Trustees

John Cowan is a Councillor on Barnham Broom Parish Council having been elected in 1996. He studied Business at the University of Suffolk. He has Charcol Marie Tooth which reduces his mobility and he is passionate about social inclusion of hard-to-reach groups such as the disabled. He runs Spirit Motorsport - a business which was a Champion for the Gateway to Employment program set up by the Police and Crime Commissioner where he gained experience working with offenders.

His company is a Disability Confident Committed Level 1 with the DWP.

Member and currently a Trustee. Born, raised and educated in Scotland. Lived and worked in Norwich/Norfolk for 20 years. His professional background is as a nurse/clinical manager in health, predominantly mental health in Scotland and general health in England. His work has included spells in a production bakery based on the teachings of Rudolph Steiner with trainees diagnosed as having learning disabilities, and in a Housing Association providing Supported Accommodation. He took early retirement due to a disabling health condition, and has significant experience with mobility aids and seeking a level of personal independence.

Paul says, "I love people, nature of all kinds, art (visual and auditory), humour. My greatest love is for the NHS."

Lesley is a retired nurse and a former Green Party councillor.

She helped raise the profile of access needs in the city centre by organising access walks and highlighting barriers to access that were largely unnoticed by those not affected. The severe disability and premature death of her first child was her initiation into the issues and injustices faced by disabled people.   It has made her passionate about inclusion not as a theory but as experience and says that 'the political is personal, local and global'.  She is proud to be part of a movement of movements, from nurturing street-based community groups looking after their local areas and taking direct action inside a military base to stop cluster bombs being deployed, to supporting Quaker initiatives practising quiet diplomacy and peacemaking.

Lesley chose a picture with a microphone, as she's normally on the other side of the camera, and because 'for a shy person, finding your voice is one the most challenging and empowering things you can do in a world where silence means siding with the powerful against the rest'.

Originally from the suburbs of South London, I moved gradually into the city until I eventually reached the dizzy heights of living near a tube station.  I worked in residential care and then qualified as a probation officer, until 2008 when a series of events led me to move to Beccles with my children. After experiencing quiet (ish) life for five years, I was delighted to be able to move to Norwich, where there is enough happening to keep me interested, but not so much that I become overwhelmed. I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2018 having spent all my life with a strong suspicion that something was up! I was elected to City Council in 2019 and I learn plenty every day. I used to assume that problems could be solved through education and understanding but I now know that it is not often the case. One of the best things in life is being part of a group of people working together with a common aim, with everyone’s unique contributions recognised, so I am very happy to be a trustee of Inclusive Norwich.

Norwich-born Adam is a trustee of Inclusive Norwich, and also Director of Disability and Development Partners (DDP), having taken the baton from the charity’s founder Kamala Achu in 2021.

DDP works with disabled people’s organizations for inclusion, rights and empowerment in societies where many face poverty and marginalization, including in Ethiopia and Nepal.

Adam has studied Poverty, Conflict and Reconstruction, and modern languages, which he taught for many years to 11–18-year-olds in Norwich.

In previous lives, he worked on non-governmental humanitarian and emergency education programmes in the North Caucasus, and at the International Peace Bureau in Geneva. He has also worked as a translator and as a volunteer with bereaved children and homeless people in the UK, elderly people in Russia, and young people with severe learning difficulties in Herrnhut, Germany.

He spends quite a lot of time singing, often with Fine City Chorus, and lives in Norwich with two children, their mum Jo, and Cozmo, a dog.

After finishing a master’s degree at UEA, in International Development and Research Methodology, I decided to stay in Norwich because I love the city so much. I wanted to support the local community and that’s when I found Inclusive Norwich. I realised the charity’s mission aligned with my personal experiences and everything I had studied.

My studies opened my eyes to the causes and impacts of poverty and marginalisation. Also having been a wheelchair user after an accident in 2000, I’ve often experienced being unable to do something because the building or transport was not designed with consideration for wheelchair users. It is this lack of inclusive design and consideration that excludes and disables many, many people from living a full life. I’m very passionate about changing this mindset and infrastructure in Norwich.

When I’m not working for the charity, I’m mostly busy with my own small business or out enjoying the beautiful Norfolk coast.