Rebecca - on finding a job she loves

We recently celebrated Rebecca, a customer from Supported Living who successfully gained full time employment with See Ability. Three months on we caught up with her again to see how she’s getting on.

The answer is, she's is thriving. We spent the morning with her and her Supported Living Worker Bernie and by the end of it, we were in awe of them both and felt as though we had learnt something about ourselves.

Rebecca and Bernie have shown terrific determination and character over the past two years, during their quest to get Rebecca full time work. Rebecca was quick to realise that college was not for her, so week after week they would go to the job centre in the hope of finding work until finally, See Ability came into the picture. 

See Ability is a charity that provides support, accommodation and eye care for people with learning disabilities, autism and sight loss and Rebecca is now their Eye Care Champion for the whole of the North West.

Gaining employment with See Ability came with challenges; Rebecca would sometimes be late and found that sometimes, tasks given to her didn’t make sense.  A collaboration was needed and Suzanna from Kennedy Scott came to Rebecca’s aid alongside Bernie, to break down Rebecca’s day into manageable chunks so that she didn’t get overwhelmed, which causes her anxiety. Suzanna was also there when anxiety did strike, going through any issues visually, breaking them down to look at them separately and coming up with actions to sort them out. In this way, it quickly dawned on Rebecca that something that once looked like a mountain, was now a mole hill and she could strive forward. Her confidence has also blossomed in Rebecca; she’s now comfortable saying ‘No, sorry, I don’t understand that.’, and she knows that it’s okay to ask questions because she wants to be the best.

What we found in our time with Rebecca is that actually, she is no different from anyone else. Getting to work on time can be an issue for anyone. Anxiety and stress can be an issue for anyone. Not understanding things can happen to anyone. Can she do the job? Yes! She may have a disability but that doesn’t stop her. She is passionate about her work; that showed when she demonstrated a talk that she will be doing in public. Bernie and Suzanna smile at what they have been able achieve with Rebecca: getting her work, improving her confidence and giving her coping mechanisms for when she feels overwhelmed.

Bernie is particularly proud, as two years after she made her promise to help Rebecca find work, she has kept that promise. And she feels like the business world is missing out on the opportunity to tap into quality employees. They may have a disability, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t contribute to the community; all that is required is simply a little bit of patience. That’s it.

Watch out world! Here comes Rebecca and we couldn’t be prouder.

Find out how Rebecca has been doing working from home during Covid-19

To find out more about SeeAbility, visit their website here.

Read more of our case studies - click here.