It is crazy to think that it has been more than half a year since I first met Harry back in the summer: we had collectively just survived both a non-embarrassing World Cup and a month of the average temperature being roughly “hotter than the sun”; but I will try not to get too overly sentimental in my penultimate (Dun Dun!) blog as I start to reflect back on the entirety of the scheme with Harry. (Can’t promise that the ultimate blog won’t be completely devoid of sentiment however – hankies at the ready for that one)
One really nice problem that we have
been having recently when scheduling our sessions is that Harry is much more
busy now than he used to be which is making scheduling sessions that much more
difficult! He is now working in a Charity Shop every Wednesday, going on
outings with his Youth Group every Friday and on Mondays he has started
rehearsals for a musical he is going to be playing piano for and performing in
in the autumn (fingers crossed for a free ticket here).
As I’ve mentioned in a
previous blog, I am not going to deign to take any credit for work and classes
that he is doing off his own back with no help from me, however I like to think
that perhaps some of the soft skills and self-confidence that we have worked on
developing during our sessions together this last half-year has helped him to
perform these tasks even better than if he had never met me. As we catch-up in
general in our sessions it has just been really nice to hear about him keeping
gradually more busy and getting out there making his dent in the world,
especially when compared with when we first met, Harry having just finished
college, and our sessions were one of the few things he was getting up to. I’ve
experienced the school to real-world transition myself (some many years
ago now) and know that it isn’t easy.
As well as having a few more catch-up
sessions where we have spent more time working through scenarios and “disaster
planning” to try and build some adversity, Harry has also started doing his
work-shadowing placements here at Zurich. Most recently Harry spent a session
with the team in the post-room, learning a little about what they do and then
helping them do their rounds of the offices (I’m sure Harry was also relieved
to see some fresh faces after so many hours spent in the office with just me
for company!). I took Harry down to the post room to meet Clive and the post
team, and made sure both him and the post room team had my number if they
needed me to come down for whatever reason, however having seen him cope with
every obstacle I have thrown his way to date I was not at all surprised that
this was not needed. I came back a few hours later to Harry still enthusiastically
gabbing away to the team, as Clive informed me that he “had never learnt so
much about Harry Potter before” (I guess I was only slightly surprised that
Harry hadn’t yet moved on to discussions of the latest Doctor Who episode).
More words from Clive below:
“I would like to say that Harry was an
absolute pleasure to have for the short time he was with us. This is one of
those things that I personally get as much from as Harry did, I probably learnt
more from Harry than he did from me.”
Off the back of this blog I was
recently asked to introduce a talk being given by Alex Manners in Zurich’s
London Office for a Disability Inclusion Group Network Event. Alex is an
absolutely charming young man with Asperger’s who is making a living detailing
his experiences, with a long-term aim of one-day becoming a TV Presenter - which
I fully expect this to happen by the way, at which point I will sell attached
the photo of him and myself for millions (read more about him here:
<thealexmanners.com>).
Given that both young men have been diagnosed as
being at certain points on the autistic spectrum, I would imagine that there
are certain similarities in conditions, symptoms and shared experiences that
they would both have, however one thing that I have always emphasised on this
blog is that no one is defined by any condition or disability that they may
have – we all have different areas where we may need more help than others.
After spending the day with Alex I still stand by that completely, and in my
introduction where I reflected on my experiences with Harry, I talked about the
main similarity I saw between the two men being the inner resilience they both
possessed – perhaps developed from having more hurdles in life to overcome than
many.
And finally to finish off this month’s
blog I will engage in a small piece of (relatively) shameless self-promotion.
Harry’s mum was recently asked her thoughts on how she feels that Harry has
found the mentoring so far and emailed this back to us:
“Harry seems more confident,
especially with meeting new people and in travelling independently now… Today he
was confident enough to take a packed lunch and spend 1 1/2 hours on his own in
town waiting for his appointment with Pete today at 2.30pm - something which he
wouldn't have done before the program began… I think Harry is more confident
and especially now within a bigger office work environment. I want to
personally thank you for accepting Harry onto the programme and also Pete for
the positive help, support and kindness he has shown Harry… I would highly
recommend this scheme to other young people and also encourage other mentors to
get involved, as I think they would benefit from the experience too and gain
insight into the difficulties young people with special needs have in gaining
suitable employment.”
Full saccharine disclosure ahead: I very
rarely get the opportunity to share feedback from work with my own mum, but the
above comments were a rare occasion where I was thrilled Mum
“…And so I face, the final curtain”
#MyMenteeAndMe #LoveVolunteering #InspiringOthers #LifeatZurich
