Remembering John Evans OBE

I just re-discovered this gem of an interview with John from almost ten years ago - June 2016, to be precise, from right before the Brexit Referendum. Hardly ever have I seen John being so very serious about something, visibly containing his anger and upset and worries to bring his message across. And what he said back then, was and is so very right. To watch on YouTube, please follow this link:  Interview with John Evans OBE on Disabled People and the EU Referendum SPECTRUM Interview with John in 2016  

The recording of last week's online memorial event for John is available on YouTube now - for those who couldn't attend and for those who did but want to re-watch. Find the recording plus the video tributes on this channel: Remembering John Evans OBE   Thank you again to everyone who helped to make this happen! It was a wonderful, powerful reflection of John's remarkable life and his exceptional achievements. Please don't forget that you can still send tributes, pictures, other memories of John for this website if you want - we will continue to publish them. Jana Bleckmann-Evans and Ines Bulic Cojocariu from ENIL   "Remembering John Evans OBE - Celebrating Independent Living" (Screenshot)  

Remembering John Evans OBE I first had the pleasure of meeting John in the late 1980’s through my late partner, John Millar (aka ‘Jhalib’) – they were longstanding close friends and Sufi ‘brothers’ travelling widely together in the 1970’s. On 28 July 1988 I had the privilege of marching alongside John, and thousands of other disabled people and allies, in the British Council of Disabled People’s (BCODP) rally in London to challenge the government cuts in disability benefits. This campaigning, in which John was a driving force, led the government set up the new Independent Living Fund (ILF). I was, and remain, greatly inspired by John’s life and work as a pioneer of the Independent Living movement. At the time, of the BCODP rally, I was working as a dance artist, working closely with the D/deaf and disabled people’s community and arts scene, and was developing as a sign language interpreter, so I had a professional as well as a personal connection with him. I became closer to John fol...

Please follow this link to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXU8GNGraE4   How this compilation came about ...  When Ines, John's friend and colleague from ENIL, and I set about to organise an online memorial event for John on the first anniversary of his passing, we were wondering how to pack as many tributes as possible into a limited amount of time. We were certain that there would be too many people who would want to contribute to include everyone as speakers during the actual event (and we were right!), but at the same time we certainly didn't want to exclude anyone either. The video compilation was the solution we came up with, and what we considered a compromise in the beginning, turned into a beautiful, colourful, very touching testimony of how special John was, how appreciated he was and how intense and meaningful the relationships were that he forged during his life. So, the compilation, which was first shown during the online memorial event on 13/01/...

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 though...

Please follow this link to watch the video tribute to John by his friend and colleague Jamie Bolling: https://youtu.be/woZcJrGu4Dg

Written on 12/01/2026   Dear Jana, I am truly saddened that I won’t be able to join John’s online celebration of his life and work, but I felt must let you know, as John has been so present in my thoughts these last few days. I’m sure you will have many contributors from those working with John, however sad that I cannot mark the earliest days with Project’81 back at the start. John was my last companion from those transformative times at Le Court. I look back on those days as a period when we were determined to challenge prevailing attitudes and dismantle barriers, all in pursuit of the simple, yet profound, goal of independent living. To lose John is to lose a vital connection to those daring early days of hope and activism. I miss him. I still remember our first encounter — it felt like the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. After my discharge from hospital, my parents were pressuring me into care at Le Court. It was in the rather stark setting of the East Wing that I met ...

Read out by Zeid during John's service on 13/02/2025 One of  John’s best qualities was his ability  to bring people together and utilise people’s strengths. And me speaking now is a perfect example of this, my mum, Alia, was asked to speak, but as I am sure John would know, mum is not much of a public speaker, so I am up here in her stead. Mum met John in 1984. She was the representative from Southampton at a Hampshire Centre for Independent Living committee meeting. This was the start of a 40-year friendship and the start of mum’s politicisation, which John played a key part in. Before long mum was joining John to help organise different political actions, such as the Rights Not Charity protest. Mum would drive to John’s, sleep on the futon and then they would head into London the next day to attend these organising meetings. A key benefit of staying at John’s being the cakes his mum would bake. John had vision of the world they were all working towards and the conviction and...

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 ...