Report transcript in: Sams a young man with learning disabilities living in Greenwich talks about whats important to him

Please Report the Errrors?

this computer.

I forget it does that.

So Hi, Sam.

Just to check before we start with this, um, interview,

you're happy to be recorded today.

Yes, I am.

Yeah.

And you're happy for the recording to be used

as part of the Greenwich Day opportunities work?

Yes. I'm fine with that. Brilliant. That's great. Thank you, Sam.

So I'm just going to get you to start Sam by

saying a little bit about yourself and who you are,

and

yeah.

Yeah.

Hello.

My name is, um, Bolton. I am

21 years old, and I live in,

I am

went to, um

Deans field for primary school and, uh, stationed

at Academy for

secondary school, sixth form.

Um,

you know, after, um,

couple of years looking for work. I've

eventually secured a

job as a quality checker for

a green,

Um,

only a bit of training at the moment, but I'll

be, uh, checking services to

see if they are accessible to people with learning disabilities.

Probably as soon as all instructions would end.

Do you enjoy your work, Sam?

Um, yes, I do, actually.

Yeah.

Are there any other things that you would like to do or is this Is this, like,

the job that you really

you really want to do?

Um,

I would ideally like to get into insurance, but

I I'm happy with where I'm at in the moment.

Yeah, that's that's good.

Um, and And what? What sort of things do you do as a quality checker?

Um, I think like, um,

that's, um,

sending out questionnaire to getting a input.

Yeah.

What what other things do you do then? In in the day?

Sam, What other Do you have any hobbies or interests that you do?

Oh, I do have lots of hobbies.

Um, rock music. Um,

hiking, camping,

cooking, uh,

bigger paying wall gaming. Um,

films. Um,

great.

Be reading

and, um,

trying out new activities.

What sort of new activities do you like to try?

Um,

in a couple of a couple of weeks back. I did, um, indoor skydiving.

Was that fun?

Yeah, it

was.

Yeah, I I did that once, quite a long time ago.

Now, when my eldest is, he's now nearly 17. Actually, I think he was four. When?

When I did that. So, yes, it's quite a long time ago, but

yeah. Did you fly right to the top of the

tunnel.

Oh,

yes, I did. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's quite powerful, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah.

And And what? What? What sort of other things? What? When?

When you're out and about Sam doing, you know,

doing your hobbies and activities and stuff.

Do you do that? Do you do that on your own?

Do you do that independently, or do you have support? Or, um

um I usually, um,

do that with my dad and,

uh, sometimes with my brother as well.

And sometimes my uncle comes on

all as well.

Do you have? Do you have?

Do you have friends that you go and do activities with Sam?

Um,

um,

not in the moment, but I hope to be doing some, um, at

some point. Just

been a bit busy lately. At the moment.

Yeah. Do you think the coronavirus is has made a difference as well.

To be able

to see people that, you know,

um, it's definitely made me more of a desire to see them again.

Yeah.

Yeah,

and it's been a hard it's been It's been a tough year, hasn't it?

So,

Yeah, I

I've never been, uh, using um,

public transport rate.

Really? Since the pandemic.

Um,

is that something that you did a lot before? Sam?

Um,

yeah, I I

I use public transport quite a bit.

And you do that again. Do you do that by yourself?

Do you Do you get on the bus or the train or

Yeah, I think,

but But on public transport, by myself. Yeah.

Yeah.

And what, Where?

What sorts of places do you like to go when you can get on the public transport?

Um,

when the, um

I i in around London

That

pro. It's mainly, um,

So I'm going to concerts or going or

then going to interviews

I use public transport for

Yeah. So where do you go to concerts? Um

um,

couple of venues that are popular, popular. The venues near 02,

uh, one called the round house, which I think

is, uh, the way

are you

couple of times the atmosphere. Apollo.

Wow. So they're good venues. Yeah,

yeah, I know. I know.

I I've never been in the 02 arena, but I have been to the roundhouse a long,

long time ago.

I used to live in London when I was a teenager,

so I lived over in battery, so

I I know. I know. Bits and bobs of it reasonably,

reasonably. Well,

um, I like any excuse to come back to London for me. I love it.

It's a good city. It's a good city.

So, Sam, are there any things that you really want to talk about yourself?

You know, anything you want to tell me?

Um,

yeah.

How's it been? How? What?

What have you enjoyed about being part of the, um, challenge team?

Um,

not

that there's a chance to, uh, make a difference for people like me.

And why is that important?

Um,

this the subs.

Some people have, uh, things, uh,

we can't do it.

