Who should be helping access to happen? Part 3

Gary’s story


The biggest access problem I faced was other people’s doubts about my ability to work in this fast-moving society. But I found out that I am as good as I think that I need to be. Also, other people around me, including my family and friends and my theatre company, said that “ I could do anything that I wanted to, provided that I put my mind to it”.

I initially heard about this job [as a trainer at St George’s Hospital Medical School] when I went to see another learning-disabled theatre company performance called A Billion Seconds at St George’s Hospital Medical School.

I had lots of help in filling in the application forms in from my outreach support worker, who also came with me when I was asked to come in for an interview.

St George’s stressed that this was not a token interview process just because I am learning disabled, but that it was a full and proper recruitment procedure, the same as for all posts at St George’s.

However, they made sure that I knew I could have a supporter with me, as well as any other facilities which I might need. For example, extra time to answer questions if these were too long or complicated.