Two years ago a Mother and her 52-year-old son with a learning disability came to see Wirral Mencap team to ask what they could do for them. Mum told us her son didn’t have a friend in the world, that he was depressed and was going nowhere. At this time, the son was very upset because the Job Centre had told him that the only way he could receive any financial support was by claiming Job Seekers Allowance and yet the son didn’t have the capacity to work because he had a learning disability. The Mencap Outreach worker sorted it out and from there on the son’s life started to turn around.
Graham joined Mencap’s Gateway Award and made some new friends. He learned new skills to help him become more independent, like cooking, managing money and healthy living. He achieved the bronze award, the silver and now the gold, which is no mean achievement. He went on the Wirral Mencap summer camping holiday and his quality of life was on the up!
With fresh confidence he started at the Crossbow social club and made more new friends. He began fundraising for Wirral Mencap with collections, fairs and other events. He then joined the Wirral Mencap Members’ Committee where he and five other members continue to represent the voice of our members, their views and ideas. He also helps produce the members’ magazine.
After seeing how his friends at Wirral Mencap were living more independently than him, he told his Mum that he was ready to leave home. In October 2014 he moved to supported living, a lovely place where he has made more friends and even has his own shed!
When he started at West Kirby Methodist Church (WKMC) as a volunteer life got even better. Dirk Uitterdijk, the church’s Community Development Worker and Sue Gladden welcomed him on board without hesitation. He started making tea for delegates on the Beginners’ Computer Course run by Age UK. He asked to sit at the back during the sessions and followed with interest. Then WKMC offered him a bursary for a place on the next ‘Beginners’ course. He was delighted and what’s more, he passed! Since then he has joined Ray & Veronica Ward’s group of bell ringers and he loves it.
Graham, who was ‘going nowhere’ as his Mum Daphne said two years ago, has embraced life, has grasped the opportunities that have come his way and has changed life for the better, not just for himself but for other people too.
He is the first Wirral Mencap member to have achieved such a qualification and we are all very proud of him as we know Daphne and family are. – Dirk Uitterdijk, Community Development Worker