Connor Man is a 23-year-old Super Soap Salesman. He was born at 22 weeks premature and overcame a cancerous brain tumour, fortunately now, he's in remission. He is registered blind, with 90 percent sight loss, and has Epilepsy. He has his own eyes and can distinguish between dark and light. Fortunately, he doesn't have hearing trouble.
The make a wish foundation who's aim is to help very poorly children's dreams come true, took Connor and his family to Florida.
Connor came to Clarity thanks to the LifeBridge SEND a registered charity, and a not-for-profit organisation. Lifebridge operate as a specialist post-19 years institution, providing education, enrichment and vocational opportunities to young adults between the ages of 19 and 25 with special educational needs and disabilities.
Lifebridge's priority is to support young adults with SEN (Special Education Needs) to prepare themselves for adulthood, work towards becoming more independent and ultimately gain employment.
Connor loves his telesales job at Ethical Clarity, I asked why he loves his work, "Working as a team, and the support that is given to me by staff and managers. It is such a brilliant organisation to work for, the support is second to none," Connor enthused. When asking about a suitable tagline for him which goes back to our TS checklist, (Talent and skills checklist,) Connor toyed between enthusiastic Connor or determined Connor. Having a suitable tagline for Connor built his confidence setting him apart.
He's never had to deal with supposed work programs that attempt to help people with unique abilities into employment or has fortunately never had to deal with the department for work and pensions., (DWP.) Connor totally understands the frustrations felt by disabled people in finding work, maintaining work, and having support while looking for work and being in employment. He thinks that "Education is the key. Companies need to be more aware of disability being a positive thing in the workforce. We overcome personal challenges every day, in employment, no hurdle can be too BIG we can conquer them as a team and a business"
We talked about the 3 Covid lockdowns and how Connor has found them. He responded, "I've not found them too bad. I carried on with Clarity telesales and had help from my brother Brandan." He would like to progress his telesales into opening a shop that sells Ethical Clarity products exclusively. (Nothing else other than our hard soaps and 500ml pump action dispenser hand washes and hand sanitisers.)
Connor would gladly offer to pay some of the rent for his shop premises by giving some of his earnings back to Ethical CLARITY, very few organisations have staff this dedicated. Thus, it is clear from this that he wants to be part of the Ethical CLARITY movement in a bigger capacity. Connor has tremendous ambition and drive to encourage more of his peers into a career in sales. Through his experience, he can broaden our soap sphere to more staff and customers. Ethical CLARITY has a clear message that disABILITY means unique ABILITY and all talents should be nurtured and embraced no matter how big or how small.
Connor doesn't feel the need for a personal care budget, nor a Personal Assistant. If you go back to our blog on loneliness and disability, getting out and about and having human contact can have a lot of advantages, and not having it can lead to all sorts of problems, ranging from dementia to heart disease. He aims to go to LifeBridge plus which, in Connor's words, "helps with social things, and I want to go on BMX biking. I love it. I've not been doing it for years, though I want to get back on it again."
Amazingly, Connor hasn't had a history of anxiety or depression. He says he eats a well-balanced diet. "I eat a good breakfast," Connor said, although he didn't elaborate on this. He is a real mac daddy. He has an apple mac, and doesn't have a desktop with jaws for windows, and is solely reliant on Mac products, iPhone being chief amongst them. Connor doesn't like reading braille though.
I also asked a question taken from our TS checklist. If Connor had a million pounds, what would he do to help people with unique abilities? Connor responded, “I would buy several houses, adapt them to what the disabled person needed, then rent them out.: That’s a great ambition.
In concluding this blog, I think Connor is a brilliant super salesman, and he should further his ambitions, working for our Ethical Recruitment Solutions movement. I think that his business ambition should be given great consideration, and I think that with the right support, we can make Connor's aspirations a reality.