Kate Storrow 
It is important tell these stories, because first of all they are fantastic stories.  All of them are really positive messages of what can be done for people that, through no fault of their own, face a disadvantage in Scotland.  So they are really positive messages on how support can be provided, how employers can seek positive changes within their workforce to represent what goes on in Scotland and a better diverse workforce – and for the individual themselves, you know, they are all beaming about having employment, they are all positive about employment, and they are actually the exception unfortunately in Scotland, because many disabled people face so many barriers that employment isn’t open to them.
SUSE is the Scottish Union of Supported Employment, which is a bit of a mouthful.  It’s current membership stands at about 51 organisations throughout Scotland who provide supported employment services for disabled people and disadvantaged people throughout Scotland.  The SUSE members are made up of a variety of public authority, local authority, some employers and a lot of voluntary organisations that specifically concentrate on disability – like Cornerstone, like RNIB, like Capability Scotland. 
It is quite difficult when you are out there working in employability, working with people with disadvantage, to actually find out what has been going on, who is doing the same job as you, where you get support, where the information is.  So SUSE is like that umbrella organisation that can give people the information that they need – whether they be practitioners or whether they actually be service users and people that buy in services as well.
I think the lessons I would draw from the four stories you have seen are that the individual obviously has to contribute to this – all of them were great role models and people with disabilities should look at them as the way to follow, to aspire to get into employment.  Equally, the support agencies that were involved in all of them – each of the support agencies had a real role to play, to positively work with the individual, to make that step towards employment – and also the employers.  You know, all the employers were positive about the individuals that they employed, offered them the opportunity and worked with them to ensure that the experience is a really positive one. 
When some disabled children are in school – they are asked do they want to get a job in the future.  I was never asked whether I wanted to get a job – I was always expected to work, and most of us are.  So I think there is a mismatch with what people are taught and what is the reality out there, if you like – and some people who have disabilities don’t aspire to work, because they think it is too difficult, because they think employers won’t employ them, because they think that they can’t contribute to society.  But I think those four … the four stories actually show how it can be done – how it can be done with support, how it can be done by the individual themselves being positive about the experience that they are going through.

Getting a job is not just about going to work every day – there are loads of other impacts on it the rest of your life – your mental health and wellbeing.  And particularly, if you look at the difference employment can actually make to individuals – I know Lyndsay’s case personally because, as well as working with SUSE I also work with RNIB – and Lynsday’s development from a trainee who had very little confidence in herself, to actually working now and working towards becoming a supervisor and a manager and developing as an individual is astounding, if you think that that went on inside a year.  When she first came to us she was lacking in confidence, she didn’t speak very much, she didn’t take part in conversations – and now she is a manager and she is working towards other managerial qualifications.  She manages staff, she manages volunteers, she manages a service, she manages a budget – all these things have only been possible because she has developed.  And she had that within her – it was just a case of finding out what skills she had and teasing them out and working with her to allow her to develop like this.  And it’s the same for lots of other people with disabilities – these are they sort of things that … people have the potential – it’s about unlocking that potential somehow.

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