Tribute by Pete Fleischmann

Remembering John Evans

My friend and colleague John Evans was a paradox, a mystery, a living contradiction. Somehow John combined gentleness, practicality and unquestionable integrity in one person. I’ve known plenty of people who embody one of those characteristics but no one else with them all. I’m an atheist.  But at times I have wondered if perhaps John was an angel sent down to earth to show us lesser beings the full possibilities of our humanity.  I don’t need to say goodbye to John. Because every time I witness someone performing an act of gentleness John is there, every time someone asserts their rights, John is there and every time a group of disabled people reaches a consensus and goes forward John is there.    I really admired John. He was radical and had such integrity, but he was also pragmatic and practical. But most of all he was warm and wise.

I remember the first time I meet John. He was working for the Department of Health, and I was at the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). A colleague and I went to see him to talk about a guide to setting up and running user-led groups we were working on. John was in a foul mood as he’ d just come back from Europe by plane. And British airways had lost his wheelchair. His eyes were blazing, and he was furious. I must admit to being slightly scared. I remember him saying that British airways had no idea who they were dealing with. And that he was no ordinary disabled person because he knew his rights.  I think John was little suspicious of us. It was like we had to prove to him that we were serious. Luckily, we were able to do this and John made terrific contribution to that project and many others on which we worked together. From that first meeting I never would have guessed what a gentle and kind person John was. And what a good friend he would become. But it did give me a clue to his fiery spirit that yearned for change, and which made him such a brilliant advocate for disability rights.

I also remember putting forward John to Lord Michael Bichard who was chair of SCIE at the time as a possible Board member. Lord Bichard had said that he was interested in co-production but was also sceptical about having disabled people on the Board. A short conversation with John was the beginning of Michael becoming a great advocate for co-production. And of course he appointed John to the SCIE Board.

After I left SCIE John and I kept in touch. I used to look forward to our Zoom calls in which we talked about co-production, the disability movement and exchanged social care gossip. During these calls I got to know John better and found we had more in common than I first thought. Including my interest in Zen Buddhism and John’s in Sufism. At John’s funeral one of the pieces of music that was played was Fairport Convention’s beautiful ‘Who knows where the time goes?’ I learnt this was one of John’s favourite songs and it’s also one of mine. That made me miss John even more and wish there had been more time.

Pete Fleischmann, Co-production Works

 

Pete