Matthew Lester – rising star

Like so many others, Leaders List winner Matt Lester’s childhood was difficult.

As Matt says, “I’m autistic and have a rare learning disability which means people didn’t understand me and thought I looked different.

“I was bullied at every stage of school. I’ve been called every nasty name you can think of, like frog eyes and retard. I hesitate to repeat the last word because it’s so awful. I refuse to wear a sunflower lanyard because I don’t want to attract hate.

“At 16, I felt that I was finally old enough to deal with it. I reported bullying and there were consequences. After that, my peers gave me more respect.

“But college was an epic fail. I dropped out and suffered a breakdown. I had absorbed all the hate, all my life, but there’s only so much a person can go through. If people say something hurtful I still take days to recover. People don’t see this impact.”

Over the past 18 months Matt has shown enormous resilience to turn his life around, and made a huge difference to those around him.

Matt’s story, Finding my voice and knowing my worth, about his experiences of hate crime and bullying, has been widely shared.

Through his role on the Dimensions Council, Matt gives voice to thousands of people supported by Dimensions. He ensures people with learning disabilities and autistic people are in every conversation.

As a Quality Consultant – quality checking people’s homes to make sure they are happy and safe – Matt now travels, has learned meeting etiquette, works on projects and in groups and receives lots of positive praise for his work.

He has also recorded a video for Southampton City Council to encourage more people to work in social care.

Matt now regularly presents to others at all levels about his experiences – something that would have been unthinkable a few short years ago.

Matt is a born advocate and campaigner and you’ll soon see his views in Care Talk on “What resolutions should the Government and other political parties set for Social Care in the New Year?”

He told them:

“This Autumn I’ll be watching the election results come in, eating my popcorn… it’s my Eurovision…”

“I volunteer in a food bank, I know local politicians from the four main parties, and right now no political party represents me. My vote is up for grabs. Here’s what I tell political door-knockers:

‘You want my vote? Show me that I matter to you by appointing a senior disabilities minister. Show me that you care by delivering on promises to reform the Mental Health Act. Show me that you’re serious by presenting a funded plan to fix social care. Show me you’re committed by talking with me (not about me) in a way I can understand. Some days I feel like we’ve gone back to the 1980s. Let’s get back to the future together. Want some popcorn?’”

He’s politically active too, and at parliamentary events has pressed MPs such as Helen Whately and Caroline Dineage to sign up to be an accessible voting champion for the My Vote My Voice campaign.

He’s concerned that the digitisation of social care will damage the quality of social care. And he’s speaking with his constituency MP Caroline Noakes soon, to talk about disability issues.

Sinead McHugh-Hicks, Managing Director of Dimensions, said, “I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Matt in action myself recently, at a Listening Event. He is a rising star who is and will continue to make great impact.”

Matt is loving his new life. He told us:

“I’m now loved and have a great group of friends who saved my life. I hope my story will inspire people like me who are trying to find their own place and voice.”

Matt, congratulations on being named on the Learning Disability and Autism Leaders List. We hope it gives you a springboard to making even greater impact in the years to come.