Learning disabilities Nurturing Hajra’s hopes and dreams with specialist support!
Like any young person in their 20s, Hajra has big dreams and ambitions she hopes to one day fulfil. But opportunities to make her dreams a reality haven’t come easily.
Hajra is a person we support with autism and learning disabilities. She’s non-verbal and finds communication difficult. Along with her special learning needs, she also needs a helping hand in many areas of daily life. From accessing the local community, to pursuing her hobbies and interests, expert support ensures she accesses the right opportunities and keeps her safe when doing so.
Every day, Hajra attends our specialist support service Acorns, located just four miles from Leeds city centre. Here, our specially trained autism and learning disabilities support team ensures she receives the right support for her needs.
Wrapped with the reassurance of her expertly trained team, she’s empowered to venture out into the world and make all her dreams come true.
Since joining Acorns, Hajra’s reached for the stars and firmly started ticking off some aspirations from her list. Thanks to our person-centred approach to her support, her team at Acorns identified she wanted to gain some work experience.
Knowing what a kind, caring person Hajra is, they understood the value and pride she might achieve from volunteering.
Wasting no time, they set to work with Hajra, finding the right opportunity to fulfil her biggest ambition yet!
Finding purpose
When she first joined Acorns six years ago, Hajra lacked confidence and couldn’t find purpose in her daily life. Even though she had a happy childhood in a loving home, her autism and learning disabilities presented her with many social obstacles.
Struggling with communication, she felt unable to effectively express her thoughts and feelings. Hajra understood other people, but other people misunderstood her. She often felt lost in the world.
Once she’d left school, Hajra was keen to move forward and embrace adulthood. But she and her family knew she’d need specialist support to navigate the world around her and manage her ongoing needs.
Deep down, Hajra wanted more than just support to live an average life. A lengthy list of aspirations was locked in her heart. She longed for a future filled with opportunities and adventures. Hajra wanted to make her life meaningful and discover her purpose.
Aware of the obstacles society presents to people with autism and learning disabilities, she worried she’d never find her purpose. Naturally creative with a modern mind, Hajra was rapidly becoming a big advocate for equal opportunities.
Hajra knew she had potential. She wanted to learn new skills and make a difference in the world. To make this happen, she just needed the right people to believe in her.
Seeking specialist support
That’s when Hajra and her family found Voyage Care. Wishing to remain at home with her family, we offered her the option of attending Acorns, our nearby day service.
After visiting Acorns for the first time, Hajra bubbled with excitement. She was certain this was where she would take the first steps on her path of self-exploration. This was where her hopes and dreams would come true.
Enveloped by a blanket of green fields and rustling trees, it was the perfect spot for a creative and curious individual like Hajra.
With her many hidden passions and talents, Acorns was well appointed to promote Hajra’s creative interests! From art and design, to cooking, baking and gardening, her new home-from-home would nurture her talents and engage her in all her favourite activities.
With an activities program including dedicated art and music sessions, they could help Hajra achieve her ambitions.
Creative communication
As soon as Hajra joined Acorns, her team set to work designing a person-centred support plan. Collaborating with Hajra, they took the time to understand her needs and how they impact her life. Together, they established her interests and passions.
Identifying what was important to her, they set out some goals and created a plan to ensure they were within her reach.
Although Hajra had her goals ready and waiting, she hadn’t pursued any of them. Our team took the time to understand why and recognised communication as a key barrier for Hajra. Unable to express herself impacted her confidence and prevented her from taking the steps needed to achieve her aspirations.
Drawing on their expert training, our specialist team at Acorns gently engaged in a range of communication methods with Hajra. Quickly, they identified she was comfortable using a combination of British Sign Language and Makaton. Fortunately, Acorns are experienced with these methods and helped further develop Hajra’s communication skills.
Each day, Hajra’s confidence increased. Feeling empowered with her new ways of communicating, she was ready to take the world by storm. Eager to start ticking off goals from her list, she started discussing them with her support team.
With open, honest, and clear communication, they worked together to identify her biggest goals, and what steps they would take to achieve them.
Now, the only question was which goal would she set out to achieve first?
Using her creative communication methods, Hajra expressed to her team that she wanted to get a part-time job. Understanding how important this was to Hajra, they put their heads together and started sourcing the perfect opportunity for her.
Strong community connections
Before joining Acorns, the road to getting a job wouldn’t have been smooth for Hajra. With social stigmas and a lack of inclusive employers, opportunities are limited for people with autism or learning disabilities.
Knowing they might not be able to secure paid employment for Hajra, our team explored other options with her. Naturally kind and caring, Hajra was over the moon at the thought of volunteering in her local community.
With their strong community connections, the team were confident they could find the right place for Hajra to volunteer. Keen to involve her in the entire process, they took time to understand the type of placement she wanted.
Using a communication technique involving sequences of pictures, Hajra gave them a clear idea of where she’d like to work.
Armed with this information, the team connected Hajra with their local community radio station, Chapel FM.
