Leap Of Faith: Old version
Channel: Barod CIC
Date: 03/12/2019

Business For All grew out of The Bridge Project, a research project looking at how people with a learning disability become business people and entrepreneurs.
The Bridge was funded by The National Lottery Community Fund through DRILL UK.

TRANSCRIPT

ANNE (Barod): Taking a leap of faith is something we all have to do at some point in our lives. Some people are very good at it when it comes to their personal lives, but when it comes our professional lives, that can often be another matter. It can be even harder for those of us with learning disabilities. 

LUCY (Barod): Washing dishes after six years made me feel a bit worthless. That I wasn’t going anywhere with it. 

LUCY (Barod): I wanted to set up a photography business but I had a bit of a problem where I didn't know how to start it off.

ANNE: There’s a long history of people with learning disabilities being involved in delivering services but not of having that leadership responsibility of being able to say ‘the buck stops with me’. There are many reasons for that. Some of them are easier to deal with than others. Projects like The Bridge can help with the leaps of faith about confidence, accessible information, travel, those sorts of barriers. Other barriers were beyond The Bridge. The leap from receiving benefits to earning your own money is a very big one. In the past, barriers to taking that leap were a little easier to sort. Now it is more complicated and risky due to the changes in the benefits system. Universal Credit and starting a business just don’t go together. 

LUCY: For somebody who is about to start their own business, there comes a point where you have to say I’m going to do this, and come off benefits. But that’s a big decision to make, because you don’t know how it’s going to turn out. It is easier if you are already in work and getting top-up of benefits, or if a group of you set up a social enterprise and pay you a regular fixed wage.

LUCY: I approached someone from the Bridge. We sat down and er talked about what sort of photography that I wanted to do. And one particular area that I wanted was to do sport photography. We looked on the internet for different sporting events. And one thing came up for the Iron Man Wales in Tenby. We then searched who’s the official photographers for Iron Man. So I contacted them. They asked if I could send them a few photos so I did. Then they got back to me and hired me to work for them and then they invited me back for a second year this year. My first paid photography gig made me feel that I was included, and it was meaningful that I was out there in their community. But I can’t do self-employment on my own because of my learning disability.

ANNE: No-one has solved all these problems - yet. But through The Bridge, lots of people have come up with parts of the solutions. Now people need to get together, share their parts of the solution and build on our research. 

LUCY: If you encounter a problem, then you can go and talk to someone you trust for some advice and it will become clearer.

ANNE: it’s been harder and taken longer than we expected, but those leaps are coming. And everything we are launching from the research is about bringing that day closer.