Dr Keith Bates

The Partnership is led by Keith who is a researcher, developer and consultant in Supported Employment with nearly 30 years’ experience developing new approaches and initiatives to respond to the national and international challenges of improving employment options for disabled people.
He has worked with, and for, many local, regional and national governments. Having supported the establishment of the first company wholly owned and run by people with learning difficulties in the UK, Keith has been active in developing social enterprises and co-operatives for and with disabled people ever since.

His Doctoral studies explored the nature of entrepreneurship for people with learning disabilities and in 2011 he was presented with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion in recognition of his work supporting people with a learning disability into self employment and enterprise.

As the former Head of Employment at the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, Keith led a portfolio of research and development programmes, including the pioneering ‘In Business’ programme (supporting people with a learning disability to explore self-employment and small business ownership), ‘When I Grow up’ (working with schools, families and employers with early intervention for employment) and ‘Big Society?‘ (exploring the nature of employment support for people with learning disabilities in an age of austerity).
 
Central to this work is the belief that people with learning disabilities can and do make great employees, colleagues and entrepreneurs.