Tribute by Gerry Zarb

I first met John around 1986 or early 1987 – nearly 40 years ago. I’d just started my first Job after leaving University working with Mike Oliver, who wanted me to meet some of the most important people in the Disability Movement. The first was Vic Vinkelstein, which was quite a scary experience but it couldn’t have been more different when I met John. It was in a pub somewhere in Hampshire and he was with Philip Mason and Neil Slatter and I remember it was a very relaxed and convivial atmosphere – just as it was every time I met John ever since then.

In those early years both Philip and John were a great source of advice and inspiration and set me off on a long journey working on Independent Living, with John often either by my side or in the background. He remained a big support for all that time.

While John was quietly inspirational what I remember most was actually his practical common sense. Whenever there was a problem or obstacle he would always talk it through calmly and thoughtfully and try to work out the best way to deal with it. There was never any hand wringing or histrionics of any kind – just a quiet determination to keep moving forward. I’ve always been attracted to calm people and tend to steer well clear of excitable types so we always worked well together and soon became good friends as well.

John could be quite steely when he needed to be and he had a knack of getting people to do things they maybe didn’t completely want to. I’ll never forget the time when he persuaded me to do a live news interview when we were in Dublin. I was a complete bag of nerves and it was all John and the Producer could do to get me into the studio. I’m not sure anyone else could have done that but he kept telling me it would be alright and, like a fool, I believed him!

In many ways John was like a glacier – often appearing to be moving very slowly, but with enormous force. It was a very good trick and won him a lot of admirers.

To Disabled People in the Independent Living Movement John was of course a hero and a massive source of inspiration. But, while you never completely forget that, it wasn’t what defined him as a friend or as a man. To me he was just John – amiable, quietly funny, always interesting – and just excellent company.

In fact over the years Independent Living was something we talked about less and less. John had a lively and enquiring mind so topics of conversation were very wide ranging – although would almost invariably include a quick round up of the state of the world with a sprinkling of sports news.

We used to meet up for lunch regularly over the years and it was something that I always looked forward to. I haven’t got used to the idea yet that we aren’t going to do that anymore but I do know that I will miss him very much.

Gerry Zarb