It was a great pleasure to give the introductory oration for Valerie’s honorary doctorate at graduation this summer.
Valerie’s career spans more than 30 years across education, health, housing and community development, with contributions through work with organisations such as The Samaritans and Golden Lane Housing, and, for the last ten years, through her role as the Chief Executive of Linkage Community Trust.
Linkage is a charity that supports people with learning disabilities - many of whom are autistic - in the community. Through a wide range of services and provision it fulfils Valerie’s core vision: to enable people with learning disabilities to live with dignity, independence and a sense of belonging.
Linkage continues to grow – supporting more people often with increasingly complex needs, creating opportunities, fostering independence and always maintaining its core focus on person-centred outcomes. Valerie is keen to stress how she works in a team with her staff, the trustees, volunteers and the people they support. Through this teamwork they have created something remarkable in this valuable, sustainable and impactful contribution to our community. It was with great pleasure that I was able to present Valerie as a worthy candidate for the degree of Doctor of the University.