#StoriesFromTheNetwork - Lewisham Mencap

This story, was sent through to us by Clara, the group Community Lead, who wanted to share "the resilience, passion and inspiring work done by our members and volunteers here at Lewisham Mencap".

Clara told us; "I joined the organisation in September 2020, in a role that involved huge organisational change as a consequence of COVID lockdowns and restrictions. For a group that was running multiple social clubs, holidays and vastly popular disco nights, the pressure to move online came with many other challenges, such as a lack of devices and a lack of familiarity with digital tools and programmes such as Zoom or Spotify. The people's desire to be together, continue having a good time and support each other was, however, going to overcome.

September 2020 is when I started working with our DJ, Lawrence*. Lawrence, like many of our volunteers, has a learning disability and has played music for the clubs for many years. I can't actually remember if we first met on Zoom or in person, but I think we got along straight away. We were both keen to learn from each other, because neither of us had been in that situation before. He was going to master Zoom and Spotify, I was going to master delivering digital tutorials and support remotely, with no call centre experience and a completely different type of laptop."

"Just imagine Lawrence and I; both having to learn a new language, in a fairly limited amount of time, while not really being able to sit side by side, which would have cut our working time down to half or less! We made it work. When things weren't working out on our laptops, we would video call each other and point our phones toward the laptop screens. When that didn't work either, I would hop on my bike and cycle to his place. We used to troubleshoot on his doorstep, with our masks on. I would then cycle back home and we both ensured we were ready to rock and roll that night on Zoom, where up to 80 people would eagerly join, aching for a good old boogie. By that time, the weather had gotten better and these journeys were truly a breath of fresh air!

"Every little victory behind the screen has tightened the bond between Lawrence and I and we both think we make a beautiful team."

Once Zoom and Spotify became natural (Lawrence can now use most of the functions on these apps and is passing on the knowledge to others), we started exploring YouTube, music websites and browsing. Lawrence is old school and loves his CDs, so I commend him on his openness to the digital world, which I am not such a big fan of myself.

When our clubs re-opened in person, Lawrence found the equipment that we were missing and we acquired it from his local shop. He is an expert in microphones, speakers, leads, everything that has to do with the DJ set-up.

I have learned so much from him and now I can even connect a laptop to an amplifier. A massive win!

Lawrence now plays music on his laptop at the clubs as well and is also a Digital Champion. More and more people in our groups are keen to learn how to use tablets and computers, so we all look forward to further positive change in the next few years. I believe that our work shows that when we have passion, patience and a desire to make life better for everyone, we can achieve anything.

Thank you, Lawrence and the rest of the team for the astounding efforts and the impact you continue to have on this community!"

*Although this is a true account, names have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals concerned