Our goodwill ambassadors
Find out more about each of our fantastic goodwill ambassadors below.
Andrew Self
Andrew is a talented dancer who hit the headlines in 2019 with his incredible performance on The Greatest Dancer.
Andrew began dancing at the age of 11 and hasn't stopped, referring to himself as "the captain of dance"! Andrew is also a student at The Orpheus Centre, a specialist college for young disabled people with a passion for the performing arts.
Find Andrew on Twitter: @andrewdancer97
Find Andrew on Instagram: @andrewdancer97
Photo Credit: Sophie Mayanne
Harvey Price
Harvey Price is 18 years old and was born with Septic Optic Dysplasia, Prader-Willi syndrome, autism and a learning disability.
Harvey is excited to act as a role model to young people with a learning disability, and to help tackle stigma and online bullying.
Jessica-Jane Applegate
Jessica-Jane Applegate MBE, is a British Paralympic swimmer, competing in the S14 classification for swimmers with intellectual disabilities.
Jessica has learning difficulties, an autism spectrum disorder and many physical challenges. She qualified for the 2012 summer Paralympics and won gold in the S14 200m freestyles, setting a Paralympic record.
Jessica-Jane became a Mencap ambassador in 2013 and had previously competed in Mencap swimming events such as the Mencap Championships. She is a great supporter of Mencap Sport and regularly attends and participates in competitions and events.
Find Jessica-Jane on Twitter: @Jessica_jane96
Find Jessica-Jane on Instagram: @jessicajaneapplegate
Kit Harington
Kit Harington is an actor, best known for his role as Jon Snow in the HBO series, Game of Thrones.
He has a personal connection to Mencap through his cousin, Laurent (pictured with Kit), who has Down's syndrome.
Laurent attended one of Mencap's former colleges and his mother (Kit's aunt) has cited Mencap as one of the great areas of support that she and Laurent have received over the years.
Kit has been incredibly generous with his time by publicly supporting our campaign work, featuring in the media, working alongside colleagues with a learning disability on short films and participating in a high value fundraising campaign.
Liam Bairstow
Liam is an actor who is well known from his role on Coronation Street as the brilliant Alex Warner. He is also a resident artist with Mind the Gap, where he has performed in shows such as Treasure Island. He has also featured in a hit video on the Mencap TV YouTube channel where he discusses what having Down's syndrome means to him.
Liam is passionate about ensuring people with a learning disability are supported to achieve their dreams.
Find Liam on Twitter: @BairstowLiam
Matt Forde
Matt Forde is one of the country’s most in-demand satirists and has been seen on The Royal Variety Performance, Have I Got News For You, Mock the Week, 8 out of 10 Cats and Question Time .
He hosted 4 series of his own political comedy show Unspun with Matt Forde on Dave and currently hosts Rock 'n' Roll Football on Absolute Radio. His podcast The Political Party features interviews with the biggest names in politics.
Matt is passionate about the rights of people with a learning disability.
Mikey Cobban
Mikey started working in the entertainment industry in 2015 when he joined a boyband. Since leaving the band in 2019 he has worked in presenting for companies such as Nickelodeon and the BBC. He has also launched his social media accounts, including Instagram and YouTube.
At 17, Mikey started working with people with a learning disability in Bristol. He had an amazing time doing this, and learned a lot.
Mikey became our ambassador in September 2019, and in 2020 he ran the Virgin Money London Marathon for Mencap, when we are the official charity partner.
Find Mikey on Twitter: @MikeyCobban
Find Mikey on Instagram: @mikeycobban
The Edge
Guitarist with U2, The Edge, has been a Mencap Ambassador since 2008 and has been actively involved in helping to raise awareness and support the organisation’s important work to improve the lives of people with a learning disability.
“Not many people know what a learning disability is, or the challenges people with a learning disability face. I’ve seen how much work goes into Mencap and want to continue to see it flourish.”
The Edge’s cousin, Ciara Lawrence (pictured), works as the Big Plan Engagement lead for Mencap.
Photo credit: Eve North
Family ambassadors
We have plenty more wonderful ambassadors to share with you, so keep visiting this page for more updates coming very soon!