As well as being a working radio station, Chapel FM is also a music studio and community art space. Creative, kind, and compassionate, this suited Hajra perfectly!
Local to the service, Chapel FM was ideally situated for Hajra and her team, as she required one-to-one support out in the community.
After discussing this opportunity with Hajra, the team could see how excited she was at the idea of working for a business that helps people. Our team at Acorns wasted no time contacting the radio station to enquire about a volunteering position for her.
Explaining to them Hajra’s needs, they immediately ensured Hajra’s welfare would be prioritised if she did secure a job there. To Hajra’s and the team’s delight, they were invited down to the station for an interview!
Recognising this as a significant opportunity, and change, in Hajra’s life, her team supported her to prepare for her meeting. Faithful to Hajra’s happiness, they took all the necessary steps to ensure interview success and make her biggest dream come true.
Ready to impress
Before attending her interview at the radio station, Hajra and her team took time to prepare. This was a new experience for Hajra and relied on communication, so her team ensured she was empowered with communication confidence.
Assuring Hajra that the interview was also an opportunity for her to get to know her future employer, they supported her to prepare some questions to ask them. This exercise alone boosted Hajra’s self-esteem!
When the day of her interview came around, Hajra was ready to impress! Aided by her support team and empowered with confidence, she had an instant impact on everyone at Chapel FM. Driven, determined, and dedicated to helping others, she was a source of inspiration throughout the interview process.
Because her team took initiative and communicated Hajra’s needs with the radio station, they ensured she was empowered throughout the interview process. The manager she met with had previous experience of working with people with autism. They ensured they adapted their communication style to suit Hajra’s needs and preferences. Structuring interview questions in a multiple-choice format, Hajra felt confident communicating her answers.
With her newfound confidence and feeling secure with the support of her future employer, Hajra smashed her interview and secured a position at Chapel FM!
Navigating change
For many people with autism, changes to routine and new environments can be challenging. With preference for a strict routine, adjustments can create fear, frustration, or anxiety.
Always prioritising Hajra’s welfare, her team understood her new work opportunity might be challenging to adapt to. They also knew how excited she was and how important this position was to her. Drawing on their autism expertise and experience, they laid out plans to gradually introduce the change to Hajra’s routine.
With her official start date agreed with Chapel FM, Hajra’s team started to simulate the process of going to work with her. She would be volunteering on Wednesdays, from 10am – 4pm. So, every Wednesday until she started, they got ready to go to work. Catching the bus, they made their way to the radio station. Eventually, they ventured into the building and started meeting the rest of the Chapel FM team.
For a short while, Hajra and her support team stayed for a couple of hours each day. This gave Hajra an opportunity to learn about the tasks she would be getting involved with. Because of her enthusiasm and excitement towards the role, Hajra quickly adapted to the changes. On just her third test run to Chapel FM, she stayed for an entire shift.
Hajra was officially ready to start her new vocation as a volunteer at Chapel FM!
Working girl
Working at Chapel FM has equipped Hajra with a wide range of skills. It’s also helped her find the purpose for which she was searching.
While on shift, she engages in a range of important tasks that contribute to the running of this vibrant, popular community space. Her role is diverse, and she splits her time across key areas of the venue.
Hajra is often the friendly face behind Chapel FM’s reception. She loves interacting with others and getting the opportunity to welcome visitors has boosted her confidence.
When she’s not on reception, Hajra’s busy keeping visitors hydrated and happy at the on-site café! One for keeping busy, Hajra also gets stuck in with cleaning tasks and making sure the community space is tidy.
Recognising Hajra as a woman of many talents, Chapel FM arranged for her to engage in an extra special task.
With support, Hajra ventures into the local community to hand out leaflets promoting Chapel FM’s work and upcoming events! Meeting new people has nurtured her communication skills and reinforced her sense of self-belief.
Before joining Acorns, Hajra only dreamed of playing such an active role in her community. Now she can meet a range of people and perform varied tasks, she’s eager to develop her role and play an even bigger part in her community!
Proud part to play
Since the day she joined Acorns, our team have witnessed Hajra’s impressive development. Recognising her as an individual with hopes, dreams, and bags of potential, they empowered her to set goals and achieve them with realistic steps.
From nurturing her passion for art, to supporting her in securing a volunteering role, they’ve remained a source of reassurance to Hajra. And she’s been a source of inspiration to them.
Proud to play a part in Hajra’s development, they’ve seen big changes in her. Happier and more confident, these changes have trickled into her home life.
Surrounded by people who understand her needs has improved Hajra’s outlook on life and assured her she can make her hopes and dreams a reality. Her family are proud of what she’s achieved since joining Voyage Care and we’re confident Hajra and her team at Acorns will keep reaching for the stars and ticking off even bigger goals.
Find out more
To find out more about our learning disabilities support and how we can help you, a loved one, or a client, fill out our simple enquiry form and a member of our team will be in touch.
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