Shaun Staniforth worked at Wythenshawe Remploy factory for 29 years. A Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) user with limited literacy skills, Shaun probably faced greater barriers than most of his colleagues to the workplace after being made redundant. This affected his morale and self-esteem, as well as his confidence.

Shaun was one of Result CIC’s first customers in August 2013 after obtaining its contract to provide specialist coaching support to ex-Remploy staff. Result CIC worked closely with local Job Centre Plus colleagues and Jonathon Pickford from Ashton-under-Lyne JCP suggested that Shaun could benefit from our coaching.

Result CIC’s Jane Cordell, who became deaf as an adult, worked with Shaun one-to-one to help him discover what he needed to regain his confidence and access a new job. After a couple of sessions, Shaun suggested that it would help him to do a BSL course to refresh his knowledge. He felt that at school, the BSL teaching had been mixed with another system (Makaton) so had been a bit confusing. This, he realised, had been holding him back in some ways. Shaun enrolled on a BSL course at MANCAT (Manchester College of Arts and Technology) starting in September. He has enjoyed the course and meeting new people. His confidence started to increase. He also started taking part in deaf-accessible arts events and meetings for the first time and enjoyed these.

Partly due to a coaching discussion about networking as a way to find work, Shaun spoke to some people he knew and trusted. He asked about possible job opportunities and openings in their places of work. As a result of these informal enquiries, in late November 2013 Shaun was offered a temporary full-time job at Countrywide Property lawyers in central Manchester, supporting the running of their central admin office – a responsible role involving picking up new skills. Shaun had to learn a lot quickly but could access interpreter support when he occasionally needed it and liked the work. Initially a temporary contract, the company was so impressed with Shaun’s dedication and thoroughness, after only three months, they offered him a permanent contract. The company is now in the process of organising some BSL training for Shaun’s colleagues.

In just over three months of one-to-one support, Shaun reached a situation where he was studying, had new full-time paid work and was enjoying life in a way he may have found hard to believe when he started.