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A single mum from Birmingham will be recognised at the national disability charity Sense’s awards, for her fierce campaigning to improve the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. Leanne Gregory, 51, is a single mum to her son Jude, 6. Jude suffered a near-fatal swelling in his airway soon after he was born 10 weeks premature, and was left with a dangerously narrow airway (subglottic stenosis) full of cysts. He has been admitted to hospital 21 times in his young life and has undergone eight airway surgeries so far. He now has social, emotional and psychological issues arising from his health issues and developmental delay. Jude is also on the neurodevelopmental pathway. Like many parents of disabled children, Leanne is now battling to get an education that meets Jude's complex needs, coming up against a complicated system that is under-resourced and underfunded. Leanne, who has been unable to return to her job as a community worker since she became Jude's parent-carer, describes feeling “crushed” by the system, as she has not found an educational setting that meets Jude's needs despite years of trying. Jude has hardly accessed education for two years. To ensure Jude is not even more left out of life, Leanne arranges specialised alternative provision, which she pays for herself, while navigating the broken SEND system. And separate to her challenges with education support, Leanne says she was only able to access children's social care support for Jude very recently when a legal team stepped in to help after she spoke to the media about her struggles. Leanne – who also has a 27-year-old daughter, Alyx – has campaigned with Sense for improvements in these complex education and children's social care systems. She’s powerfully shared how Jude has been affected and how her own physical health has suffered because of what they are going through. She has pushed outside of her comfort zone to speak to national journalists about what families like hers face, bringing to life the very difficult challenges many families have to navigate when trying to access the education and social care support their disabled child is legally entitled to. Leanne has also founded a co-operative of grassroots organisations called SEND Seen. It brings together people with lived experience of the SEND system who are all taking action to provide services to SEND families, to share experience and campaign for change. Research organised by SEND Seen and supported by the New Economics Foundation was submitted to the Education Select Committee 'Inquiry into Solving the SEND Crisis' this year. All of Leanne’s hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed at Sense – the national charity that supports disabled people with complex needs – as she is now up for the charity’s ‘Campaigner of the Year’ Award. Responding to being shortlisted, Leanne Gregory said: “The SEND system is broken. Us parents often feel invisible – that no one cares what we are going through or what it feels like. I felt like the SEND system was killing me, but I didn’t want to let that experience go to waste. My campaigning and movement building work aims to bring beauty from the ashes of my lived experience and to try to make the SEND system here in Birmingham work better for the families it’s supposed to help. Being shortlisted for this Award is an absolute surprise and honour, but I’m glad my hard work is being recognised! I know when I’m 80 years old I’ll look back on my campaigning work and be proud.” Jack Lowman, Chief Social Change Officer at Sense, said: “Leanne is the perfect example of a determined mum who has fought tooth and nail for their disabled child, battling a system that’s underfunded, under-resourced and frankly broken. It shouldn’t have to be this way, but it takes parents like Leanne putting their heads above the parapet and sharing their challenges to make social change happen. Well done on being shortlisted for this Award – it’s a testament to years of hard work and dedication.” Sense received more than 100 nominations for its awards this year. It was down to a team of disabled judges to review the nominations and decide a shortlist for each category. These judges are: Strictly Come Dancing finalist Tasha Ghouri; one of the BBC’s 100 Women of 2024 Roxy Murray; award-winning scientist Max Fisher; disability advocate Pravjoth Gill; and medal-winning ballroom and Latin American dancer Shaun Hayward. More information about the judges can be found here: sense.org.uk/sense-awards/2025-sense-awards-judges/ Sense will be revealing this year’s winners on its social media channels in November. You can find out more about the Sense Awards on the charity’s website: sense.org.uk/sense-awards
