Focus on Employability

1. Focus on Employability 2. Social Impact Report 2017/18

Ryan Kyle October 2017

Run by RNIB Scotland, in partnership with Glasgow City Council

Project Reference: 013-10 Introduction RNIB Scotland, with the support of Glasgow City Council, is in the third and final year of delivering Focus on Employability (FOE). This report will demonstrate the results achieved from April 2017 to October 2017, but also celebrate the positive social impact that FOE has had on the lives of blind and partially-sighted people in Glasgow. By capturing the progress of our customers after six months, this report also highlights the potential for the latter half of the year; focusing on our next steps as a project to ensure people with sight-loss engage with services and feel confident in doing so.

FOE’s target outcomes for year 2017/18 are as follows:

Work with 15 new and 20 existing customers Run six employability courses for 30 people Run an additional six specific courses for 30 people Engage with 12 new employers per year Ensure six employers host work placements Hold two employer events for 16 employers Ensure six young people move into mainstream services Ensure eight young people demonstrate progress using the Employment Assessment Toolkit. Develop an operational group for partner organisations

What we have achieved at a glance:

Our target is to work with 35 customers, and we are on course to surpass this as we have already worked with 32. We have run courses for 24 people, with a target of 60. We have engaged with 17 new employers, already surpassing our yearly target of 12. We have secured work placements for eight customers, which is one more than our yearly target of seven. A total of 19 employers attended our recent employer event, beating our target of 16 across two events. We have supported six young people to access mainstream services such as college, on par with our yearly target of six.

What we do

From 01 April 2017, Focus on Employability has already had a notable social impact on the lives of unemployed blind and

2 partially-sighted people in Glasgow. FOE has directly supported 14 existing and 18 new customers through its one-to-one employment advice, weekly group-work sessions and various training courses.

This combination of specialist guidance, social interaction and employment-related support has raised aspirations among our customers, improved their confidence and reduced social isolation.

Below are some case studies of how this has been achieved:

One-to-one support: A customer who has particularly benefited from FOE’s one-to-one support is Moira, who at 47-years-old was delighted when she received the necessary support to create her first-ever CV. Moira has had several barriers impacting her ability to work, as well as her sight-loss, but her confidence has grown as a result of FOE’s pre-employment guidance, whereby she now believes that she is capable of working. Moira said she took her CV home to show her family and couldn’t believe how many skills she had been able to identify from her previous work. She is now actively looking for volunteering or paid opportunities as a result.

Group-work sessions: Having lost his sight almost 10 years ago, Graeme became socially-isolated very quickly. Graeme has enjoyed the social aspect and routine of coming to the weekly Employment Hub, where he feels he has learned from the experiences of other blind and partially-sighted people. As a result of these regular and routine interactions, Graeme is far more confident and feels his day-to-day life has improved greatly. He is currently looking for voluntary work and feels positive that one day he can use his experience to help others overcome challenges.

Training: Jason spent three years being self-employed before his sight began to rapidly deteriorate. Given his lack of useful vision, he believed that he would never work again and his confidence began to diminish alongside his sight. Jason is now a regular customer with RNIB and recently took part in training to touch-type (more details below). This has given him the self-belief and motivation to learn the basic IT skills that would be required if he were to go back to his old line of work. Jason plans to engage with different services in Glasgow – such as his local library - to learn these skills, while continuing to practice touch-typing and learning about different access technology as part of FOE.

3 Courses

Training to Touch Type

Seven blind and partially-sighted Glasgow customers took part in Training to Touch Type, a training session initially delivered by RNIB’s Online Today project and continued over the course of 2017-18 by Focus on Employability.

This was organised as a way of showing the capability of using a computer without sight. By using Azabat software and discussing various other forms of access technology, such as JAWS, customers left feeling confident that a computer is not something to be anxious or afraid of. Those who attended shared their experiences of feeling frustrated when being expected to be able to use a PC without sufficient training or support. FOE is committed to providing that, along with specialist advice on access equipment, and utilising other Glasgow-based services to support them in learning the basics.

Independent Living Skills

In August 2017, FOE and RNIB Scotland’s Looking to the Future project worked together to organise a three day residential for a group of eight young people to learn independent living skills. Of these eight customers, three were Glasgow-based, and feedback gathered suggests it was a positive experience.

