The Life Story of Malcolm

This month, we are focusing on the life story of one of our incredible service users, Malcolm. Malcolm has received support from ourselves for many years, whilst still working in Home Bargains to this day. Malcolm is one of our service users who suffers with mild learning disabilities. It is often a misconception as a care company that we only provide care to the elderly – however, this isn’t true. We provide services designed to fit a broad range of care needs. Here is what Review Officer, Nicky, said about her chat with Malcolm, who spoke all about his life from childhood to now.

Malcolm’s Story

“I met with Malcolm this afternoon and we had a lovely chat about his life. Malcolm told me that he was born in Oxford Street Maternity Hospital a month early and he was diagnosed with mild Spina Bifida. He spent a lovely childhood in the Kensington area of Liverpool with his mother Sylvia and his grandparents. He attended the King David School at first and then afterwards attended a number of special schools due to having a mild learning disability. When he left school in 1972 he went to work in a wood workshop, where he learnt how to make chairs and to be able to work independently. After an injury to his back he next went on to work at the SRJ company where he learnt how to do book binding and he stayed there for twenty nine years! After being made redundant from this job he went on to work for the Jewish Community in their kitchens for six weeks. He was next employed by Sommerfields and they were taken over by the company Home Bargain, who with the support of Mencap, gave him a job where he has remained to this day. He has worked for the Home Bargain company for sixteen years now and he has won a lot of awards including one for Outstanding Customer Service in 2011, and another which was an area award in 2019. Malcolm works sixteen hours a week across four days and he said he really loves his job and he especially enjoys the replenishing work he does in the store. MCJA have supported Malcolm for ten years now and he said both of his support workers Michaela and Doreen have been excellent, and they have assisted him to live in a clean welcoming environment. Doreen assists him with changing his bed, a job he said he struggles with, which he really appreciates and both carers have always shown a keen interest in his welfare and well being. Malcolm said they have always found the time to ask him how he is and if they can assist with him anything else. When Malcolm has contacted the office he said he has always found a friendly, helpful person on the other end of the line. Donna, his Area Coordinator, has always been reassuring and obliging, and he is very grateful for the support and care he has been shown and wishes for his thanks and appreciation to be passed on.” It was an absolute pleasure to sit down with Malcolm and learn all about his life story – what an incredible story.

Further information

Services

To learn more about the services that we offer, please visit our ‘Services’ page here.

Learning Disabilities

To learn more about different learning disabilities, please visit the NHS website here. You can also read one of our latest blog posts, where we talk about the training we offer to all of our care staff, equipping them with the knowledge to provide the best service to our clients with learning disabilities.