Building on ties made during visits to the UK, when we had identified learning disabled leadership as a shared priority, Rosi Smith met with The Cuban Association of People in Situations of Learning Disability’s (ACPDI) national leadership and representatives of the Ministry of Work and Social Security on 8^th January 2026. In that meeting, she shared some of the models that UK organisations use to incorporate people with learning disabilities in their leadership (download PowerPoint here).

In particular, we talked about MENCAP’s Voices Council, Sparkle Sheffield’s engagement with the views of children and young people, and Learning Disability England’s Representative Body, as well as its one member one vote system that gives each individual member the same power as large organisational members.

ACPDI debated the different models and their relevance to the Cuban context. They said that the Learning Disability England model resonated most closely with their existing membership structures and ideas about participation. They also reflected on the value of developing protagonism from childhood, which they had seen in Sparkle Sheffield’s model and in the pupil parliament they had met at West Gate special school in Leicester.

We ended with a continuing commitment to keep sharing our experiences and lessons as participatory structures in both countries develop.