The Omaze partnership will help us achieve our dreams!

A colleague called Rebecca got in touch with me about speaking to the team at Omaze. I was told that they wanted me to speak on the pitch call, which is a meeting where we would present what we do at Mencap, explain what people with a learning disability have to deal with in society, and what we could do if Omaze chose to partner with us.  

I was shown the slides that we would present to Omaze, and my bit was to talk about what difference this partnership would make for people with a learning disability like me. We worked together as a team and put this part in my own words. I was given time to practice as much as I wanted before the call. 

At the end of the pitch the team at Omaze let us know that we had been chosen as a partner! When I heard this I was buzzing with excitement. Every one of my colleagues on the call with me were very emotional, in a good way! I took the opportunity to speak from my heart and thanked the Omaze team as I know this partnership will make a huge difference for people with a learning disability.

I was very lucky to get to meet our celebrity ambassador Jodie Whittaker as part of the publicity for the partnership. We went to a house in London and spent the day filming bits for Omaze. It was really exciting being introduced to a star like Jodie, as I had seen her on TV in Doctor Who. 

I spoke about having a development coach at work and how having one has helped me to work on tasks and get things done.

We also spoke about my favourite subject – football! I talked about the Mencap football team I am captain of, and she mentioned that she would like to see one of our games. Jodie will always be welcome at a Mencap FC game!  She said that she’s an Arsenal fan, but her local team is Huddersfield so she supports them too as a second team.  

Later in the day we got down to filming. When we started my colleagues helped me with the questions I was going to ask Jodie. The whole filming experience was great. I didn’t feel rushed at all, and I could do multiple takes and the location was a nice house. 

This partnership will help us achieve our dreams in the future. It is really going to help break down barriers within social inclusion. Omaze is a huge company and many people know of them, so this means many people who do not know what a learning disability is will learn more and include us in society.

Personally, I've got experience of this. I struggled to find work when I left college as people saw my learning disability before they saw me as a person and I have heard first-hand how attitudes still deny people with a learning disability opportunities to take part in activities and in wider society.

The partnership will help us fight discrimination for people with a learning disability and create a fairer and more inclusive society.  

The money raised will be invested into our campaigning work, with Omaze donating a minimum of £1 million to us. This will pay for our campaigning work for a year in Wales, Northern Ireland and England.  

With this money we will campaign on fairer healthcare and ending the scandal that is keeping people with a learning disability and autistic people locked away in mental health hospitals through our Homes Not Hospitals campaign. 

If you have not already entered the Omaze Yorkshire House Draw please do - together we can help to change the lives of people with a learning disability!

Thank you,
Vijay