Alison & Vicky work for Social Firm Speakup

Alison & Vicky work for Speakup. Both Alison and Vicky have learning difficulties. Here they tells us about the impact working for a Social Firm has had on their lives.

This DVD was produced by Social Firms Lippy People for the Social Firms UK and Social Firms Europe Conference.

This video was produced for EY2010-The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion

www.2010againstpoverty.eu
www.socialfirmsuk.co.uk
www.socialfirmseurope.org
www.lippy.tv
www.speakup.org.uk

Transcript

Alison: At the beginning I used to go to a college, and then from college I went to a day centre and at the day centre I didn't do much.
Vicky: After I left school at the age of 16 and I was just going to college it was like going back to school really, going to college because I was learning things I had already learnt at school like joined up writing and things like that. I was not learning the things that I thought I would learn.
Alison: Then my sister called Val and Roy, they told me about Speak Up.
Vicky: Speak Up is an organisation for people with learning disabilities.
Alison: I am a full paid worker, I do wages for all the workers with Shelly one of my colleagues. Also I go to meetings we set advocacy groups and also we do regional forums in Sheffield and we set it all up and do a lot of training.
Vicky: I wasn't that much of a good reader now I'm much better at it. Not perfect but I can read a lot better than I used to. I'm able to write things a bit more. I have made friends here, I've been able to do things that I probably wouldn't have before.
Alison: It's important to me to come to Speak Up because it is full paid work and when you got a learning disability, it is important for someone with a learning disability to have a real job.
Vicky: It's not just about me being paid and having full time wages. It's important because I am getting out, I'm not just sitting at home doing nothing. I'm here working, earning a wage.
Alison: It's important to me because I got a disability and Speak Up has done a lot of things for me because at the beginning I didn't I wasn't able to write properly but now I'm getting good at reading and writing, I'm still a bit shy in meetings but gaining my confidence and talking to a lot of people and also I'm the regional rep for Yorkshire & Humber regional forum.
Vicky: It gives the person a chance to have a job like everyone else because they do have rights to work they just need a bit of support.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Social Firms UK
• Social Firms Europe CEFEC
• social enterprise
• Social Firm
• EY 2010
• politics
• educational