ASK anyone who works with Anthony Dunn what he’s like and it won’t be too long before the word “amazing” is used. He has now won an award in Cornwall to prove just how amazing he is.

Anthony, who’s 62 and lives in Threemilestone, Truro, is a peer advocate for people with learning disabilities, ensuring they have a voice and the ability for them and their families to make their own choices on everything from care and housing to marriage.

He recently won the Darren Williams Award for leading system change at Cornwall Council’s Proud To Care Awards. The award recognises an individual who has developed an initiative which “supports whole system change and impacts quality of care delivery to service users”.

He’s almost as proud of winning the award as he is of being a Cornishman. He told us: “I’ve never ever won an award before in my life, so it was quite emotional for me.”

Jenna Pulley, director of Citizen Checkers, said: “Anthony has been somebody who has been a real innovator throughout his career and it’s a really long career.

“He was one of the founding members of Cornwall People First, which is a self-advocacy organisation, and has gone on to found Citizen Checkers, which is all about providing peer advocacy to people who are having some sort of mental health crisis. It might be somebody who’s an inpatient within one of the wards in Cornwall or out of Cornwall.

“We’ve lost track of the number of people that Anthony has supported. His reach is far and widening just in terms of his influence and the way that he talks about the system needing to change, and making sure that people are at the centre of everything that’s going on in terms of their care and support. He’s a real trailblazer.”

Paula Volkner, from NHS Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, was one of the people who nominated Anthony for the award. She added: “Anthony was part of the Transforming Care programme, which started ten years ago, which focused on people with learning disability and autism that were in inpatient wards, particularly those out of county.

“He is that powerful voice for those that have no voice, which is exactly why I nominated him.”

Kate Spenceley, from Citizen Checkers, said: “I just think that Anthony has been really instrumental in creating opportunities for people with learning disabilities to speak up. He’s campaigned tirelessly all his life

“He was in care from when he was a year old, so he’s constantly been in these systems and his way has been to try and create these systems into better systems for people with learning disabilities.

“He’s a brilliant person and I think it’s amazing that he would be nominated for this award as when it was announced last year he was giving it a standing ovation.”

Jo Treweek, his support worker, told us: “He’s amazing, I’m so proud of him. He’s so passionate in his work. It’s brilliant what he’s achieving. He’s a role model for others.”

Proudly holding his award at Lys Kernow (County Hall) in Truro, while posing in a Cornish cap and T-shirt in front of his beloved St Piran flag, Anthony said: “My voice is very powerful to make sure people get the right support – to make sure everybody gets their voice heard.

“I help if they want a house or want to get married. I work a lot with adults with autism and Down’s Syndrome and their families to get their voices heard. We tell people [in power] to listen and that things have got to change, and to give people choices.

“I’m really passionate about supporting these people. I was lacking that support myself when I was younger. This is one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.”

Find out more about Citizen Checkers at citizencheckers.co.uk