It some things

they get left behind.

And I'm just, um

Well, mate,

make our voices heard that

our opinions do matter, and,

uh, we can do some things

that we have.

OK,

go. Go on, Sam. Sorry. Carry on. Carry on.

You can

that. Maybe some.

Maybe some reasonable adjustments.

Yeah, one, um,

interview I attended via sim. I didn't get the role, but it's not because, um

I didn't do anything wrong because, um

I want some more experience.

And the reason why I didn't, like,

quite fail in the interview was, um, asked for reasonable adjustments beforehand.

Such as, uh,

um, asking for the questions in advance.

And did they? Were they happy to do that for you?

Oh, yeah, they were.

Yeah. And that makes a big difference. Does it?

you?

Yeah, it certainly made a difference.

Yeah, it definitely. It definitely helped me in getting the quality check job.

That's that's good. That's that's just it.

It might not seem like a big thing to a lot of people, but it But it does.

It does make a difference, doesn't it?

Yeah.

And you You said, Sam that, um

that that that you feel that people like yourself get left behind.

How does that

make you feel? When when you don't think people are listening to to you or

it does make me feel frustrated.

Hm.

And And why do you think? Why do you feel frustrated?

Um,

and they're not really considering my, uh, feelings and thoughts and needs.

And what do you think people could do differently

so that you didn't feel frustrated?

and, um,

probably uh, listen more and,

uh, fully take on what I say.

And also, I think for me to, uh, probably speak up a bit more as well.

Yeah, I'm getting better at it, but

and sometimes I still need to do that.

I was gonna say Is Is that is that hard to speak up?

Um,

I suppose

Well, it is a bit especially in regards to, um,

what I'm feeling,

but I'm getting better at it.

What?

What's helping you to get better at it?

Do you think it's just that you are speaking up more?

Yes, that's right.

Yeah. And do you think there's some is?

Is there anything that people could do to help?

You'd be able to speak up more?

hm.

Um, maybe not the other people, but, I mean, just

probably to remind myself, um,

that

in the fact that there aren't any rules to, um

but

what now you speak?

Hm. That's really important, isn't it? So it's

It's that it's you

in in a sense, isn't it having the confidence to know that you can say what

is important to you

and what matters?

Yeah. And how does it feel when you can say what matters and what's important to you.

um,

being

like a great, like weight lifted off my shoulders, you know what I mean?

Mm. I do.

I do.

And

do you feel that people are listening more then if you're speaking up more?

Um,

yes, yes, I do.

Do do Do you have any? And you might not.

So that's OK, but do you have any, um, stories or examples of when

you've spoken up and

people have listened and something has changed?

Um,

I don't have any examples, I'm afraid.

No, it's fine. It's hard to remember.

They probably are, but it's just it's just remembering them.

That was quite a difficult question

for for me to for me to put you on the spot with, so that that's OK. Yeah.

Yeah.

So what? What are the things that do really matter

to you, Sam?

Um, I suppose, um,

family and friends, Um, my hobbies, Um,

my health and well being and my job.

So what's what's important about your health and well being?

Um,

and just, um,

wanna be, um, fit as health and healthy as possible.

And what do you do to help stay fit and healthy.

Um,

at the moment, I've been going to the gym quite a lot, so

that helps.

Hm.

Is that Is the gym open again? Now?

Um,

yes,

yes. Well, it is closer to where I live.

Yeah, it was it closed during the, um,

lockdowns.

I would think so. Yeah. Yeah.

So and do you go to the gym by yourself or or do you go with some friends? Um,

sometimes with my dad, Um, sometimes by

myself.

And do they say it depends

on if he's if he's busy or not?

And do they do they know you at the gym?

Um,

I would think so.

Yeah. Do Do they support you? If you need.

Are they Are they around to help or give you advice or

make sure everything's OK for you

at the gym?

I would think so,

but

But I'm

I kind of have a fairly

fair understanding what's going on.

And

my dad, my dad helps me as well.

So you don't You don't need a lot of support

when you're there because you know what you're doing.

Yeah.

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, that's that's good.

Um, anything else you'd like to,

um,

talk about

Well, we've got the opportunity.

Well, I suppose, um

um, with, um,

health

service, it will be nice to, um, remind myself to, um,

ask for a reasonable adjustment.

It's like for,

um, job applications.

That's a really interesting one, Sam. And and maybe,

um,

that that's something that is that is that

something that advocacy help you with as as?

Well,

well, it helped me to understand that they are

well,

and they are reasonable adjustments.

So you know what you can ask for.

