Category: Blog - Page 25 - Cerebral Palsy Scotland

Employment as a disabled person – Claudia’s Story

Following Jill’s blog on her experience of trying to gain employment when you’re disabled, Claudia shares with us her story and recounts some of the obstacles she’s faced in pursuing her career.

When it came to work experience during my fourth year at school, I wanted to do something with sports. I was a gymnast with City of Glasgow Gymnastics Disability team at the time, and I wanted to become a gymnastics coach. To gain experience of working in a sports centre, I choose to do my work experience in Scotstoun Leisure Centre. However, when I arrived I was told to clean the toilets, and at the time I was suffering from a really sore hip because of my Cerebral Palsy. This made my hip worse and I only lasted half a day.

Once my exam results came through before starting fifth year, I found out I’d done really well in my standard grade administration and decided to do intermediate 2. After achieving a great result, I decided to do administration as a career. I didn’t want to leave school with no work experience so during sixth year I did a programme called Bridges to Work. Bridges to Work got me work experience in an office called Drivers Jonas.

After leaving school I knew college wasn’t for me and I wanted to go out and work. I applied for a modern apprenticeship, but I wasn’t ready so I went on a ‘Get Ready for Work’ programme. I was working in St. Mungo’s Academy providing administration support to different departments.

After gaining more work experience I was ready for a modern apprenticeship, however I came across other barriers such as working a 35 hour week and answering phones was hard due to my speech difficulty. I could only work a 25 hour week as I found it very tiring. I was lucky enough to find a company called Glasgow East Regeneration Agency (now called Job & Business Glasgow). I started my two year apprenticeship and gained a SVQ Level 2 & 3 in Business and Administration. After a year and a half into my apprenticeship I was finding the 25 hour week tiring and it started to affect my health. I had to cut down to a 16 hour week which I still do now.

Once my modern apprenticeship finished and after a year of being unsuccessful at finding another placement, I found an organisation called Shaw Trust which supports disabled people into work. Shaw Trust managed to get me a placement back at Job & Business Glasgow, but in a different office. I had a six month contract which was followed up by a three month extension. Once the extension had finished I went back to Shaw Trust who got me a further six months at Job & Business Glasgow.

In December 2014, when the six months in Job & Business Glasgow ended I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go next so I took some time out. In August 2015, I decided I better start looking for my next step. I wanted to do some volunteering so I contacted Volunteer Glasgow and they put me in touch with Project Scotland. Then I heard that Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living who supports disabled people in to employment had an administration post within their company. I applied and I was successful. At the same time Project Scotland contacted me and told me that they had a volunteer place at Bobath Scotland. I couldn’t believe my luck when the two came up at once after being unemployed for a year!

In January 2016, I started with Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living within their Equality Academy team. This was a year long contract. I worked there providing administration support and gaining some new skills. I also took up the volunteer place at Bobath Scotland and attended on a Friday. Recently I was meant to finish in Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living Equality Academy, but I was offered a new 6 months contract.

I hope one day I’ll get a permanent job instead of short term placements but in a way I feel lucky as some people with Cerebral Palsy have never been successful. My story looks successful but trust me I’ve faced a lot of disappointments, barriers and frustration to make my story successful.

I hope that my story encourages other people with Cerebral Palsy to look for employment and not give up at the first hurdle.

If you want to find out more about getting into work, have a look at these websites:

Modern Apprenticeships

Shaw Trust

Job & Business Glasgow

Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living

Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living Equality Academy

Volunteer Glasgow

Project Scotland

Employment as a disabled person

Today, Jill shares with us her experience of trying to gain employment when you are disabled.

“As a person who has cerebral palsy I try my very best to live my life as normal as I can. One of my goals in my life was to get some kind of employment, paid or voluntary.

At school in my 4th year I did a work placement in my primary school for a week, I was working with a wee p1 pupil showing her to use a Communication device. I loved the placement and I knew then I wanted to go down the road of making awareness of disabled people.

