Mark Walker

Mark Walker, Director for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities for Kent County Council reviewed my book - “Couldn’t You Just Call Me John?”: A Layman’s Guide to Learning Disability and Autism.

Here is is what he was kind enough to say:

‘From my initial conversations with Chris Rowley about this book “COULDN’T YOU JUST CALL ME JOHN?”, it became clear that he was going to undertake this project with the level of vigour and investigation that was required in order to tell the story about the often hidden and forgotten lives of people with Learning Disabilities.   This book shines a light on a hidden history, it shares stories about real lives that would otherwise never have been told, opening up interesting debates about areas of support offered to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. The author does this so that is easily understood to the reader, in a non-jargon, non-clinical way, describing the lives of individuals with complex needs along with the services they depend upon, both now and from an historical perspective. 

It often strikes me that we need more stories to be shared, we need to reflect and learn from the past.This book is a step in the right direction, opening up debate, sharing histories and bringing forgotten members of our community in to the sunlight. I would recommend this book, I enjoyed reading it and I remembered a lot of the historical services that are referred to and some of the individual stories. Thank you Chris, I enjoyed it immensely.’