Our candidate Tom, who has the tagline Tom the awesome autistic artist, got his tagline from his TS checklist. I first met and his mother in early 2019. Tom had previously amassed a degree in Illustration. After his degree, he wasn't given any help from university professionals or from DWP to help find work. Tom and his mum came to us from breaking barriers whose founder has children with autism and who helps those with autism and their families in all manners of support.
Tom's mother burst into tears on their first meeting with us. "Tom is stuck in his room. All this work we've all put in, and it's all in there waiting to come out!" She said. Seeing and hearing your child in emotional and-or physical pain leaves you in pain. You feel helpless and powerless yet with a burning ambition to make your child happy, though many of us with disabilities don't know how to go about this.
I took Tom’s mum’s hand and I promised her that we would help her in every way we could manage. I told her of my challenges, and it appeared to help.
Tom started on his P2E journey, and we helped him make databases of businesses and people who wanted pet portraits. On week 8 of his journey, we went to a business meeting. He was very introverted and shy at first. He managed to do a pet portrait for several members of staff, and then gradually, this expanded to talking in front of groups of people when we did presentations to groups.
On talking to both Tom and his mother today, even 3 covid lockdowns later, and a huge jump in cases, Tom and his mum still think we’re amazing. “We took Tom out, and he excelled in confidence,” Tom’s mum said. As for tom’s pet portraits, Tom admitted, “I don’t do many anymore,” though his mum countered, “He does still draw at night. It will always be with him.”
Tom has gained employment at B and M putting prices on items. Tom’s mother also stressed how reliable he was. “He works 8 hours a week, he works from 7 AM until 11 on Saturday, and from half 9 until half 1 PM on a Sunday. When several of the employers are late because they have been drinking on a Friday night, Tom doesn’t drink, so he’s reliable and dedicated.”
Tom says "I miss Sophia, Frank and Neil so much, and hopefully when you get Bolton marketplace, I want to pop in and say hello." Tom also admitted that he preferred working with us face to face.
I reassured him that he'll be always on our books, and he would never be spat out on the other side and forgotten. We see too many instances of this, and we help candidates, mean what we say and do, all the way through.
Tom's mum also ended the call by buying a hair body and laundry bar. For more info on our beautiful soap collection, please visit
Www.ethicalclarity.org. We even give you a 10% discount if you use the promo code Sophia10.
We feel passionate about all we do.