A lot of people with disabilities, like myself I'm one of those people who didn't learn anything in school because society wasn't educated to teach people with disabilities. There was a lack of communication and understanding between children and teachers. For eg; I was on this medication called Phenobarbitone for Epilepsy; this affected my ability to learn and I was very disappointed that I left school without any qualifications. A lot of special schools didn't have any access for children with disabilities to take exams when I was in school. I hope things have changed a lot for children with disabilities since I was in school but please keep an eye on side - effects of medication in case they are too dangerous for them! Later on in this site you will read a report on how dangerous Phenobarbitone was.
When I left school, I caught up with my education in college. OK, I achieved my exams but I every September I would enrol on roughly the courses every year without a job at end of it, which went on for years. It became very boring in the end. Still better late than never but if more support is given the quicker a person with a disability is in the job they want. Well should I even say that having support helps them along their way quicker so they aren't having to cope with years of discrimination like people of my age group did, before that. We were also very limited to what courses, I was at college well over ten years. I enjoyed college but sometimes there was support but other times there wasn't. I thought I was never going to get any support with work. I was signing on for 13 years, I though I was going to be there forever, I hated it. My life has changed a lot for the better since I have been with Our Shout supported by Mencap. All these years of college have been worth it after all. I am still study now but I am working towards my exams at Access For Business for the Social Enter Prise Business we will be doing next year. Courses need to be more interesting for people with disabilities. I have read in the report Valuing People Now, since I have left college that a lot of courses have cut back for people with disabilities. People like myself were either on training schemes, voluntary work or and the dole. Please give support for people with disabilities to be given better chances than that!
Over the years I have discovered that I can write stories, poetry, plays, drama, draw and paint. Like non - disabled people, people with disabilities are creative in difference ways. We are just a bit slower that than others. I have read on the Internet that way back in history a lot of creative famous people with disabilities didn't become famous until they died. If you type in the search engine Famous people with disabilities, you will be amazed how they are and were through out the times. Please don't let this happen in future generations, let people see their work shown to the world! Isn't it worth giving people time to learn instead of giving up teaching and training them into what they want to do instead of what society wants them to do. If you would like to see your views, please send them on sarajgorman@googlemail.com or Facebook sarajgorman@gmail.com Perhaps you would like to send your creative work to me. This is why I think we should create creative jobs people with disabilities, in fact all creative people whether we all have a disability or not.
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