Meet the team

Our team members have lived experience of disability, and a shared vision to make the world an accessible place for everyone. Find out more about the people behind The Disability Union.

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George Baker

Founder

I’m George, I’m 30 years old, live near Southampton and have Congenital Muscular Dystrophy. I’m passionate about making the world a more inclusive place for disabled people and doing whatever I can to increase the opportunities available to people like us. Outside of work I love music, video games and am involved in local politics. Like many people however, I’m most happy sat around with a bunch of friends talking nonsense and drinking JD and coke.

I started The Disability Union because I believe the only way to further disability rights and increase inclusion is for all disabled people to work together and support each other to get our voices heard and our needs met.

Lauren Trotman

Caseworker

Hey, I’m Lauren! In my spare time you can find me running my beauty Instagram, playing with my 2 rescue kittens or watching the latest Netflix series. I recently graduated with a degree in Health and Social Care. I studied part-time at The Open University as this allowed me to focus on my career at the same time. I started caring for George in 2014, and we soon became close friends with the same passion for helping people in similar positions to George. In 2018, we created the award-winning Accessible Media Agency, which now employs multiple people with disabilities around the world.

In 2020 we decided this wasn’t enough and we wanted to do more, and that’s when The Disability Union was born! I’m very excited to be working for The Disability Union and help unite and support the disabled community.

Dan White

Marketing Officer

Dan White is a care, disability & mental health campaigner.
As well as caring for his award-winning disabled daughter Emily, Dan is a columnist for award-winning Posability magazine, Disability review & The Metro. Dan has been part of many prominent campaigns & has not been afraid to discuss his own situation living with mental illness.
Dan is also an accomplished, in-demand, regular broadcaster, appearing on Sky, Radio 2, ITV, C5, LBC & the BBC, discussing the need for absolute equality and more.
Dan is also the creator of the globally popular Department of Ability comic, which features five disabled superheroes.
He is also part of the ITV Diversity & inclusion committee, on the board of Intent Health & he is currently writing a new series of books for children for publishing in 2022.
His motto is: inclusion is not a delusion

Emily Heywood Smith

Community engagement officer

Hi, I’m Emily. I live in Winchester in Hampshire. I enjoy wheelchair dance, netball and martial arts. I love watching sport, especially rugby and netball.

For the Disability Union I organise weekly online social events for our members. In our socials sometimes we have a guest to lead us in a physical activity, sometimes we have a low energy activity planned and sometimes we grab a cup of tea and chat about the good things in life. All members are welcome to attend, meet each other and have fun.

Kirsty Smillie

Community Organiser

Kirsty joined us in May and has been working behind the scenes establishing contacts and organising community events.

Kirsty is a passionate campaigner for equality and social inclusion . Before joining the team Kirsty was a teacher in the alternative provision sector, She also led a hugely successful campaign that resulted in 5 new Changing Places Facilities to be installed in her local town of Gosport.

Kirsty has faced her own challenges with mental health, fibromyalgia and pernicious anaemia. She is an advocate for the disabled community and stresses the importance of using our experiences and collective voices to ensure society becomes much more accessible.

In her spare time Kirsty has been women’s officer for the Gosport Labour Party. Kirsty is a Mother to 3 beautiful children, she enjoys art, swimming and apparently can smell out a burger king no matter where she is in the world !

Kirsty has recently wrote a blog for The DU website and will make regular contributions. Please find her latest blog here:

It’s not ‘freedom day ‘ it’s the opening ceremony of ‘Survival of The Fittest 2021’ – The Disability Union

Fleur Perry

Campaign Organiser

Bio coming soon!

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