» Jack Young

I’m Jack, I live in Gloucestershire with my parents, 3 dogs and an assortment of relatives dotted between Ireland and Italy.

I first came across CdLS in 2010 when I started work with UK’s largest provider of LD residential care. After a lot of time and effort I developed a very close relationship with a gentleman with CdLS but after being allocated as his keyworker, I quickly realised I had a lot to learn very fast. With a dental extraction lined up, an intense pain management system and every possible medication for acid reflux already prescribed, I attended the CdLS Foundation's Gloucester conference in 2013, with the aim of getting a better insight into his growing support network of the condition itself.

Having gained vast amounts of knowledge into every part of the social care world (especially hospital admissions)… I led a number of person centred workshops for the company, gave a talk at Cheltenham General Hospital about supporting people with LD in hospital, created comprehensive recording systems and so, with the gentleman on an upward trend in life quality, I decided to look for a new challenge. I left carework in 2015 to study Management and Marketing at The University of Leeds.

My time working with the gentleman has many fond memories and feelings. Total embarrassment of losing a race against a Mercedes van in my Audi S3 (blue lights = horse power, don’t care what anyone says). Complete devastation and helplessness as I looked at the gentleman as he lay in an Intensive Care bed and realising for the first time there wasn’t anything I could do or anyone to call to try and fix this. But the moments of fun and joy far outweighed the negatives, of which there are just far too many to try and pick an example.