Dr Dawn Elizabeth Cavanagh

Dawn completed her PhD at the University of South Wales, under the direction and supervision of Professor Ruth Northway and Professor Stuart Todd, in collaboration with Mencap Cymru.  The work is entitled: Annual Health Checks for People with Learning Disabilities:  An Exploration of Experiences, Follow-up and Self-Management of Health Conditions. Annual Health Checks for People with Learning Disabilities: An exploration of Experiences, Follow-up and Self-management of Health Conditions — University of South Wales

At the University of South Wales, Dawnwas also a member of a team of interviewers as part of the UK-wide Coronavirus and People with Learning Disabilities Study.  This study explored the lives of people with learning disabilities and their family members through the pandemic. 

At Manchester Metropolitan University, Dawn worked as a senior research assistant on a new phase of the UK Coronavirus and People with Learning Disabilities Study.  This NIHR study entailed additional in-depth interviews to explore the present lives of people with learning disabilities, as well as what the pandemic meant and continues to mean to people.  The project also involved the development of digital stories. 

Dawn is presently working on a new NIHR study entitled My Medications and My Mental Health, a co-produced project that aims to support shared decision-making for adults with learning disabilities in relation to mental health medication prescribing and usage.  The central aim of the project is to develop a co-produced toolkit of guidance and resources to support decision making for people with learning disabilities. 

Dawn is autistic and is the parent of an adult son with a learning disability, autism, epilepsy, and ADHD currently living in a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit due to lack of appropriate community support and provision.  Dawn has spoken about her son’s experience of the use of restrictive practices, including physical restraint, seclusion, and chemical restraint, at various events.  In November 2022, Dawn was the guest speaker at the Learning Disability Wales annual conference in Newport, Wales. 

Locked away in lockdown - YouTube

Dawn has also written about her son’s experiences for the British Psychological Society:

‘Make them stop, Mummy’: A family’s experience of restrictive practice | BPS - British Psychological Society 

Dawn is passionate about ending the human rights abuses of people with learning disabilities and/or autism locked up in UK inpatient hospitals and campaigns on the issue. 

Dawn is a trustee of the Paul Ridd Foundation, a charity that supports people with learning disabilities to access equal healthcare:  Home - Paul Ridd Foundation