Mark's story will resonate with Croydon's disabled community

13 July 2020

Disabled people have been among those groups hit hardest by Covid-19. A new campaign by international disability charity Leonard Cheshire is shining a spotlight on the challenges disabled people face gaining employment, which could be heightened after the pandemic.

One of a series of campaign films features Mark Luff, from Croydon, who has autism and ADHD and initially struggled to enter employment. The video is available on YouTube.

He became involved with Leonard Cheshire’s Change Works programme to build his confidence and find his first long term job last year, as a groundsman in Selsdon.

Mark said: “I’ve gone from finding it difficult to get into work to having a job I really like – which is not something many people can I say. I’m very thankful for that.

“Before joining Leonard Cheshire’s Change Works programme, I’d had a lot of problems with my confidence in approaching employers. If I did secure a job, the anxiety would then kick in and I’d have a lot of difficulty keeping it.”

According to the Office of National Statistics disabled people have been more impacted by the pandemic than any other marginalised group*. Meanwhile, the latest figures show Croydon’s disabled community face an unemployment rate of 13%**, more than six times that of people without a disability in the area (2%).

With an uncertain economic future ahead, the skills and employment programmes offered by Leonard Cheshire across the UK will be more important than ever for disabled job hunters.

Change Works supports disabled people across London to increase their employability and find and maintain employment. It also works with employers to ensure they are as inclusive as possible.

Mark said: “I really credit Change Works with helping me gain confidence in myself and realising what I can do. Before the programme started, I was trying to get a job as a labourer; I even did two days, one in each separate job, but neither lasted longer than a day.

“Change Works gave me more confidence and has helped me feel better about myself. This has made me better and has helped me express myself and helped me focus on what I need to do.”

Leonard Cheshire has other on-going projects across the London area including ‘Can Do’, our Skills Development Programme for disabled young people aged between 16 to 35 and ‘Change Now’ – targeting 11-25-year-olds with special educational needs and disabilities.

In total, over 1000 people receive support from Leonard Cheshire across the London area.

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*ONS figures from Coronavirus and the social impacts on disabled people in GB (May 2020) show 73.6% (7/10) of disabled people were “worried” or “very worried” about the effect that the coronavirus (COVID-19) was having on their life.

**Figures obtained from Office for National Statistics (ONS) APS Data December 2019

For further information, interviews, photos and case studies, please contact Sam Buckley in the Leonard Cheshire press office on Samuel.buckley@leonardcheshire.org or 0203 242 0204.

Leonard Cheshire

We are Leonard Cheshire – supporting individuals to live, learn and work as independently as they choose, whatever their ability.