Your Choice, Your Voice Conference

A free conference focusing on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) on World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development we will emphasise how by creating an inclusive environment everyone can thrive together.

Your Choice, Your Voice Conference takes place on the same day as World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogues and Development – an awareness day marked for celebrating diversity and raising awareness of the issues of racism and discrimination. The event includes presentations highlighting the personal experiences of individuals who have encountered challenges such as mental health conditions, physical illnesses, learning disabilities, caregiving and racial discrimination. These stories aim to shed light on the resilience and strategies used to overcome such obstacles.

Featured speakers include:

Professor Peter Beresford OBE

Peter is a Visiting Professor at the University of East Anglia and Co-Chair of the UK user led organisation Shaping Our Lives.
He identifies as a long-term user of mental health services. He is an academic and activist who has been actively involved in the development and analysis of participation and service user involvement as writer, research activist and educator.
His latest book is The Antidote: How people powered movements can renew politics, policy and practice (Policy Press, 2025),

Mahmood ‘Mebs’ Ahmed

Mebs is a retired police officer, author and guest speaker. He is also a member of Edge Hill University’s Service User and Carers group. Mebs retired from Lancashire Constabulary in 2013 and took up voluntary positions with several third sector organisations.
During the Covid pandemic, Mebs wrote his first book, PC Mebs – Finding Myself, an autobiography, which was published in 2022. Following the publication of his book, he has been delivering talks across the Northwest, sharing his life’s journey.
Whilst continuing to write, he also mentors and supports young people coming to terms with many of life’s challenges. Mebs spends his spare time with his family, running a debating society and enjoying several sports. Although, he admits these days, they are mainly from the comfort of his armchair.

Harriet Dunn

Harriet is a Senior Lecturer in Education at LJMU. She lives with rare and complex medical conditions and is passionate about raising awareness of person-centred care and communication. She is also part of the Team GB para laser run team.

Harriet’s presentation shared some of her lived-experiences navigating the health and social care system as a woman living with rare and complex medical conditions. Unfortunately, Harriet has had some poor experiences as a patient, where she has not experienced person-centred care. But she has also had some incredibly positive experiences. By sharing some of these experiences, Harriet hopes people will consider the ways they can communicate effectively with patients, ensuring they can receive person-centred care.

Naseem Raji

Naseem’s talk is “Experiences and outcomes of young carers living in low-and-middle-income countries: a scoping review and narrative synthesis.” This talk will focus on six factors (caring responsibilities, social connections, socio-cultural expectations, early employment, education, mental, physical, and emotional health and wellbeing) impacting the lives of young carers.

Jill Evans

Jill’s talk is “When the Hard Work Starts” – a personal account of how she navigated life once discharged from hospital with her critically ill child… and what happened next.

Ad Gridley

Ad has lived with Schizophrenia and its ramifications for most of his life. Now having written a book (and audiobook) about it, he guest lecturers at universities all over the country and in America. Equality is accepting people for who they are. Stereotypes are lazy, insulting and dangerous. We all deserve a fair crack of the whip.

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