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Hello, I’m Lisa Hopkins, SeeAbility CEO. 

Well, it’s been quite a year, the first of our new five year strategy, and it’s an exciting time for us because, whilst there are a lot of challenges for us to deal with, there are also a lot of opportunities. 

Our focus, in the words of Social Care Future, is to support more people to live rewarding lives in the places that they call home, doing the things they enjoy, with the people they love.  

That sounds simple, doesn’t it?  

But it’s actually quite hard work.  

Everyone can play a part in achieving what we want for the future, and it would be brilliant if the stories in this report inspire you join us and play your part. 

We’re more than just a social care provider or an eye care provider. We want to continually evolve to be an example of excellence, a voice of principle, and a force for innovation. 

Please scroll down to the rest of the report – I hope you enjoy it! 

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Ciaran’s story, as told through the words of his mother, Maria: 

“Ciaran is kind, Batman crazy, and he’s just really gentle. 

“He was always very close to pictures, books, the whiteboards, and I’d say “Ciaran, you need to get back. Can you stand back?” We’d bring him back and he’d just go forward again. 

“Ciaran’s eye care journey is nothing short of miraculous, because I didn’t realise (and nor did Ciaran) how much he needed glasses – how urgent it was. Up until this point, he’d had no actual eye test. I did try to take Ciaran to a high street optician, but all my efforts were in vain. It was just too much for Ciaran to process and at that point he became so distressed that we just had to leave. 

“Why shouldn’t have have glasses and have an eye test just because he sees the world slightly differently? That’s why it’s so important that all children have their eyes tested. SeeAbility work closely with teachers and parents to make sure everyone understands how much a child can see. 

“Ciaran was missing out on so much without his glasses. It took patience and time for him to be persuaded to try them, but slowly, slowly, they had little strategies with toys or pictures to test his eyes. 

“The difference in him has been astonishing. I got weekly updates from the team over the phone throughout the process and I was able to understand everything that was going on. I felt part of this important experience for Ciaran and relieved that I could trust everyone involved to do their best for him. Having people in school that can support Ciaran in this way means that when his glasses need some TLC (because he wears them so much!) there’s someone to do it for him.  

“If it wasn’t for SeeAbility, he still wouldn’t have had his eyes tested. The work SeeAbility does to support children like Ciaran with eye health in schools is astonishing and I can’t bear to think of all the other children who don’t receive the same support. There are thousands more children just like Ciaran across the UK. 

“I want you to also know that SeeAbility’s inclusive sight tests have changed everything for Ciaran and for me. Their support has transformed his vision and his life. I don’t know where I would be without them.” 

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Emily and Lewis discuss working together through Ready, Willing and Able. 

Lewis: My name is Lewis Gordon and I am a supported employment coach at Ready, Willing and Able. I think my favourite part of the job is how rewarding it is when someone you support gets into work. One person I work with in particular is Emily, and as soon as she got offered the job she went ‘Yes!’, throwing her hands up in the air with a big grin on her face. That is...yeah...perfect. I love that. 

I met Emily in February 2022. She was working with my colleague Rhian, and Rhian said to me “Would you like to work with Emily”, and I thought, “Yeah, sure!” 

Emily: Lewis has supported me in finding a new job by talking with me about what my interests are and about researching jobs around those sorts of ideas. If you don’t have the right support, it’s hard work. Before an interview Lewis and I look at interview techniques. If we’ve got the questions, he’ll ask me the question and we will write some notes. He knows that I know what I want to say, but he also knows and appreciates that sometimes I find it hard to word what I’m trying to say. 

Lewis: I always look forward to my sessions with Emily, as we can just chat as friends. It really doesn’t feel like a job working at Ready, Willing and Able, as when you’re really enjoying doing something and you feel truly fulfilled it doesn’t feel like work. But I know that I’m making a change every day and that in itself makes it so rewarding. I’m given a lot of creative freedom in how I do that as well, because we don’t want to be really restrictive on how we support people.  

It’s great fun working with Emily. She’s always smiling, she’s always bubbly, she’s always happy, and always determined as well. You know, she just pushes through all the red tape that we have to face sometimes. I think we applied to 20+ jobs – something like that – and I supported Emily during the interviews.  

I’m quite far away from where Emily lives, and we started the programme during the pandemic, so this is the first time we’ve ever met. It does show that there’s a lot you can do remotely.  

Emily: It’s important that people with disabilities have the same opportunities to work as anyone else. 

Lewis: She was so determined the whole time. That makes my job a lot easier because she was the driving force behind it and I was just supporting her along the journey.  

Emily: It can feel frustrating but I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I was determined to keep going no matter how long it took. Just because you’ve got this disability, and just because you might need some help with some things, like I need help with writing, because I struggle with that, it doesn’t mean you can’t do a job.  

Lewis: We think about what we can do. It could be voice recording notes, or using some kind of A.I. to do a transcript. It could be having a job coach there to take notes for you. There’s lots of things that you can do. So we’ve been talking to Emily’s employer about how to make that possible.  

Emily: It makes me feel really good because it makes me think at least some people know I can do this. I might have to do it in a different way, but I can still do it.  

Lewis: Emily was offered a job on the day of the interview! Now, that’s good practice. If you see talent in someone like Emily and you think “Oh, I’d like to employ her”, just cut through the red tape and employ her. Why not?  

Emily: I’ve enjoyed getting to know new people, engaging with different people of all aspects and broadening my own horizons because I haven’t done that sort of work before. I know that I’m going to enjoy it.