How it Started

In 1960s America, some parents of people with learning difficulties wondered what would happen to their children when they were gone. Their idea was to have somebody special who could look after the rights of their children, as if they were their own.

They decided that these people should be ordinary members of the community, who would give their time freely. They shouldn't work for anyone providing special services to the person with learning difficulties (like day facilities, or social care). This is because a worker's job might be threatened if they had to make a complaint about those services. The best way was to have a partnership - between an ordinary citizen and a person with learning difficulties.

From around the world to South Wales

Today there are many groups around the world that work to set up these partnerships. The U.K.'s first group started in 1981, in London. Mid Glamorgan Citizen Advocacy began in 1992, and changed its name to Person to Person Citizen Advocacy in 1996. ('Citizen advocacy' is the technical name for this type of partnership. The person with learning difficulties is often called the 'partner' and the person who gets to know them and speaks up for them, the 'advocate.') We now work in Bridgend, Rhondda-Cynnon-Taff, Caerphilly and Merthyr.

© Person to Person