new trustees for their commitment to Mencap and look forward to working with them as we pursue the ambitious goals set out in Our Big Plan. Those goals are designed to help people with a learning disability make the choices they want and to enjoy the same opportunities as other people, free from discrimination – despite the challenge of cutbacks in government funding and support.”
-ENDS-
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact the Mencap press office on 020 7696 5414 or media@mencap.org.uk or for out of hours 07770 656 659.
Notes to editors
1. Mencap’s current trustees are Geoff Alltimes; Elaine Hindal; Katie Hollier; Stephen Jack OBE; Derek Lewis (chair); Linda Redford; Graham Williams; Andrew Wilson and David Wolverson.
2. Mencap trustees are appointed for a four-year term and can serve two in total. Responsible for the charity’s governance, the trustees have substantial experience of learning disabilities in a personal, voluntary or professional capacity.
About Mencap
There are 1.4 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Mencap works to support people with a learning disability, their families and carers by fighting to change laws, improve services and access to education, employment and leisure facilities. Mencap supports people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want.
Mencap provided direct support to 5,231 people with a learning disability in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2017/2018 and answered nearly 13,000 calls through the Learning Disability Helpline. The charity celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016.
For advice and information about learning disability and Mencap services in your area, contact the Learning Disability Helpline on 0808 808 1111 (9am-5pm, Monday-Friday) or email helpline@mencap.org.uk.
What is a learning disability?
A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability which can cause problems with everyday tasks – for example shopping and cooking, or travelling to new places – which affects someone for their whole life.
People with a learning disability can take longer to learn new things and may need support to develop new skills, understand difficult information and engage with other people. The level of support someone needs is different with every individual. For example, someone with a severe learning disability might need much more support with daily tasks than someone with a mild learning disability.
Learning disability is not a mental illness or a learning difficulty, such as dyslexia. Very often the term ‘learning difficulty’ is wrongly used interchangeably with ‘learning disability’.