Hi, my name is Amy. I have cerebral palsy and ADHD. I’m 23 years old.
My job is a 6-month contract with Kickstart which is a government scheme to help get young people in to work. I work in an office doing data entry for 25 hours a week.
When I was younger I didn’t even know unemployment existed, really until I was at secondary school age. When I was a kid all the way through school, I thought I was going to leave school at 18 and get a job the next day.
It has been a lot harder for me to get a job, for one my disability is clearly visible – there’s no denying it and people don’t necessarily understand disability. I’m happy to have any job. Working in an office I’m like everyone else. I don’t have any barriers because I’m sat down on a chair just like everybody else. It’s a good job.
Ideally, I think employers should be actively employing disabled people. There are enormous benefits to employing a disabled person. Firstly, they would appreciate the job a whole lot more. They appreciate how hard it is to get a job and they appreciate part time hours. They appreciate the fact they’ve got a job, appreciate the fact that they are in a position of privilege because they probably have lots of friends without a job. They will appreciate that job, put one hundred percent into it, and they won’t slack.
An update from Amy
I am now 25 years old, after I completed the six month Kickstart post, I was then employed as a Customer Service Apprentice for a year. I. have now secured a 20 hours a week permanent contract working as a Services Assistant with the same company originally did my kick start job with.
I am extremally grateful for the opportunity that has been given to me.