University honour for Winslow man and Milton Keynes charity patron who has devoted a lifetime to helping people with disabilities

A Winslow man who has donated millions of pounds to disability charities has received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Buckingham.

Now aged in his 80s, Roger Jefcoate CBE has spent a lifetime working to make life better for disabled people, starting in his teens when he worked with Ludwig Guttmann, the founder of the Paralympics, to pioneer life-changing independence technology for severely disabled individuals at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

At the National Spinal Injuries Centre, Roger and his team developed The Possum, the world’s first home remote-control system that enabled wheelchair or bedbound users to call for help, control their television, radio, heater, unlock their front door and use their telephone.

The team also developed the first chin-operated powered wheelchair, the first adapted computer and the first portable speech aid, later used by Prof Stephen Hawking at the University of Cambridge.

Since then, Roger has been involved in many life-changing charities. He was a co-founder of the assistance dog charities Medical Detection Dogs, based in Great Horwood, and Canine Partners, as well as a founding patron of ME Research UK.

He is a patron of Wheelpower, the Aylesbury-based national charity for wheelchair sport, and a patron of The Sequal Trust, which provides assistive technology to bridge the communication gap for disabled people.

He is a patron of MK SNAP, and has supported the award-winning Milton Keynes charity that offers professional support, training, education, life skills, work and opportunities for people with learning difficulties since its beginning 30 years ago, linking the charity with vital funders and supporters.

Together with his late wife Jean, who sadly passed away last year, Roger set up The Roger and Jean Jefcoate Trust (formerly the Disability Aid Fund) which since the 1980s has funded millions of pounds worth of special equipment for disabled individuals and grants to small frontline healthcare charities nationwide.

Roger, who was awarded a CBE in 1998 for services to disabled people, said receiving the Honorary Doctorate from Buckingham was “a great honour and a lifetime highlight”, adding: “My whole life has been in charity, where we in Buckinghamshire are national leaders with more registered charities than any other county.”