Tess wins two national awards!

This Learning Disability Week we’re celebrating Tess – known to many of us as Lady tee – who’s outstanding advocacy has inspired not just her community, but the whole country!

Tess has won not one, but TWO national awards at the 2025 Dimensions Learning Disability and Autism Leaders’ Awards.

🏆 Local Communities Award
🏆 The late Ann McCallum Lifetime Achievement Award

The awards recognise Tess’s extraordinary advocacy  and how her determination helped protect the only local accessible countryside route for her and her housemates, Alison and Alice, who all use wheelchairs.

When plans were announced for a new farm shop, events space, and camping site next door to their Suffolk home, no one had asked the people it would most impact. Tess, Alison and Alice rely on the quiet lane beside their home to get into the local countryside.  The development would have brought 30–50 cars a day onto this narrow, single lane track – a serious safety risk to Tess, Alison and Alice, or to anyone using the quiet lane.

Tess responded in her own powerful way. With a handmade placard reading:

“Have you thought about my friends and I? We use wheelchairs!!! Be considerate.” – Tess, Alison, Alice.

She attended the Parish Council planning meeting, held her sign high, and made sure their voices were not just heard, but listened to. Everyone saw something they hadn’t thought about before – and the landowner promised to take their concerns into account.

Tess attended the awards ceremony in Sheffield with her housemates Alison and Alice. When she was presented with her awards, she celebrated in true Lady Tee style and held up another hand written sign to say thank you:

“We ladies are of very few words, but visible, brave, and creative! Our gratitude goes to people like Ann McCallum and Elizabeth FitzRoy, who saw, heard, and acted, giving us a voice, space and value. Never to be forgotten.”

The theme of Learning Disability Week this year is “Do you see me?”, and Tess’s story is a perfect reminder that real change starts when people are seen, heard, and truly valued. We are so proud of your work Lady Tee!