Dwayne was born profoundly deaf and wears a cochlear implant to reduce his hearing difficulties. Due to this, noisy and busy environments can often be difficult for him. However, Dwayne has not let this stand in the way on his road to obtaining employment.

In 2015, Dwayne was referred to the Cedar’s Inclusion Works programme. During his time on the programme, he completed various volunteer roles and work placements. He gained valuable experience and knowledge from volunteering in the IT suite at Cedar, Ballymena and completed administration roles through the Northern Ireland Civil Service Volunteer Placement Scheme as well as the Health and Social Care Boards Disability Work Placement Scheme. Dwayne also continues to hold down a long-term voluntary role at a local St Vincent de Paul charity shop.

After gaining this experience and developing his employability skills, Dwayne wanted to concentrate on pursuing paid work. Case Officer, Lorraine, supported him through the job searching, application and interview process. The hard work and determination led to Dwayne securing part-time paid employment at a local Centra grocery shop in March 2019!

Dwayne said:

“Cedar Foundation and the staff has had a huge impact on my life by helping me with my CV and job interview and because of them, I finally secured a job.  I owe a huge thanks to the staff, as they helped me to boost my confidence and gain plenty of experiences to adapt in the working world.” 

Everyone at Cedar would like to wish Dwayne huge congratulations on achieving his employment goals.

What is Inclusion Works?

Inclusion Works supports adults with disabilities who are keen to build employability skills and experience to be work ready, then moving into a paid job, college course or volunteering on leaving. Specialist physical disability, ASD and brain injury support is available and tailored to each individual and their needs. Following initial assessments, participants will build an action plan, drawn from a menu of choices to address their personal barriers and agree solutions to meet their employability and inclusion goals. Inclusion Works is person-centred, encouraging and supporting individuals to design their own programmes around their needs and aspirations, building confidence and independence.

This project is part funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014 – 2020 and the Department for the Economy. Funding is also provided by the Department for Communities and all five local HSCTs in Northern Ireland.

Want to know more?

If you would like to find out more about Cedar’s Inclusion Works programme please visit our dedicated page. You can also keep up to date with Cedar through Facebook and Twitter.