Scottish Learning Disability Week Turning Point Scotland and The Scottish Assembly Keynote Speech

Hello, my name is Cameron Smith, and I am a development worker at the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD), and I am a member of the Scottish Assembly.

I am delighted to be here today during Scottish Learning Disability 2026, where the theme is I am here.. to be seen which focuses on inclusion.

Thank you so much for inviting me to speak today.

I want to start with when I was younger. Growing up, I was not included in a lot of things because I was shy, because I could not speak properly and because I have a learning disability.

It was harder in primary school to make friends because of this, and because I was not included in things.

I was not seen or heard and this made me feel sad because I was slightly different.

When I went to high school, I was included and seen more because I was able to speak up and have some of the confidence to be more included.

 This was particularly great in S1-4 as there was a club I was able to go to at lunch time and met some of my lifelong friends to this day.

This is what made me feel seen because there were more people with the same conditions as me and I was understood in this circle.

When I felt seen and included it was at the end of my school years.

It felt amazing as I was helping out in the church as part of the school projects, and it was amazing to be useful and not have anything hold me back.

When I was in my 6th year of high school and moving into the DFN Project SEARCH, I was seen more as my confidence grew, as I was on an internship and eventually gained employment.

I gained employment at SCLD in 2014 and have had 3 promotions since then.

I wanted to speak about a time that I felt included and seen, but it's weeks like this that I feel that I am included and seen as I am using my knowledge to expand my networks.

I am also speaking to people and using  my lived experience to speak at events like this today and past events this year.

Next, I want to speak about being involved in the Learning Disability cross-party group.

I feel really included in this as I have co-chaired this a few times in the last session in parliament and attended the development day in 2022.

It makes me feel included as it gives other people with learning disabilities and me the chance to express our voices and concerns to MPS’s and the Scottish government.

I feel like it makes me seen and included as we can influence the government and parliament to take our views on board and to make the changes needed.

If this does not happen, we can raise these issues in the cross-party group.

It feels great to work alongside MPS and other professionals in this group, as most of the time, we are on the same page on issues that affect people with lived experience, and people with learning disabilities.

The cross-party group is a great forum, and if there is something to be seen and feel involved in it is this and this is why we need it back in session 7 of this parliament.

I then urge MSP’s to get this started now with putting PWLDs and lived experience at the forefront in decision-making and agenda-setting and setting this group back up again .  

The final section of my speech is about the Scottish Assembly, which I'm here to represent today as a member and a person with Lived experience of a learning disability.

The Assembly wants to be the first-ever Disability Parliament in the world.

To make this happen, we need your help.  

You can do this by spreading the word and speaking about the assembly to highlight the members who are actively involved.

Members want to grow this and to recruit more members to have a loud voice.

I hope that MPS’s, local Councillors and other professionals will join us on our journey to become the first disability Parliament in the world and to join us in supporting us in setting this up.

But to do this we need funding, as the assembly lost its funding this year.

We also would like MPS’s and local Councillors to spread the word about this.

This could either be doing a motion in the Scottish Parliament or their local chambers or the ideal scenario would be for some of the MSPs to sponsor a reception in the Scottish Parliament.

We would also like for the local politicians to meet with the assembly members one-on-one, face-to-face.

Having the assembly and teaching politics will enable more votes and help people feel seen and involved.

We would love to have workshops on this with the support of everyone who can support us.  

What an achievement this will be for both the members and professionals who would like to join us to create an Inclusive parliament with all types of disabilities.

Members would be so proud and feel empowered to have their voices heard.

For professionals, however, imagine being part of the first LD parliament in the world and being associated with that and the reach to your professional organisations.

It means so much for me to be a member of the Scottish Assembly as I am gaining experience of public speaking, doing so many things that I would have never done before.

For example, being in ministerial meetings with ministers of the Scottish Government, which I will mention very soon.

It means so much to me and other members to have professionals from the Scottish government and MSP's attend the weekly National meetings.

Scottish Government policy makers come to the Assembly to give regular updates, and they do this in an accessible format.

This is great as members and I understand this better as its broken down piece by piece.

I have personally had an opportunity to question Maree Todd MSP on the LDAN bill.

The Scottish Assembly and other organisations put in hard work to reach out nationally, gather all the information, and conduct numerous consultations on the LDAN bill.

However we are Disappointed that the Scottish Government will not take this further forward.

It was great to meet with the minister on this and it was still great to be part of it and be actively involved.

Face-to-face and online engagement with Ministers directly is great as they have a better understanding of what it's like to have lived experience.

The pictures on the slides are of the Assembly conference with MSPS in 2025, and this was in the lead-up to Scottish Parliament elections in 2026.

This is why the Assembly is so important and why we need funding and a disabled parliament, and I hope this speech inspires you to support and join us.

I will now hand back to Debbie now.