Independent Living and Direct Payment
Once again we had a really successful turn out for our most recent Cardiff Storm event covering the South East at the end of June. We’d like to say a massive thank you to all those who attended the event and to our wonderful speakers. Despite it being the hottest day of the year and Cardiff being at its busiest with all the Robbie Williams fans milling around, everyone still made the effort and made their way to our event. The event was held at Little Man Coffee company in the city centre where we discussed ‘Employment Opportunities and Direct Payment’.
The wonderful John Sanders was the first on our line up. He spoke with the group about job applications, the interview process and when to “disclose” your sight loss/ disability. This session sparked a great discussion amongst the group, people shared their positive and negative experiences around all types of interviews. Hannah who’s 22 spoke about the difficulties of “disclosing” your sight loss during a group interview setting and how challenging it was. It was clear how complex the decision is of when, how and where you could and should “disclose” and what information is appropriate when applying for jobs in different sectors.
We then moved on to a presentation from the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) who spoke about the Access to Work Scheme, what it is, the process and what you may be entitled to. They also talked through a project that the DWP are running up until November 2017 called Work Choice, it’s a scheme that’s run through the job centres to support disabled adults into work. Another informative discussion came out of this session that helped everyone gain a much better understanding of what is available to them especially through the job centre.
Up next was Owen Williams, director of WCB who gave a short introduction to Direct Payments and held a discussion about what people knew and listening to anyone’s stories and experiences.
After reflecting on the last few hours we decide that John Sanders would run another session around identity in the workplace and owning your eye condition in the next Cardiff Storm event. We’re looking at titling the next Southeast Storm Event as Inspiration and holding it in late Autumn.
If you’re interested in attending the next Southeast Storm event or want to know when the next one in your area will be please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
