Wednesday 25 March

Adeshola Akanji- Co-Chair for Disability Network at Barts Health NHS Trust, and public speaker on mental health and wellbeing

An intentional and purposeful disability Advocate & Consultant, Coach & Mentor, NHS Leader and Speaker, who empowers others to claim their voice, embrace their unique strengths, and create meaningful impact. Founder of Ultimate Royal UK, Adeshola combines coaching, public speaking, and lived experience to champion inclusion. Her award-winning work in healthcare, wellbeing and representation continues to inspire communities and amplify unheard voices.

Tuesday 17 March

Lucy Webster - National Disability Journalist 

Spectrum x DAWN

Lucy Webster is a political journalist and the author of The View From Down Here: Life as a Young Disabled Woman. She covers disability issues for leading publications like the Guardian, the Sunday Times and the FT.  She is also an anti-ableism campaigner working across journalism, publishing, events, community organising and social media to create a more accessible and more inclusive world for disabled people. 

At this informal Q&A style event, Lucy discussed the challenges of being visibly disabled and gay in British society today.

Tuesday 10 March

Kieran Rose - 'The Autistic Advocate' 

Kieran Rose is an Autistic trainer and consultant, who focuses on supporting professionals across the world to critically reflect, challenge stigma, deconstruct the autism narrative, and reframe their understanding of Autistic experience through an intersectional lens. He is the co-author of the highly acclaimed book: ‘Autistic Masking: Understanding Identity Management and the Role of Stigma’.

 Kieran has also gifted Dawn members complimentary access to his on-demand training, ‘Curating Healthy Lifestyles for Late-Identified Autistic People’. If you would like access, please email dawn@lse.ac.uk. 

Wednesday 18 February 

Emma Gray - Bereavement Coach 

Emma is a qualified integrative counsellor, certified Grief Educator, and former Wills & Probate solicitor. She combines professional therapeutic training with legal experience and lived understanding of grief.

This session addressed:  

• Why the '5 stages of grief' model is outdated
• Moving between grief and life
• Understanding disenfranchised grief and why all losses matter
• How to support colleagues who have lost someone