And, um, because I I I think that

in all job interviews,

really, people should be sent the questions beforehand.

I've done that when I've interviewed people sent them,

sent them the questions

beforehand.

Um,

because you want to get the best out of people.

Really not, Um,

not not just put them on the spot

or make them feel more stressed,

so yeah,

yeah.

Yeah.

And, um

what what would you

What do you What? What? What do you want to see change as part of this 100 day challenge

work?

Um,

um I suppose, um,

there's quite a lot of things, actually, Um,

I suppose, um

for them to, um,

listen to

the input of, like, family and friends because they

have their best interests at heart. I mean,

my dad, my mom and my brothers, my best interests at heart always.

Yeah. Might be to,

um,

for them to, uh, try out like,

um,

adventurous activities. Because, uh,

um because it probably increased their

of confidence, like it? Definitely. Um,

increase my self confidence. I'm not doing, like camping, hiking, but

trying out new things. Like,

of course, indoor skydiving and scuba diving. And

yeah, also, um,

uh,

health services and job applications wanted to make sure that

that ask for reasonable adjustments because it will help them.

And at

working, having a job is really important to you.

Why? Why is it important?

Um,

I suppose, um,

as well as making new friends there also, um,

enables me to, um me with shit

in turn enables me to like

I I feel my hobby is

well,

so it helps you be more independent, does it and do

do things that you want to do.

Um,

yeah,

he does. Yeah, he does a bit.

Yeah.

And

what things do you think? Um,

the organisations that support people with learning disabilities. Um,

should be doing differently.

Hm.

Oh,

that's a That's a big one, isn't it? What?

Yeah. What? So,

um,

I suppose what? What do you think?

Um,

so there's lots of people involved in the 100

day challenge work from lots of different places.

So there's people from the council, and there's people from health.

And there's people from

the leisure services and and and lots of different places.

And if if you were to say to some of those people, actually,

can you please do this

differently? Or if you did things, um, in in this way, it would help me more.

Does that? Does that make sense?

Yeah,

Well, I suppose I'm I'm always like,

uh uh,

more of a visual learner. Like

an auditory and

kinesthetic. So,

like,

like, following up with any written is written stuff would be good. And

like, um,

no, like,

well, I think no, like

or band.

Uh,

that'll be good as well.

I anticipate my delay in response.

And also say my name 1st.

1st, if they want to talk to me,

Yeah, they're really good tips. Um, really important.

And And you you said something there about giving you time

to respond

to things

that that's really important to you.

Yes, it is.

Yeah.

Yeah,

because you just need a bit of time to think. And

yeah, it'll be easy if I add the questions in advance, but

if I don't there Is that delay.

Yeah,

Yeah, and that's that's fine. That's that's really important for people to know.

Um, and And just to give you a little bit of time to

To think to think through

what? What you want to respond with Because we don't always know

what some of the questions are.

I suppose,

um,

might

maybe have difficulty understanding the question itself.

Yeah.

And you need to be able to say, I don't understand that.

And for people to Yeah.

Yeah,

because often

I don't understand.

Um,

and and lots of other people don't understand, but we're not very good.

Sometimes, as people are saying,

Actually, can you

can you say that a different way?

Or can you reword the question because I'm not understanding.

Yeah,

yeah,

yeah.

So yeah. No, it was really, um really enjoyed

talking to you, Sam.

Um,

lots of really good stuff that you've you've shared with me.

Uh, is there anything else? Um,

before we do draw to a close,

um, and then

go on. Yeah. Let let's let's let's finish this bit. And then I'll stop the recording.

And then and then we can chat again.

Um, if if there's anything else, but is there anything else you want to stay before?

Say before I stop the recording?

Um,

I'll say, um, if anyone, um,

will use, um,

public transport. Um, maybe, um,

noting down like the

route or stops may help.

Uh,

I may

not eat.

I'm o I'm OK with not you doing that because I have a strong memory. But

I appreciate that

that some people may not have that, so

that might help.

Yeah, that is really helpful.

Yeah.

So did did somebody teach you to use public transport?

Sam, did you get some support to be able to do that,

or have you always just been able to,

um, with this strong memory, I've always had it.

I've always had a strong good, a good, strong memory. Um

um,

with public transport,

they

have a little help with family. But over time, I've got more used to it.

So it's having the confidence to be able to

just go off and

get get on the bus or the train or

yeah,

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah,

that's good.

thank you, Sam. I'm gonna stop. I'll stop the

I'll stop the

recording.

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Author

cat@curatorsof…

Post date

04/06/2021