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Guest blog: Expert by Experience - bringing a new perspective to services

Published December 2025

James Aston joined the council as a Business Support Officer in 2019 and then in 2020 moved to the Transforming Care Team as an Expert by Experience.  In this blog, he tells us about the projects he's been working on, and how his lived experience is helping to improve services for neurodivergent young people in Hertfordshire.

I started working as an Expert by Experience in the Transforming Care Team in 2020. I see my main responsibility as being a voice of lived experience within my team as someone who is autistic and has ADHD, as well as being an advocate for those we support as a service, championing their rights and wishes as individuals. 

Information:

Transforming Care is a national initiative in the UK aimed at improving health and social care services for individuals with learning disabilities and autism, ensuring they receive appropriate support in community settings rather than in hospitals.  

Because I do not come from a background of working in social care, I feel I am able to bring an 'outsider' perspective, and give my input on the services we provide and some of the information we give out to young people and their families. My role has varied a lot over time, perhaps as I am the first person in this post. 

 

"I was also able to point out all the acronyms and words that people outside of the social care sector might not know or understand and I worked with colleagues to produce accessible information leaflets and videos".

Care Education and Treatment Reviews (CETRs)

I occasionally take part in CETRs, as the designated Expert by Experience on the panel. I hear a lot in those reviews which resonates with my own experiences, and so I feel I am able to really understand where the young person is, and I always ask the professionals what the young person's wishes and ambitions are for their life, as I feel this can sometimes be overlooked.

Peer support

One of the main parts of my work in the Keyworker team in Transforming Care is offering 'peer support', whereby I meet and speak with some of the young people our service is open to. I know from my own experience how valuable it can be to meet others who share a neurodivergent diagnosis, and so I feel a responsibility to help the young people we support however I can. I grew up not feeling understood, and struggled to see a future for me as I felt so different to others my age, particularly throughout secondary school and in early adulthood. 

 

Many of the young people I meet in my work feel the same way, and so I can relate to them, reassure them that it is okay to feel different to others and that it is not their fault if they are finding life hard, and try and empower them, by talking about my own journey, how I came to be in this job and have overcome many challenges. For me it is about validating people's feelings first and foremost, and then trying to show them that there is a way forward, and that they can achieve their hopes and dreams.

Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS)

At the start of 2025 I became involved with PINS in Hertfordshire, giving me the chance to visit some primary schools and talk to children, and sometimes parents and teachers separately too, about my lived experience of being autistic. I talked about how I felt different to others at school and found some things difficult, mainly as a result of a lack of support and understanding, in the context of it being a long time ago compared to now. 

"My main message, particularly to the children, was that it is okay to be different, and that it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with you. "

I talked about how people had put limits on me because of my autism diagnosis, but how I have been able to achieve so much more in my adult life than people used to think I could. My hope is that I am able to inspire conversations in schools about neurodiversity, and foster a sense of acceptance towards neurodivergent children in school. I received some really nice feedback from the schools, telling me that my visits made a positive difference, and so I feel a responsibility to amplify the message about the impact that lived experience voices like mine can have.

We'd like to thank James for all of his valuable insight and input into improving services for children and young people in Hertfordshire. 

If you have any comments on this blog, or general feedback on SEND services for young people in Hertfordshire, we'd love to hear from you. 

Please get in touch at: 

localoffer@hertfordshire.gov.uk