Ruqsana is one of EPIC Luton's Co-Chairs. She lives in Luton with her husband and their seven year old son.

Her son has additional needs and currently attends a mainstream school. He has a Educational Health and Care Plan to help meet his needs.

Ruqsana has been part of EPIC Luton since its formation. Her primary reason for joining was to have the opportunity to share experiences and meet like-minded parent carers who understand what life is like as a SEND family. She also wants to see parents empowered to make informed choices for their SEND children.

She aims to play a key role in shaping local services, to make Luton more accessible and inclusive for SEND families.

Raja was born and raised in Luton.

He lives with his wife and their ten-year-old daughter, who has additional needs.

His daughter has an Educational Health and Care Plan to help meet her needs and attends a mainstream school.

Raja is one of EPIC Luton’s founding members. His primary motivation to join the forum was to better equip himself on how to support his daughter but he eventually became part of the Steering Committee after seeing the lack of male parent and carer participation.

He aims to highlight the struggles of parents and carers with their own additional needs, who are navigating local services for their SEND family and request changes are implemented in Luton to make services more accessible.

Ibrar is raising his 12 year old autistic son who has epilepsy. In his spare time he advocates for families and children in court and specialises during legal proceedings in the Children Act 1989. 

He is enthusiastic to introduce stringent changes within local authorities which ensure the safeguarding aspect of SEND children.

Zita lives in Luton and is a mother to a child who has additional needs.

She initially joined the forum to find out what support and services are available for SEND families.

Zita aspires long-term to be able to support other parents/ carers navigating through the SEND system 

Elizabeth moved to Luton in 2015 and lives with her family.

Elizabeth aims to make a real change in society. At present she does this through her volunteer work with charities and has experience supporting young adults at day centres. She has also previously prepared meals for the homeless.

She aims to highlight the importance of accessibility to support the services for families of pre-diagnostic children and young people.

Toseef moved to Luton from London eight years ago and lives here with his wife and son who has additional needs.

He has previous experience in bookkeeping and has a good head for numbers.

He initially joined EPIC Luton with the intention to find out more about the SEND community to support his child. However he has since joined the steering committee, utilising his previous experience to become the forum's treasurer.

Maria has recently joined our Steering Committee and due to her personal and professional experiences she has come on board as our newest Co-Chair.

She is Austrian born and is a retired Operation Department Practitioner.

Maria lives with her husband and is raising her twelve year old son, who has epilepsy. Her son has an Educational Health and Care Plan and attends a specialist school.

Maria would like to see a system with professionals and practitioners that recognise the expertise of the parents and carers when it comes to their SEND child/ children as they are the specialist in the situation.