Angelo Solomon–Saffer and Deborah Soloman
Deborah has 4 sons, the youngest of which is Angelo who is 2 years old and has Down's syndrome.
Deborah has spoken to an audience of trainee midwives at Canterbury Christ Church University about the reality of having a child with Down's syndrome and given advice about how the patient experience can be improved upon.
Angelo attends a local mainstream preschool and is signed as a model with Zebedee Management. He has worked with some well known brands, been involved with various awareness campaigns and appeared on the runway at Mini Mode during London Fashion Week.
Find Angelo on Twitter: @AngeloSOfficia1
Find Angelo on Instagram: @angelosofficial
Find Angelo on Facebook: @angelosofficialuk
Find Angelo online: angelosofficial.com
George Webster
George is well known in the parkrun movement and featured in his own episode of Jessica's parkrun heroes on Sky TV.
George is currently part of the Talent Hub dance company. He dances with Ability company, as well as his long standing group Me2 and has performed many times. He is also a student and enjoys working as a barista, as well as volunteering. George is also an actor and public speaker. He loves films (especially horror) and musical theatre.
George believes that people with a learning disability should have equal rights. He also believes people with a learning disability need to be treated the same as other people and can do anything if they are given the chance.
Jane Raca MBE
Jane Raca is a former lawyer whose middle son James was born with cerebral palsy, learning disabilities and autism and needs 24 hour care. She was so shocked about the lack of support for him and the rest of the family that she wrote her first book, ‘Standing Up for James’ to raise awareness. The book received national coverage and has been referred to in parliamentary debates.
Jane cares deeply about empowering families through knowledge of their legal rights. She has supported Mencap by speaking out at events, writing blogs and assisting in parliamentary campaigns to improve provision for people with a learning disability.
She was awarded an MBE for this work in 2018.
Find Jane on Twitter: @janeraca
Natty, Mia and Hayley Goleniowska
Natty Goleniowska has Down’s syndrome and together with her big sister Mia and mum Hayley they are known as Downs Side Up.
They write an award-winning blog and work for inclusion and fairness in education, healthcare and the media. Natty was one of the UK’s first models with a disability. Mia wrote and published a book for siblings called I Love You Natty. Hayley trains medics and educators and writes for many publications, as well as doing media interviews and campaigning.
Find Downs Side Up on Twitter: @downssideup and @loveyounatty
Find Downs Side Up on Instagram: @downssideup
Find Downs Side Up on Facebook: @downssideup and @iloveyounatty
Rosie and Jason Kneen
Jason is mobile app developer, consultant, speaker, and author based in Wiltshire.
Married to Hannah, they have 5 young children including Rosie, who was born in 2014 and has Down's syndrome. Rosie became an internet sensation in February 2019 when her photo went viral on Twitter.
The Twitter thread has been added to, including Rosie and her family's story, encouraging many others to add their photos and stories of their families. The thread was featured on the BBC, NBC, and international news stations and publications. Rosie even had kind messages from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, star of her favourite movie - Moana!
Find Jason on Twitter: @jasonkneen
Find Jason on Instagram: @jasonkneen
Rosie and Tom Bachofner
Tom believes everyone deserves the right to reach their full potential in life.
He started the blog, The Future’s Rosie, after finding very little real-life information available. Written from a Dads perspective, he hoped it would help parents new to a diagnosis of Down’s syndrome to see the reality of raising their child, rather than reading outdated, stereotypical information.
Tom's daughter, Rosie, is 9 years old and loves make-up, dancing and singing along loudly to Taylor Swift!
Find Rosie and Tom on Facebook: @TheFuturesRosie
Find Rosie and Tom on Twitter: @futuresrosie
Find Rosie and Tom on Instagram: @thefuturesrosie
Seb and Caroline White
Caroline is a parent advocate and believes that people with learning disabilities should be seen and heard, and valued as equals in their communities.
Caroline campaigned for more inclusive advertising and in 2012 her son, Seb, was the first model with Down's syndrome to star in a major TV commercial for Marks & Spencer.
Seb is 13 and attends a mainstream secondary school. He is a massive Chelsea fan, really sporty and loves Fawlty Towers.
Find Caroline on Twitter: @carolineplayle
Find Seb on Instagram: @boundlessboyseb