From the evaluation, Glasgow customers who attended felt more confident in the following areas: expressing how they feel, self- advocacy, preparing a meal, budgeting money, finding their own accommodation and planning journeys on public transport. These skills are all imperative to young blind and partially-sighted people becoming independent, however perhaps the most rewarding aspect of this was providing an opportunity for socially isolated young people to meet others with similar barriers and challenges.

Welfare Advice

4 Eight customers, four of whom were new to FOE, attended a Welfare Advice talk on Tuesday 5 September 2017. This one hour session was organised by Focus on Employability, and delivered by RNIB Scotland’s See Me Right service.

The was arranged as a result of the many enquiries received from existing FOE customers about Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Customers shared positive and negative experiences of the application/appeal process for these benefits, asked questions and received specialist advice on how to articulate the barriers they face in order to successfully claim what they are entitled to. A particular highlight of this session was the diverse group of attendees, as FOE made efforts to engage with under-represented communities in Glasgow.

Equality and Empowerment

On 24 October 2017, FOE worked in partnership with Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living to deliver a training course on Equality and Empowerment to seven blind and partially-sighted people.

The course is designed to raise aspirations, while teaching those in attendance about their rights under the Equality Act 2010. By exploring the history of the Disability Movement and the social/medical models of disability, customers were made aware that, while barriers do exist, they are not impossible to overcome.

Feedback gathered from the course was extremely positive, with 100% of customers who attended saying that they were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the training. In addition to this, all customers said they would be “very likely” to recommend the training to others. Comments included:

“I found the videos and images of life experiences very interesting. I also enjoyed finding out about different discrimination.”

“The most important part of the course for me was finding out how to use the law to protect myself against discrimination.”

Ian Watt, who is a volunteer with Focus on Employability, also attended the course and engaged in discussions surrounding language use and equality. This is an important element of

5 volunteer development that FOE is keen to continue in the latter six months of 2017/18.

Employer Engagement

A large part of FOE’s work this year has been, and will continue to be, employer engagement. Evidence suggests that the majority of employers have a negative attitude to employing a blind or partially sighted person, which undoubtedly contributes to the worrying figure that only around a quarter of registered blind and partially sighted people of working age are in employment, compared with around three quarters of the UK general population. Government schemes such as Access to Work and developments in the use of technology means that job opportunities for blind and partially sighted people have expanded considerably. However, despite those advances, there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of registered blind and partially sighted people of working age in any form of employment over the last decade.

Despite this, FOE has supported its customers to secure eight work placements with Glasgow-based employers including RNIB Connect Radio, Volunteer Glasgow, Theatre Nemo, FIKA Café, Oxfam and British Heart Foundation. With numerous customers making great progress on a personal level, it is expected that the number of customers securing work placements through FOE will continue to increase in the next six months.

By engaging with Glasgow-based employers, FOE is highlighting the many ways that they can recruit or retain blind and partially- sighted people, by providing valuable information, resources and demonstrating how capable our customers are when they have adequate support to work effectively. As of October 2017, FOE has engaged with 17 new employers, with 19 employers also attending our successful Employer Event, detailed below. Employer Event – Wednesday 4 October 2017

As part of FOE’s commitment to engage with employers in Glasgow and influence positive change, a decision was made to organise and deliver an event in the city’s Millennium Hotel. This

6 was arranged in partnership with RNIB Scotland’s wider Employment team, with 19 employers in attendance.

As part of the event, titled “See the Bigger Picture”, employers had the opportunity to hear the experiences of both someone with sight-loss who is in employment, and also someone who has employed numerous blind or partially-sighted people. These first- hand accounts, as well as speeches from RNIB Scotland’s Director, Chair and Employment Manager, were followed by an hour of networking where FOE made useful links to other services.

List of organisations in attendance:

Citizens Advice Bureau Home Start Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce Glasgow Housing Association NHS 24 Shaw Trust Department of Work & Pensions Tennents Training Academy Learn Direct Action on Hearing Loss Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living Glasgow Guarantee Flourish House Sainsbury’s Skills Development Scotland RNIB

Partnership Work

Focus on Employability has worked to improve its partnership work with other mainstream and specialist services in Glasgow. This is evident in the events and courses that have been organised to date, detailed elsewhere in this report. While FOE provides an imperative service that isn’t available elsewhere, it is in our customers’ interests to expand the support they receive and for the project to support them in doing so.

