>>Judith Thompson: We were sat about where we are now and I looked across and I just
said to the colleagues I was sat with: “Doesn’t this look really glum in here and sad and
a bit miserable really?” And that would make the perfect café to be run by people
with a learning disability.
>>James: Yeah, my name’s James. I work at
the café here in Newcastle. I sometimes work in the kitchen, I work on the front at the
salad bar and sometimes I work on the till. When it’s busy at lunchtimes I meet new
customers, I say: “hello” and “how are you? What have you been doing today?”
>>Judith: A long story, very short, is that they went away and had a conversation with
the other tenants and they all said: “Yep, brilliant idea, tell them: “Yes, they can
have the café but they’ve got to make it happen.” So I said really naively: “Yeah,
that’ll be alright, yeah. We’ll be able to do that’.”
>>Charlotte Carr: I think the Opportunity Café has made a really big difference to
the atmosphere working in this building now. It’s a lovely warm vibrant place, it’s
a welcoming place, it’s colourful, it’s fun.
>>Judith: We’ve had to write a business plan and a financial forecast so we worked
with a social enterprise organisation to help us do that. We spent, saw fifteen people in
the morning, same in the afternoon and had lots of activities for people to do. It was
just a really fab day. We took everyone’s photograph, it was a bit like the X-Factor
you know, where they line everyone up, and say: “Right we think they would fit in,”
and all of that. So we selected our team, we’d advertised for six people; we’ve
employed eleven.
>>Amy: Brilliant!
>>Interviewer: What’s the best thing about it?
>>Amy: Getting to serve the customers and getting on with everyone who you work with.
>>Judith Thompson: I was in tears, they were in tears, you know, me and Kirsty, my colleague
Kirsty, we had the joy of ringing people.
>>James: I was really happy because I get paid
>>Interviewer: And what does mean being able
to get money? >>James: It’s better, like, having your
own money >>Judith: We’ve made loads of reasonable
adjustments, so you’ve seen the till, you need to have a look at the till. We commissioned
that and designed that specifically so that there’s very little few words; it’s all
pictures. >>James: These are the pictures; who goes
on the till. So if it was me, I would click on me and comes on.
>>Judith: Every café member has their own workbook, their own kind of at work manual
if you like. And that’s tailored to meet their needs. So it describes, their job descriptions
are all very straightforward and easy read. We almost don’t even think about the fact
that we’re making a reasonable adjustment anymore and that’s just how the café operates.
>>Ruth Muir: It’s just great to watch how quite quickly it became, like a little family
and everyone kind of looks out for one another. And I think that’s lovely you get a real
sense of unity between each other.
>>Richard: I put the ham on and then I put
on the pickle on and then I put the cheese on and then I put the butter on this.
>>Ruth Muir: You know, just taking Richard as an example when he first started making
the sandwiches, it was taking quite a while just to get through that process and it’s
just like, night and day different in that short space of time. The confidence and skill
that he’s built up just to do it so quickly and precisely and just do such a brilliant
job with it.
>>Richard: I can do much more than
before I had a job >>Judith Thompson: Having a job keeps you
well, you know, we know that by this group of people has got purpose, they can show that
they’ve got massive amounts of skill and that it’s growing day after day after day.
Their communication with others, their social interaction with others, it’s phenomenal
and that will keep people well, that will keep people away from the health service.
This is the stuff that will really truly transform lives with people with a learning disability.