Better careers for the disabled

Potton based children’s charity, Sky Badger, is launching a new pilot scheme for 14 to 25-year-olds.

The online work experience programme is called Sky Badger Scouts.

The charity wants to hear from parents with a disabled son or daughter and from schools that have disabled or special needs pupils.

Sky Badger Scouts will give young disabled people a taste of copywriting, research and data entry as well as signposting future employment opportunities and further education in the IT sector.

The work experience will include researching local disabled sports clubs, arts groups, sibling groups and everything else in the local area for families with disabled children.

The information gathered will be available on the Sky Badger website for free and available without assessment to all of the 7,690 disabled children under 16 in Bedfordshire as well as their families and the professionals who support them.

The charity’s chief executive is Naomi Marek of Potton. She said: “Technology has given us an incredible opportunity to level the playing field for hundreds of thousands of young disabled people in the UK planning their careers and looking for work.

“As I see my own son grow up with medical and special needs I know that there must be more out there for him.

“With a little experience and confidence he, and so many other young disabled people like him, will be able to build an extraordinary 
future.”

Professor Stephen Hawking is the charity’s patron.

He said: “My advice to other disabled people would be concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well and don’t regret the things it interferes with.

“Although I was unfortunate enough to get motor neurone disease I have been very fortunate in almost everything else.

“I was lucky to be working in theoretical physics, one of the few areas in which disability was not a serious handicap.”

All Sky Badger Scouts will work remotely via a laptop, or other internet connected technology.

This allows those with significant mobility issues to get involved too.

To find out more visit http://skybadger.co.uk