Jack flourishes in world of work despite autism
A YOUNG Derbyshire man is working to overcome the stigma surrounding autism by thriving during lockdown.
Jack Gregory, 20, from Dronfield, began a placement with a local DIY store at the beginning of 2020 and quickly became an important part of the team as he trained.
He hopes the experience will set him up for a bright future and believes that his autism will not be a barrier to his success.
Jack was diagnosed at the age of four and often felt as though his disability devalued him compared to other individuals, both in a professional and personal setting.
After completing a college course in IT, he quickly discovered that it was not area he saw a happy future in, and decided he wanted to try his hand at work.
A brief stint with a children’s charity helped Jack to grow in confidence, then he came across an advert for a job with Geoff’s DIY in Dronfield. Following an interview and passing an assessment, Jack was hired to be part of the team. He was said to be “on cloud nine” after receiving the news.
During his training he found his self worth to be growing day by day, as he continued to surprise himself by completing tasks he never thought he would be able to.
Jack said: “My placement opened my eyes to what I can do. I was able to talk confidently to customers, run the till, price up new stock and put products on to the correct shelves, which may sound like easy tasks for some, but these were real achievements for me.
“My colleagues made me feel so welcome and were incredibly supportive of my autism and my disability felt less of an issue than it ever had before.”
Soon after he started, however, the store was forced to adapt to new ways of working after the country was placed into lockdown.
The situation didn’t faze him, though. Jack helped to refurbish the shop and quickly began to impress by demonstrating new skills, such as taking orders over the phone and greeting customers safely.
At the same time as all of this, he was still completing his training with the help of his employer and Qube Learning Recruitment and Training Solutions Provider.
Jack was happy that he was able to keep working through such an uncertain time.
“Though coronavirus changed a lot of things for me, like not seeing my tutor face to face, we were in regular contact, and I was still committed to completing duties at work, while managing my coursework.
“It’s been such an unusual time and I counted myself very lucky to be able to get up every day and do something that was fulfilling.
“It had taken time to find out what I was comfortable with, but it was worth the wait.”
Jack is still working at Geoff’s DIY, where he remains a valued member of the team, and he has since completed his traineeship.