After I left school I went to college and studied employment for 3 years and I did ECDL for 2 years. During my first year at college I got a voluntary job in the Feid Martin project at Quarriers, doing admin stuff, which I still do now.

After being at college for 5 years I wanted to get more days working but sadly I couldn’t get more days at Quarriers so I needed to find something else and it was really hard to do. Because I am in a wheelchair it was more difficult to find a job and somewhere has the right access for me like having a hoist in the toilet. I think I emailed my CV to everywhere and anywhere that I thought of. I felt like I was going around in circles and not getting anywhere. It felt like I was letting cerebral palsy stop me from getting a job and I was starting to think that I needed to go to college for ever or go around the shops for ever and I didn’t want that to happen.

At last I found an organization called Project Scotland where they help you to get a voluntary job. So I contacted them to see if they could help me and they did. They were very understanding with my needs and they put me in contact with Bobath Scotland where I used to go for therapy when I was younger, but I never thought of contacting them myself to see if they had anything going.

So I have been working (volunteering) at Bobath for 17 months now and I love it! I do thank you letters and in the past few months I have been working on my own project called “Join Jill”, where I am doing a lot of activities like skiing, swimming, horse riding and zip lining, and then I will be writing blogs about what I did.

Being able to work is a big thing to me and I am very proud to be able to be working. As I am disabled I could have said “OK, let’s just go around the shops every week for the rest my life because I am disabled” but no, I want to work like everyone else, why can’t I? I think being able to work shows anyone that I don’t let my cerebral palsy stop me. I know that I work for just two days a week for few hours and it may seem like I am not doing a lot and do just one thing each day but it is a lot to me especially if I am using my head tracker.

Like I said before I am just a volunteer at Bobath and Quarriers but it is just a job to me. Would I like to get paid someday? Well, to be honest it is my dream to get a paid job someday but don’t get me wrong, if I don’t get a paid job I will be more than happy to carry on volunteering but you never know!

I am very proud of my volunteering and I hope I am a good help to Bobath and Quarriers.

I hope this blog will inspire people who are disabled or knows anyone is disabled that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”

How do I speak to someone who uses AAC?

We’ve asked two bloggers, Jill and Claudia, to share with us some of their top tips for communicating with someone who uses AAC, or who has a speech difficulty.

In some of our previous blogs we have heard from Jill, who uses an AAC device (very similar to Stephen Hawking’s!) to speak and communicate. Claudia does not use AAC, but has a speech difficulty as a result of her CP, and so faces a different set of challenges when communicating. Below, they’ve each given us some advice on speaking to someone when they do have a disability, and what you can do to make sure that the person you are speaking to feels as though they are being heard.

Jill

If you meet someone who can’t talk themselves and is using a communication device, symbols or something else, don’t be scared to talk to them because they can’t talk like you. Just talk to them as normal, because they are just normal.

When you talk to someone with a disability, it is good to wait and listen to them, so that you can try to understand what they are trying to say. Some people may not know how to say it right or maybe they aren’t able to talk clearly. Also, be patient. If you can’t work out what they are saying try to work it out by asking them a few questions. If the person is taking time to say sentences don’t jump in and finish it for them.

Body language is really important when you are talking to someone. It is good to be face to face with someone and have eye contact. Don’t be right in their face when you’re talking to them.

If you are talking to an adult with a disability don’t speak to them as a baby, because they are adults just like you. Some people with a disability find it a bit difficult to understand what people are saying, so try to explain more what about what you are saying.

If you are talking to someone who uses AAC to talk, like a Communication device or symbols, give them a chance for them to say what they want. I know that it may take some time for them to get sentences together, but they have the right to speak like everyone else.

Jill’s ‘Top Tips’ on speaking to someone who uses AAC

Face them when you are talking to them
Don’t finish their sentence for them and guess what they are saying just wait until they finish their sentence
If you are in a group and someone with an AAC device wants to say something the group should wait until they talk don’t talk over them

As I am a person who can’t talk and who uses a Communication device, I see that a lot of people don’t know how to talk to me and it is sad because communication is most important thing in life! However, I hope these tips will help people to understand how to better communicate with disabled people.

