why do we exist?

I have spent most of my working life alongside people with learning disabilities, autistic people, families, providers and the professionals responsible for making complex systems work. I started in care at 16, qualified as a learning disability nurse, and have since worked across services, organisations and systems trying to help people move towards better lives.

But this work is personal too.

Bridget is my sister-in-law. She has Down syndrome, and she is also one of the people who has shaped how I think about good support. Like anyone else, she wants a life that feels like hers: her own home, people she knows and trusts around her, meaningful relationships, choice, independence and the freedom to be herself.

Being both a professional and a family member has given me a particular view of the system. I have seen extraordinary people doing brilliant work, but I have also seen what happens when processes become more important than people, when responsibility becomes fragmented between organisations, when risk dominates conversations, or when everyone can describe the problem but nobody quite knows how to move things forward.

Those experiences are at the heart of why I created Ashleigh Fox Advisory.

The purpose is not to create another layer of consultancy around already complicated systems. It is to help people see through the complexity, bring the right people together and create movement where things have become stuck. Sometimes that means challenging assumptions or asking uncomfortable questions. Sometimes it means helping commissioners, providers and professionals think differently about what is possible. Sometimes it means standing alongside a family who knows that something is not right but is struggling to be heard.

At the heart of all of it is a simple belief...

...people should not have to fit themselves around systems. Systems should work together around people.

We support NHS organisations, local authorities, care providers, schools and other system partners where a situation, pathway or service needs independent challenge, practical problem solving or specialist learning disability and autism expertise.

We can provide specialist learning disability and autism insight where solicitors, case managers, advocates or other professionals are supporting somebody in a particularly difficult situation.