Remembering Jim Mansell

The aim of writing this tribute to Jim Mansell is to recognise his contribution in Australia. Much has been written elsewhere that attests to Jim's significant achievements and the esteem in which he was held by so many people. IASSID acknowledged his cutting-edge research (Felce, in press), the Guardian, one of the Britain's leading newspapers (Brindle, 2012), his influence on public policy, and Mencap (2012), Community Care (Samuel, 2012), and Inclusion International (e-Include, 2012) the difference his work made to the lives of people with intellectual disability and their families. Jim's activism as a student and pioneering research as a young academic that demonstrated the possibilities of community living for all people with intellectual disability is legendary. His research that established the evidence base for person-centred active support, and his profound influence on generations of community care practitioners as the founding director of the Tizard Centre at the University of Kent and on countless service organisations as a Commissioner for Social Care Inspection are all well known.

Julie Beadle-Brown, one of his close colleagues, in her eulogy at Jim's funeral in Canterbury, talked about the three themes that characterised the sentiments conveyed in countless emails she had received from people around the world when they heard of Jim's death. People commented first on “Just what a lovely man he was, always willing to give his time to someone who needed help, willing to listen—whether it was a student, a colleague, someone with a disability or a parent.” Second, they talked about the impact he had in engineering change, seeing the right thing to do and setting about making it happen again and again, by never being “afraid to challenge assumptions of what was possible for people to achieve or to stand up for what he believed was right.”And third, people commented on the legacy he left behind: “how he had inspired people to fight for the rights of people with disabilities and to aim for research and practice of the highest quality. He leaves behind a growing army of people he has taught, inspired or supported to keep the work going. Many people said they felt privileged to have known him and worked with him.”

We write as two such people, who feel honoured to have also regarded Jim as both a friend and colleague, to take up these themes from our perspective. During the last 10 or more years Jim Mansell had been a regular visitor to Australia. He was an internationally renowned researcher who generously offered his insights about our society, policy, and service system without assuming he had all the answers. Although already well known from afar from his publications, and the person-centred active support training materials, his introduction to Australia was modest. At the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy in 2000 he spoke to an audience of just six or so people. Since then he had visited Australia almost annually, spoken in most states, and given keynote addresses at all the major disability conferences.

Jim was exceptional in his approach to working in Australia, and became so much more than a visiting expert gifting knowledge developed elsewhere. He understood that context matters for policy implementation. He took the time to understand the peculiar Australian, and state-by-state, context bedevilled by rhetoric and grand but poorly resourced intentions, over which the states vie with the Commonwealth for power and control. He emphasised the importance of taking an Australian perspective—one that learned from the experience of others but did not simply mirror it. He perceived the aspects of his work that had application in any context, and those that required nuancing for the Australian context.

He delighted in the freedom of being able to speak his mind in Australia as a visitor rather than someone embroiled in the system as he was in the UK. This left him able to draw on his experiences in the UK and, with steely conviction, ask whether some of the same trends may be happening here, such as re-institutionalisation or simplistic notions of choice which leave people vulnerable and unprotected. He noted too that Australia and the UK had in common a workforce who would not just do things because they were asked to by managers or because there was legislation— staff needed to understand, be trained and assisted.

With the eyes of an outsider, Jim identified and challenged us to address issues we had not noticed or that we took for granted, such as how in Australia we tended to wait for government to give direction on disability policy. This was not the UK experience, nor was it an optimum role of government to act in isolation and without good advice.The annual La Trobe Roundtable on Intellectual Disability Policy, now in its seventh year, came from these discussions—a forum for independent discussion, a source of information and ideas available to all interested in disability support for people with intellectual disability. This also meant he spent more time with networks outside rather than inside government, seeding critical thinking and debate, acting as a sounding board for innovative service providers and fledgling centres of research. He recognised the research strengths of others and had the breadth of vision—and humility—to see how combining quantitative and qualitative research could add to knowledge and understanding while still maintaining the highest standards. He forged research partnerships that helped secure a share of Australia's scarce research funding for the field of intellectual disability to investigate social inclusion and effectiveness of supported accommodation services. He was appointed an adjunct Professor at La Trobe University and, after his retirement from the Tizard Centre, to a position as Professor of Disability Studies. Together, and with Julie Beadle-Brown, we conceptualised the largest and only longitudinal study of the implementation of active support in Australia, which now involves nine organisations across three states and will help to benchmark outcome standards and staff practices in supported accommodation for people with more severe intellectual disability. Although we and others will continue the work he started, it will take additional effort and skill to continue his analysis and insight to organisations and systems within which practice and research are based.

We will miss his contribution to research: not knowledge for its own sake but for its practical application—to make a difference. He did not believe that he or any researcher was worth recognition for isolated merit—knowledge had to create change. As he used to say: “there is no point simply understanding, we have to do something.” Jim wanted to add to the pool of good information about supporting people with intellectual disability and problems in the system—not to simply know the difference between what is possible and what often happens in people's lives, but to do something about it.

What was exceptional about Jim? His research aimed to answer big questions in a real world: a world he recognised could not be controlled and that the link between research, practice, and implementation is not a logical path. He understood that issues about practice were determined by politics and senior bureaucrats. He left a legacy of research on the big issues that mattered, not small aspects of method, and an understanding of the big fight and the strategic compromises necessary along the way.

He was indeed a lovely man, generous with his time and ideas. His incisive mind could delve into a soup of words and with ease drag to the surface the three main ideas lurking therein. We will miss his company, dry wit, and quick mind.

We watched his exploration of Australia with interest. He was always curious and unassuming when time away from research, work, and thinking allowed. He was intrigued by the size and space of Australia and wondered why speeding was not so prevalent given how much glorious space there was on country highways—so different from the UK. (The ferocity of the speeding laws was mentioned.) Several years ago, he ventured off to Lake Mungo alone, driving a four-wheel drive. He had researched the history of the area and its significance to Aboriginal people and the origin of humankind. He headed off with extra water having heard stories of the desert and the big drought—very different and more remote than rural England. He returned satisfied and grinning sheepishly—the RACV had declared him the only person to get bogged during such a dry season.

Jim, people with intellectual disability and their families will miss your fearless pursuit of improved services and support; and colleagues will miss your insight, intellectual rigor, and fruits of intensive work. Jim has left a legacy by inspiring others, and would be very disappointed if we do not all rise to the challenge of continuing to advance understanding of issues for people with intellectual disability and doing something about it—despite his absence. That is the challenge for us all.