By Mencap
Hello, I’m Roger and I’m a 27 year old living in South West London. I was born in Sri Lanka and from the age 2 to 14 I lived in Italy, specifically Sicily in the city of Palermo.
In 2010 my family and I moved to London where we have lived ever since. I am very proud of my roots and my identity as Tamil Sri Lankan, Italian and British. I am so proud to be living in the UK and it is a honour and privilege to take part in the 2024 TCS London Marathon for Mencap, a charity that is so fondly close to my heart.
I’ve never run a marathon before. In fact I only started running in summer of 2023 and my weekly runs consisted of not even 3 kilometre runs in which I would start strong but collapse to a slow walk after only 5 minutes... And don’t even get me started about the injuries, recovery periods and pains all over my body! Running just does not come easy to me.
So why am I putting myself through this you may ask? The answer is my brother Stefaan. He is 22 years old, stands at 6’1, wears glasses and loves animals and perfumes. He’s a heck of lad and my best friend.
He also has
autism
Autism is a disability. Autistic people find it difficult to understand what other people think and feel. They also find it difficult to tell people what they think and feel. Everyone with autism is different.
which has made him who he is now, a genuine, compassionate and loving young man, son and brother to our family. Things haven’t always been like this though. His life as a young man he was faced with very difficult challenges which we as a family went through together. The lockdown during the pandemic affected everyone in the UK but young people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
really struggled. This included my brother. It was a really tough period for the whole family.
We are very lucky to have had support from Mencap in supporting my brother into
education
Education is when you learn things. When you fill in a form to get a job, education means you write where you went to school, college or university.
after a very long break from his usual routine and habits. He has made fantastic progress and he’s now in search of a job which is incredible! We’ve been very lucky but countless of vulnerable young people all over the UK have suffered terribly since the pandemic.
There’s a lack of the right support in the
community
A community is the people and places in an area.
as public funding for the most vulnerable is reduced. Charities like Mencap are invaluable, their work is essential, they provide so much support to people with a learning disability and their families and carers to keep going and break barriers and stereotypes. Mencap have been instrumental for our family and that’s why I want to do my bit!
Stefaan has even started running and lifting weights now too. We need more people to run and fundraise for Mencap - the mission to make the UK to be the best place in the world for people with a learning disability continues!