Claudia

Communication is something that people do every day, however people with Cerebral Palsy may have different ways of communicating. They may take longer than others to say simple words or sentences, some may have a stutter and some may use an AAC communication advice. No matter how people communicate, they are just like you!

Some people with speech difficulties may attend speech therapy to try and improve their speech. Even though they will always have a speech difficulty, speech therapy can help their speech become clearer and even help with eating and drinking. Speech therapy can help with the tightness of muscles around the mouth and also activities liking blowing and making letter sounds can improve speech.

As part of my Cerebral Palsy I have a speech difficulty. I work hard every day to make myself clear and understood when talking to people. At the end of the day I may slur my words as I’m tired and people find it difficult to understand me. If I’m in a noisy environment I use my phone to type what I’m saying and show the person or if it’s something I’m talking about and I’m nearer the subject I would point to it.

Claudia’s ‘Top Tips’ on speaking to someone with a speech difficulty

Don’t try and finish what people are saying or cut them off as they can become frustrated.
If you don’t understand what people are saying, don’t just go along with conversation, ask the person to repeat what they were saying.
The person may repeat themselves using different words, as they may feel that the words they were using are not clear enough.
If I slur my words, don’t judge me and think I’m drunk – I just have a unique way of speaking!

Join Jill at Riding for the Disabled

In the first of our new blog series ‘Join Jill’, Jill tells us all about Riding for the Disabled, and the benefits of taking part in the sport.

My name is Jill and I am 24. I have cerebral palsy, and I am in a wheelchair all the time. I have been going to the RDA Glasgow group for 8 years now and I love it.

I go once a week on a Thursday night for an hour during term time, and the horse that I ride now is called Heart. He is black and white and he is just beautiful.

Due to having cerebral palsy I find it difficult to hold myself up when I am out of my wheelchair but when I am on my horse I can sit up myself nicely. I always have 2 side walkers who walk around with me. Over the years I’ve learned how to hold myself up, for example, when I went at first the side walkers needed to hold me up and now they have their hands on my legs and I can do everything else myself.

My horse riding isn’t just a sport, it is like physiotherapy to me because it does really drive me like my back muscles and my legs muscles too. When I have not been for a while I feel my legs tight, so it does really help.

If you want to find out more about Riding for the Disabled click here.

What is AAC?

October is AAC Awareness month – AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, which can be life changing for so many people, including some of those living with cerebral palsy. Below, Jill tells us about her experiences of using a communication device, and how important it is to be able to speak and be heard.

Communication is really important in everyone’s life, without communication no one would be able to say hello, how are you, or ask anyone how are you doing? Or what’s your name or how do you feel? For someone who has cerebral palsy like myself and can’t talk it is very difficult to live life!

Augmentative and Alternative communication or (AAC) can help people to communicate through a symbol book or sign language or a Communication device and lots more.

As someone who has cerebral palsy and not be able to talk I have been using AAC all of my life, from using a symbol book to having a few communication devices. The communication device which I use just now is called Accent 1400, and I use a tracker dot to access my programme on my device. The dot is on my head, and it is like infrared.

My communication device gives me a life really. Well, it gives me a voice for a start and it gives me access to a lot of things, for example to the internet, using computer, the phone and lots more.

There are good and bad things using a communication device. The good things are it makes my life so much better as I can talk to everyone and tell them what’s on my mind. It lets me get my word across and also because I can use a computer through my communication device that enables me to work. The bad things are when it breaks; people won’t talk to me because they don’t understand that I can talk to them, but in a different way.

When my communication device breaks it is hell for me because I can’t do anything and that’s really frustrating.

My communication device is my life and I don’t know what I would do without it! A lot of people don’t realize just how important communication is.

If you want to find more about AAC please visit:

www.aacscotland.org.uk

www.nowhearme.co.uk