Jackie says it loud and clear

Jackie’s a regular face at our Making Days service, and has been supported by the team for a number of years. She loves getting involved in loads of different things but her biggest passion is using her voice to be an advocate for people with learning disabilities. Jackie isn’t afraid to stand loud and proud to use her lived experience to tackle social injustices and challenge thinking. 

Using her own experiences to help others with learning disabilities

Jackie was targeted by online scammers, who tried to trick her into giving them her bank details. The scammers made friends with Jackie on social media and tried to use her kindness to get money from her, saying they needed money to get their nan the right care. Luckily, Jackie was able to keep herself safe by blocking and deleting the people she thought were her friends. But that's not the case for everyone, and so many people fall prey to these fake friendships and Jackie knew she wanted to do something about it.  
 
Jackie was on a mission to make sure as many people as possible - especially people who have learning disabilities - know about the risks of online scams and know how to spot them. She was angry that so many vulnerable people, especially people with learning disabilities, were and are being scammed, and wanted to help do something about it. Here’s what she told us, ‘I wanted to get the message out there about the dangers of cyber bullying, it's important.’ 

Taking to the stage

 
Jackie wanted to put together a performance that tells her story, so she worked with renowned actor, director, producer, comedian and writer Catherine Rice to put together Jackie's Story, a play all about her experience. 

Catherine worked with Jackie to write, produce and direct a short performance that makes Jackie's voice loud and clear and highlights the importance of internet safety, with a little bit of her signature sense of humour thrown in. 

Jackie's Story was performed at Eleanor Rathbone House, with Jackie herself in the leading role. It also starred some other familiar PSS faces: support worker Frank  and PSS volunteer Cathy took on the roles of Jackie's scammers, and activities coordinator Tessa got involved to play Jackie's mum.

From one stage to another 

Through co-production, Jackie has worked with Liverpool Hope University and supported them with their apprenticeship framework, and more recently has taken centre stage at Liverpool’s John Moore’s University. 

Jackie was invited to give a talk about her lived experience of a learning disability and the importance of having autonomy over your own life and death. Often people with learning disabilities can be left out of important conversations about things like sex, relationships and dying, even down to what they’d like at their own funeral, which makes it even more important for people like Jackie to be championing to have her voice heard. 

Jackie told us: ‘People with learning disabilities should have a voice and be able to speak about what having a learning disability means to them. We should the right to the same choices as everyone else.’ 

Jackie talked to the crowd about what she thinks about death, dying and relationships, and how she feels about planning a funeral for herself or family members. The talk was so empowering and showed the students that conversations around death and dying don’t have to be negative, it’s about giving people the safe space they need to talk about life’s most important and sometimes difficult topics. 

 
With support from her Making Days team, Jackie has had the opportunity to really have her voice heard time and time again, and she’s given valuable insight and helped shape the future of social work – how incredible is that. We’re so excited to see what Jackie does next!