When Shaun met the Mayor of Rotherham

On Wednesday 14th May it was a privilege to meet the Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Sheila Cowen, to talk about the work we do at Speakup Self Advocacy, an organisation based in Rotherham that I work for as well as IC Works, explains expert Shaun Webster.

I went to see the Mayor with Speakup to talk about our work on employment.

The Mayor told us about being a kid herself, growing up in a working-class family when her father was a coal miner. She also told us about her disability and about her experience of going to school. We got to know her better.

She told us about her previous work, about being a woman working for the council and her experience in politics.

I told her about my experience of having a learning disability, a learning difficulty, Dyslexia and a short-term memory problem.

I told the Mayor about my Dad, who said I would never live on my own, get married, have kids, and never get a job. I proved him wrong. I also told her that I got my MBE in 2015, and how shocked my Dad was when I showed him the medal. I was very proud of myself, I never looked back, and stopped thinking about him.

I told the Mayor about all the countries I have been to, and she was very surprised. I told her that I have been to Bulgaria, Moldova and the Czech Republic to train social workers and support workers. I also trained people with mild learning disabilities doing peer-to-peer support.

She said she was impressed with me.

I told her about all the jobs I am doing at the moment, such as the work that IC Works does, and the work I do for St Mary's Hospital, and how I recorded a video CV to get the job at St Mary's Hospital and that my current manager let me do my video CV.

The Mayor said, “You were thinking outside of the box about your video CV. It was a good idea💡!”

I told her about my life, work experience, and the skills I learned, and why I am very happy and proud of myself.