Leslie-Anne Newton is the Director of the Association for Real Change (ARC) Northern Ireland, the representative body for the learning disability community. Since 2014, she has led sector-wide collaboration among providers, policymakers, regulators and people with a learning disability to improve services and influence policy. Throughout her career, Leslie-Anne has been a passionate advocate for enabling underrepresented voices to be directly heard by decision-makers—demonstrating her deep commitment to human rights and equality, meaningful engagement, and co-production. With over two decades of experience across the third, public, and corporate sectors in NI and Britain—including roles within County Councils, Save the Children and the NSPCC—she brings strategic leadership, cross-sector expertise, and a focus on inclusive, rights-based practice. She has supported and partnered on research with Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast, advancing data quality and safeguarding policy in learning disability services.