stripe
07-16-2009, 01:04 PM
I came across this article (courtesy of Abebooks' blog) and thought it might interest some of you on this board. :)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/5795952/Who-says-Aspergers-sufferers-are-unemployable.html
Published: 7:00AM BST 13 Jul 2009
Who says Asperger's sufferers are unemployable?
Brian Rafferty has Asperger's syndrome, but it doesn't stop him running a bookshop. By Judith Woods
WHEN customers step into the Broughton Street Book Shop in Edinburgh, a high-ceilinged, wood-panelled room enticingly crammed with shelves of second-hand books, the rather gangly young man behind the counter hands them a pamphlet, without making eye contact.
The leaflet explains that his name is Brian Rafferty, he is the shop's proprietor and he suffers from both Asperger's syndrome – a form of autism – and cerebral palsy.
"With the help of my family and friends I have opened this second-hand bookshop and intend to support myself, and give a purpose to my life," it reads. "I don't think I am unemployable."
But it was Brian's apparent unemployability that led his parents to take the extraordinary step of leasing the shop, appealing online for book donations – they received thousands of volumes – and setting their son up in business. After sending out 70 CVs and applications for IT jobs, inputting data or stock control last year, the 21-year-old failed to get a single interview.
"With each job application, I wrote a covering letter outlining Brian's condition, which we weren't obliged to do legally, but I felt we ought to – what purpose would it serve not to mention it?" says his mother, Sandra, 49, who works as UK sales director for an Italian pharmaceutical firm. "I have no idea whether the lack of response was due to his Asperger's or the recession –
a combination of the two, probably.
"Brian has a lot to offer. He's a real grafter, and although he's not so good at interacting with people or working under pressure, he is great with computers and numbers and never gets sick or takes time off.
"At school he worked part-time for a hotel for four years, serving breakfasts and doing some chambermaiding, and they were very impressed with his commitment and reliability. If you give him a list of things to do, he won't stop until he's done them all."
Carefully rearranging the travel section on the highest shelves – at 6ft 5in he can easily reach – Brian is clearly absorbed in his task. He lives with his parents in the family home, a five-bedroomed Georgian flat, just round the corner in New Town. As his mother talks about his condition, he displays no emotion, or even interest, but methodically moves on to the biographies.
Asperger's is at the mild end of the autism spectrum, and impacts on relationships and social imagination, which creates problems in understanding unwritten rules and social norms that other people take for granted.
"I knew when Brian was a baby that there was something wrong; while other children his age were sitting up, he was still floppy and falling over,'' says Sandra. "I fought a battle for years to get the correct medical diagnosis. Along with the Asperger's, he has ataxic cerebral palsy, which means he has poor co-ordination and can be clumsy."
Brian attended a mainstream primary school, where he had support from a classroom assistant, then went on to secondary school, where he received additional tuition from a learning support unit, enabling him to achieve six Standard Grades, the Scottish equivalent of GCSEs. At sixth- form college he studied IT, computing and business management, but Sandra, and her husband Kevin, 46, a police sergeant based at Edinburgh airport and Brian's stepfather, decided that he wouldn't be able to cope with the social stresses of university.
"He wanted a job at a bank or building society, and after conventional methods didn't get him anywhere, he went around shops with his CV and letter, but nothing came of it and he became really disheartened. I travel a lot for work, and I would phone him up during the day and find he was still in bed because he had no reason to get up."
Sandra, who also has a daughter, Emma-Louise, 18, studying management at Heriot-Watt university in Edinburgh, was discussing the problem with a friend over a bottle of wine when she came up with the idea of Brian running a shop.
"We didn't want to make a large initial outlay in case the idea didn't work, so second- hand books seemed an obvious choice, and we decided to donate a percentage of the profits to the National Autistic Society," says Sandra.
"Kevin sent out an online request to everyone we know for donations, and asked them to forward the email to friends, and before we knew it we were so deluged with books we were having to dry-line our two cellars and store the rest in a spare bedroom."
Among the donations were first editions of Harry Potter and the ninth and tenth editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, dating back to 1875 and 1902 respectively and worth more than £600 for each set.
Support for the Broughton Street Bookshop has also come, unsolicited, from one of Scotland's leading businessmen, Kwik-Fit founder Sir Tom Farmer, who was so impressed when he heard about the venture that he not only performed the opening ceremony in March of this year, but has offered to act as a mentor to Brian.
"Here is a young lad who has a particular difficulty, demonstrating great determination and enthusiasm with the support of his family," says Sir Tom. "This is a terrific example of someone showing a real can-do attitude – even in these difficult times – and I'm happy to help."
According to the National Autistic Society, around one person in 100 in the UK has some form of autism, and of these, only 15 per cent of adults have a full-time job. "People with autism have always found it hard to find a job, due to inadequate support and misunderstandings related to their condition," says Mark Lever, chief executive of the National Autistic Society.
"The shop means a lot to me," Brian says. "I can't get a job but I want to do something useful with my time. I love it when people come in to buy a book and stop for a chat, I've made quite a few new friends."
