Page 11 - Community Living Magazine 31 - 4

an ordinary life
a shared road to an ordinary life get out more and get plenty of exercise. I Nick Sayers: counting success

Sayers, who has a learning disability, has
go to town to the shops, my favourite café
and the local pub. I like being outdoors. I shared his life with Morris and Hayward
like bird watching, photography and for the past nine years. Before this, he had
playing golf.” lived in foster care and went to a special
His increased physical activity has needs school.
involved a lot more than walking. In In Sayers’s words: “It was pretty awful
emphatic defiance of the limiting to be honest – I was bullied. I didn’t make
expectations placed on him, Rosborough any friends and I couldn’t learn properly
took up karate and is now working about the things I was interested in.”
towards his orange belt. Despite the barriers in his social and
“James was told he’d never be able to educational life, when Sayers changed
do karate and actively discouraged from school and started living with Hayward
trying – having epilepsy and a learning and morris on weekends at first, he began
disability was too big a hurdle to to develop skills and interests.
overcome,” says Cooke. “But the Despite perceptions in some quarters
instructors wanted to involve him and about the academic ability of people with
James is really thriving in his karate class.” learning disabilities, Sayers has always had
an affinity for maths – and a talent for it.
A social company “I like to call myself a mathematician,” Added success: Nick Sayers is responsible for
Rosborough and Cooke have founded a said Sayers. Since moving in with Hayward banking at a Barnardo’s shop
community interest company (CIC) and Morris, he has helped to manage the
inspired by Rosborough’ experiences. daily household budget and, for several Part of an authentic good life is dealing
years now, has used his maths skills in a with the unexpected – something Sayers
professional sense. has been able to do since sharing the
“I do voluntary work at Barnardo’s, and experience with his Shared Lives carers.
I am responsible for the banking at the
shop I work in. I do a pretty good job I a good life
think – I won [a Barnardo’s] volunteer of “A good life comprises our ordinary family,
the year award last year.” community and work life,” says Alex Fox,
chief executive of Shared Lives Plus, the
Routine and unpredictable life UK network for Shared Lives and
As well as growing into his role in the local HomeShare (https://homeshareuk.org).
community and at work, Sayers helps “Perceptions abound that some
around the house and shares the people’s needs, circumstances and
responsibilities like any other family backgrounds are just too complex for
member would. them to experience these.
“I feed the cat, tidy up and I always “These expectations can underpin the
make the beds – Tina and Steve hate that culture of our institutions and are all too
job, and they are rubbish at it.” often imprinted on and internalised by
Sayers’ learning disability, coupled with people with disabilities, leading to a
NIck Sayers with Tina Hayward; he manages the extremely regimented experiences of shrinking and suppression of their own
their household budget his foster care, meant he was used to expectations and hopes for their lives.
daily life unfolding according to a strict “At Shared Lives, we know giving people
Since being supported by Cooke to plan and expectations. access to the routines of an ordinary
integrate with his community and build Hayward says: “Nick likes things just so, family home can break the spell of those
relationships, he has grown in confidence and we like to encourage him to express limiting expectations and give them the
and formed his own friendships. Through his preferences and choices in terms of extraordinary experiences of living well: at
their company, Local Social, the pair are things like clothes. He was so used to being home, in the community, and at work.”
working to provide that same level of told what to do and how to do it, he had ● For more information about Shared
initial support so local people can meet very little choice or preference but now he Lives, visit www.sharedlivesplus.org.uk or
each other and go to social gatherings. loves to pick his own outfits and buy them. email info@sharedlivesplus.org.uk
Rosborough explains: “Andy says Local “The biggest change I’ve seen though, is
Social is about combating social isolation. in how Nick is able to manage challenges Anna McEwen is executive director of
I say it’s to help people make friends and to his own expectations. Stuff like there support and development at Shared Lives
get out more.” being no milk left or a change in Nick’s bus
Rosborough has, with Cooke’s support, route home due to road works used to be
transformed his life and utterly disproven a cause of massive upset and worry. Alex Fox, Shared Lives’ chief executive
beliefs about what somebody with his “Now, through having lived with us and is the author of A New Health and Care
impairments could achieve. Perceptions being gradually exposed to the System: Escaping the Invisible Asylum,
of professionals and wider society about unpredictable patterns of real life at work Policy Press, 2018.
Shared Lives what people with disabilities can and and at social gatherings, from a safe and https://policypress.
co.uk/a-new-health-and-care-system
secure base with us, Nick is able to
cannot do are easily internalised by the
individuals themselves.
navigate unexpected events.”
www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 31 No 4 | Summer 2018 11