Scott Watkin BEM

Advocate and Campaigner

Scott started in advocacy when attending a day centre and he was invited to become Co-Chair of the Isle of Wight’s Learning Disability Partnership Board. Scott held the role for six years, proving himself a determined advocate and successfully fighting planned cuts to services.

By 2009 Scott’s lived experience as a campaigner with learning disabilities thrust him into the glare of the national press when he was appointed the Government’s learning disabilities Co-Tsar. In this role he represented people with learning disabilities at the heart of policymaking and government. In 2011 he joined Mencap as an Inclusion Advisor.

Since 2013, Scott’s been working for SeeAbility, first as an Eye Care and Vision Development Officer and now as the charity’s Head of Engagement and part of their Leadership Team. He’s also a visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. Scott Co-Chairs the Department of Health and Social Care’s Transforming Care Stakeholder Group, is a Health Education England Ambassador and a board member of Learning Disability England.

In 2017 Scott won the Making a Difference award from the National Learning Disability and Autism Awards, and in 2018 he was awarded a British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours List. In 2019 Scott’s campaigning work as part of the team at SeeAbility, contributed to an NHS policy change meaning a whole generation of children with learning disabilities will get the eye care they need.

Scott now leads an engagement programme at SeeAbiltiy where he is supporting people with learning disabilities and autism to become future leaders. He works to ensure they’re represented, respected and heard in healthcare, social care and education, as well as in government and the media.