Three years of Stay Up Late Ambassadors – celebrating their successes
It’s three years since we announced our first Stay Up Late Ambassadors.
The idea of having Stay Up Late Ambassadors was to ensure that people with a learning disability and/or autism are at front and centre of our campaign work.
These are volunteers who help us get the word out. People who speak on behalf of the charity at conferences and meetings and in the media as well as in local campaign work.
In three years we have seen the number of Stay Up Late Ambassadors grow from just a dozen in 2019 to over forty now!
Here, four of our Ambassadors tell their story:
Aaron Hume – Stay Up Late Ambassador
“Hello, my name is Aaron Hume. I’m one of the ambassadors for Stay Up Late up in Scotland. I’ve been an ambassador for over a year I think, and I enjoy talking and love campaigning for people with disabilities to stay up late and have a active social life.”
“So far in my work as one of the Stay Up Late ambassadors I have done a few presentations to raise awareness of Stay Up Late at my college and I had a chance to present to organisations down in England, too. If you are reading this as a disabled person and you love to get your voice and views across please come and join us as an Ambassador.”
Leanne McAllister – Stay Up Late Ambassador
“I love volunteering for Stay Up Late, Gig Buddies and Get2gether as I get to help out. At Gig buddies I co-host the open mic night where I sing as well – where people love my singing as well. I always sing different songs. At Get2gether I help in making snapshot weekends where I can make different themes. And with Stay Up Late I help out with parties on Zoom until late.”
Daniel Randall-Nason – Stay Up Late Ambassdor
“My name is Daniel. I’m one of the trustees at Stay Up Late and I’m also an Ambassador for the charity. The work we do is really important but it’s really helped me become more confident, too. Ten years ago I’d never have imagined I’d be giving speeches at conferences or going on the TV or talking on the radio.”
“Being involved in Stay Up Late has been really good for me. I’ve been to gigs, I’ve been to festivals, I’ve spoken at conferences and I’ve appeared on the One Show – all for the cause of staying up late and no bedtimes.”
David Weir – Stay Up Late Ambassdor
“Hi everyone my name is David I am from Scotland. I have got autism and learning disabilities. I have been an Ambassador since 2021 or 2020. I think some of the things I have been doing include discos for people with disabilities and virtual concerts. I will keep doing them like the Stay Up Late disco I organised.”
Find out more
You can find out more about our Ambassadors here
Support our #NoBedtimes campaign. More information here
Read next >>> Daniel reports from the TEDx Brighton conference