"My dream is to eventually buy the shop for him, and a one-bedroom flat," says Sandra. "That way we could move towards old age knowing we didn't have to worry about Brian."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/5795952/Who-says-Aspergers-sufferers-are-unemployable.html
Published: 7:00AM BST 13 Jul 2009
Who says Asperger's sufferers are unemployable?
Brian Rafferty has Asperger's syndrome, but it doesn't stop him running a bookshop. By Judith Woods
WHEN customers step into the Broughton Street Book Shop in Edinburgh, a high-ceilinged, wood-panelled room enticingly crammed with shelves of second-hand books, the rather gangly young man behind the counter hands them a pamphlet, without making eye contact.
The leaflet explains that his name is Brian Rafferty, he is the shop's proprietor and he suffers from both Asperger's syndrome – a form of autism – and cerebral palsy.
"With the help of my family and friends I have opened this second-hand bookshop and intend to support myself, and give a purpose to my life," it reads. "I don't think I am unemployable."
But it was Brian's apparent unemployability that led his parents to take the extraordinary step of leasing the shop, appealing online for book donations – they received thousands of volumes – and setting their son up in business. After sending out 70 CVs and applications for IT jobs, inputting data or stock control last year, the 21-year-old failed to get a single interview.
"With each job application, I wrote a covering letter outlining Brian's condition, which we weren't obliged to do legally, but I felt we ought to – what purpose would it serve not to mention it?" says his mother, Sandra, 49, who works as UK sales director for an Italian pharmaceutical firm. "I have no idea whether the lack of response was due to his Asperger's or the recession –
a combination of the two, probably.
"Brian has a lot to offer. He's a real grafter, and although he's not so good at interacting with people or working under pressure, he is great with computers and numbers and never gets sick or takes time off.
"At school he worked part-time for a hotel for four years, serving breakfasts and doing some chambermaiding, and they were very impressed with his commitment and reliability. If you give him a list of things to do, he won't stop until he's done them all."
Carefully rearranging the travel section on the highest shelves – at 6ft 5in he can easily reach – Brian is clearly absorbed in his task. He lives with his parents in the family home, a five-bedroomed Georgian flat, just round the corner in New Town. As his mother talks about his condition, he displays no emotion, or even interest, but methodically moves on to the biographies.
Asperger's is at the mild end of the autism spectrum, and impacts on relationships and social imagination, which creates problems in understanding unwritten rules and social norms that other people take for granted.
"I knew when Brian was a baby that there was something wrong; while other children his age were sitting up, he was still floppy and falling over,'' says Sandra. "I fought a battle for years to get the correct medical diagnosis. Along with the Asperger's, he has ataxic cerebral palsy, which means he has poor co-ordination and can be clumsy."
Brian attended a mainstream primary school, where he had support from a classroom assistant, then went on to secondary school, where he received additional tuition from a learning support unit, enabling him to achieve six Standard Grades, the Scottish equivalent of GCSEs. At sixth- form college he studied IT, computing and business management, but Sandra, and her husband Kevin, 46, a police sergeant based at Edinburgh airport and Brian's stepfather, decided that he wouldn't be able to cope with the social stresses of university.
"He wanted a job at a bank or building society, and after conventional methods didn't get him anywhere, he went around shops with his CV and letter, but nothing came of it and he became really disheartened. I travel a lot for work, and I would phone him up during the day and find he was still in bed because he had no reason to get up."
Sandra, who also has a daughter, Emma-Louise, 18, studying management at Heriot-Watt university in Edinburgh, was discussing the problem with a friend over a bottle of wine when she came up with the idea of Brian running a shop.
"We didn't want to make a large initial outlay in case the idea didn't work, so second- hand books seemed an obvious choice, and we decided to donate a percentage of the profits to the National Autistic Society," says Sandra.
"Kevin sent out an online request to everyone we know for donations, and asked them to forward the email to friends, and before we knew it we were so deluged with books we were having to dry-line our two cellars and store the rest in a spare bedroom."
Among the donations were first editions of Harry Potter and the ninth and tenth editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, dating back to 1875 and 1902 respectively and worth more than £600 for each set.
Support for the Broughton Street Bookshop has also come, unsolicited, from one of Scotland's leading businessmen, Kwik-Fit founder Sir Tom Farmer, who was so impressed when he heard about the venture that he not only performed the opening ceremony in March of this year, but has offered to act as a mentor to Brian.
"Here is a young lad who has a particular difficulty, demonstrating great determination and enthusiasm with the support of his family," says Sir Tom. "This is a terrific example of someone showing a real can-do attitude – even in these difficult times – and I'm happy to help."
According to the National Autistic Society, around one person in 100 in the UK has some form of autism, and of these, only 15 per cent of adults have a full-time job. "People with autism have always found it hard to find a job, due to inadequate support and misunderstandings related to their condition," says Mark Lever, chief executive of the National Autistic Society.
"The shop means a lot to me," Brian says. "I can't get a job but I want to do something useful with my time. I love it when people come in to buy a book and stop for a chat, I've made quite a few new friends."
"My dream is to eventually buy the shop for him, and a one-bedroom flat," says Sandra. "That way we could move towards old age knowing we didn't have to worry about Brian."