7 This partnership work does not only relate to external services, and where appropriate, FOE has worked in partnership with other services within RNIB to achieve its goals. For example, in the coming months, FOE will deliver an employability course in partnership with Looking to the Future (RNIB’s transitions project that supports young blind and partially-sighted people) and Uddingston Grammar School, which has a VI unit and a high number of students with sight-loss.

In the last six months, FOE has been signposting customers to services around finance, work experience and other employment- related support. When there is a demand for information that doesn’t concern employment, they are often referred to services such as the Citizens Advice Bureau or the RNIB Helpline, depending on the issue.

Customer Case Studies

Daaruk

Having lost all of his sight in 2010, Daaruk felt he could no longer work in a restaurant and believed he would be consigned to a life of unemployment. As Daaruk struggled to come to terms with the fact that his vision had all but gone, he began to feel extremely isolated as he began to notice how little independence he had.

Daaruk has benefited greatly from FOE’s weekly group-work and one-to-one support, in terms of his self-belief and confidence. However he has also shown a good level of commitment and put in the work to become more employable. By taking on specialist employment advice, he has now landed two voluntary positions that he is thoroughly enjoying, while also engaging with other Glasgow-based services such as GCIL’s Open Door programme.

One of these positions is in interpreting, as Daaruk is a fluent Punjabi speaker. He is now registered as an interpreter for Voiceover Glasgow, Scottish Refugee Council and the British Red Cross. By focusing on the skills he has in communication, he is beginning to realise that there are opportunities for him. He is also volunteering as a receptionist for Volunteer Glasgow, and is

8 working to improve his mobility with long-cane training from Glasgow City Council.

After spending two years sat at home; devoid of any confidence, completely isolated from mainstream services and battling what he descried as “circumstantial depression”, Sean eventually sought the help of RNIB. Having lost a significant amount of vision at a young age, Sean had grown up feeling anxious about mobility and putting himself at risk by going out in social situations.

Through the help of FOE, and other services within RNIB, Sean has excelled since then and is involved in numerous voluntary roles. As part of RNIB Connect, he has travelled throughout the UK and is now a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament. Through this work, Sean was selected to visit the United States, as part of the US Embassy’s Jo Cox Memorial Exchange. By doing community work in the USA, he has gained more skills and a fresh perspective on the barriers that exist in society and ways to overcome them.

The remarkable progress that Sean has made is an example of how engaging with specialist services can change someone’s life. He now travels independently, uses his experience to help others and, ultimately, is feeling positive about his future.

What our volunteers think

Over the last few months, FOE has benefited greatly from the commitment and hard-work of its two volunteers. These volunteers have helped to support the weekly Employment Hub, while also being on hand at training courses and events. In his own words, here is how Ian Watt has found volunteering with the project:

Ian Watt: “I was asked if I would be interested in helping with FOE in June 2017; providing support to Ryan Kyle and customers who attend the Employment Hub in RNIB premises at Partick, Glasgow.

9 “I have found the experience challenging, but also very satisfying. When I started, Ryan explained the purpose of the project and some of the barriers the individuals attending the Hub may face. Over the first few weeks I was able to offer advice and guidance, following Ryan’s knowledge of the types of issues I would encounter. I quickly found that many customers had concerns about the impact their sight had on all aspects of their lives. Spending time reinforcing the positives was incredibly satisfying to me and I feel I was able to offer something that perhaps they had not considered previously. Being in a position to offer independent guidance seems to have benefited both the customers and myself.

“I think that the Hub offers much that may be missing from other services. As a volunteer coming to this project, I would hope this type of support could be considered as a positive component of looking at employment options for those who need it.”

What our customers think

“Even just getting out the house for one day every week makes such a difference”.

“Every person who has come to this group, we have all made some sort of progress”.

“The first step is difficult, but you soon realise there are other people who are in similar situations.”

“It has changed my life coming in here”.

“I’ve learned that I’m not as useless as I thought I was”.

“As a group we all motivate and learn from each other”. Conclusion

Going into the second half of 2017/18, Focus on Employability will remain an invaluable resource for blind and partially-sighted people in Glasgow. FOE will work more with partner organisations and, by focusing on what has already been successful, maintain

10 that level of specialist support while ensuring customers have the confidence to engage with mainstream services.

Contact

For any enquiries regarding the content of this report, please contact Ryan Kyle, FOE Project Co-ordinator, using any of the below methods:

Email: [email protected] Telephone: 07872111165.