Thom Kirkwood

I am C.G. Thom Kirkwood, an advocacy, inclusion and evaluation practitioner with a PhD in Community Development and over five decades’ experience voluntary since 1974, and working alongside autistic people, people with neurodevelopmental conditions, families, carers, professionals and communities. This experience has and continues to shape my view of research and project evaluation: not as something done about people, but with them, to support change they and their professionals partners can recognise and use.

This enables me to bring a collaborative and professional inquiry approach to projects, formed in advocacy casework, policy development, project evaluation and learning. An experience enhanced during my tenure as Scotland Director the Patients Association. Tested across voluntary, public, academic and consultancy settings. I have seen how well-intentioned frameworks can sometimes fall short of reaching the people they are designed to support. I have spent an inclusive career trying to close that gap, with contributions to Getting it Right for Every Child, 10-year contribution to Scottish Strategy for Autism and contributor to the Review of Autism and Learning Disabilities in Scotland’s mental health legislation. Identification in 2022 of the 17 systemic challenges ASD, ADHD and LD people face, from across 36 countries.

I have led/co-led participation and engagement work, inquiry within research and co-design of practical resources, for example, but not limited to – Development of Daily Living Skills Assessment 2002. Neurodiverse Environmental Accessibility Assessment 2004. Skills Inventory 2011. Neurodiverse Environmental Training and Needs Assessment 2013. Co-Developed TARRI, Mental Health sector client management tool for non-legal and patient advocacy practice 2018. Informed Solutions for Better Outcomes 2023.

In additional through inquiry and collaboration in my role as Global Interlocutor I led a international team in development of a framework for professional training in non-legal advocacy practice, at four levels Introduction to Advocacy, Peer Advocacy, Certificate in Advocacy Practice and Diploma in Professional Advocacy, all four have both independent and professional body accreditation, 2024 to 2026.

Other aspect of contribution involved the privilege of project managing a range projects from design to implementation in both soft and hard infrastructure projects within education, health, housing and social care, with supportive advocacy in employability.

My contribution to this work is not a fixed answer but a way of testing one: an insistence on quantitative and qualitative learning on bringing evidence to the people affected by it and exploring such evidence from both deficit and asset perspectives. Advocacy, accessibility and inclusion are things to be inclusively evaluated , as it impacts both the professional and the people they serve. I have chaired governance and research groups, contributed to national policy reviews and built peer networks precisely for change that lasts is change that has been questioned, piloted, tested, and revised with openness and developed collaboratively.

I am motivated by systems that talk about inclusion and partnership and systems that are inclusively tested by the people they claim to include, both those they serve and those who deliver. Collaborative inquiry contributes to research and reflective learning that is willing to be innovative, informative and corrective for positive people driving more than outcomes, but positive impact, service delivery inclusive of appropriate development and use of AI, which does not replace the professional skill set or experience, but enhances it.

My commitment to this field extends to my voluntary work as a trustee and Board Member for various charities, where I has held leadership positions such as Chair, Vice-Chair, Company Secretary and board liaison for non-executive staff/volunteers.