Colin Rogers writes: Lord Rix was effective in giving people with learning disabilities a voice and in helping to ensure that it is heard, not just because he was a passionate and powerful advocate, but also because he earned their trust, and that of their families and supporters. When Brian walked into a meeting, whether in a Mencap house or the Palace of Westminster, the respect and admiration that people felt for him was palpable. To thousands he was their personal champion, and many were proud to count Brian as a friend.
To those of us who worked with him (in my case as a Mencap trustee), it was a lesson to see how easily he communicated with a wide range of people, some of whom had little in the way of communication skills themselves. And, although his heyday at the Whitehall theatre was far behind him by the time we met, Brian remained able to make people laugh. As this truly noble man put it: “All I’ve really achieved in my life is to progress from one end of Whitehall to the other.” What a journey.
Dusty Amroliwala writes: Brian Rix was a strong supporter of the University of East London. He was its first chancellor (1997-2012), and established and founded, in 2001, the Rix Centre, to develop ways of using new technologies to transform the lives of people with learning disabilities.
