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Why did you apply for a public appointment?

Professor Peter Cooke, Vice Chair of the Independent Living Fund:

"I became disabled, and it was a matter of 'what could I do?' I'd had a good career; what could I do in terms of contributing back into society? It was an interesting challenge: my expertise was in a particular industry, a particular group of disciplines, and how could I use those? And it developed very simply from there. I saw an advertisement and thought 'this looks interesting', I followed up on the advertisement and was interviewed, and I was appointed."

Why should more people with disabilities apply for public appointments?

"In terms of bringing their skills, their understanding, to other parts of the public sector, I think this is hugely important. I would like to see on every public body one or two people with disabilities, simply to be able to reflect not necessarily what disabled people are thinking, but to be able to represent the opportunities that those particular parts of the public sector can bring to people with disabilities."

What advice do you have for someone thinking of applying for a public appointment?

"Do your research on the organisation. Do your research on yourself - there are sufficient public appointments around that you'll find, sooner or later, that the two come together. And equally important, I think that those two will come together sometimes not actually in the areas that you think they would. I think that's certainly what's happened to me. I never saw myself 20 years ago, when I first became disabled, as actually working with areas within the Department of Work and Pensions, but I feel that I contribute very positively there."

What qualities are needed for public appointments?

"From working in the public sector point of view, I think the most important issue is to be a team player. Because essentially, working in the public sector a lot of the members are basically people like me. Normal, run-of-the-mill people. But what you'll need to do is to be a team player to be able to work with the other members of the organisation that you're working with. Bring those people together, and two and two make five if you're working as a team, and that is hugely important. And you can learn so much from those other people that you're working with: again, I think that's important, and that develops both you personally and it can develop the organisation."

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