Healthy Communities • Y Stories • YMCA Employment Programs
Breaking down the barriers: Asif's Y Story
21 October 2016 - by June Findlay
What if you had a disability that made it difficult to find a job, or go to work every day? For many people in the GTA, that is a reality. For Asif, living with Attention Deficit Disorder and depression is a daily struggle that made his dream of working in Human Resources that much harder to reach, and prevented him from holding down a job for a long period of time.
“People have looked at me differently ever since I was young, because I’ve always had a learning disability,” Asif says. “Though it doesn’t necessarily look like it when I’m talking to you, I’ve worked very, very hard to work with my disability.”
Needing to find direction in his life, Asif visited the YMCA’s Access to Employment Program. Now in its 15th year of service to the community, the program helps those with diagnosed disabilities find employment. In his first meeting, Asif knew something was different about Laura and Gina, his counsellor and job developer. Though he had explored working with other agencies, “I liked them...they seemed to understand me and my situation. I wanted to give them a try.”
Through a series of job training sessions, guided job searches, and a lot of one-on-one talks about life and overcoming the stigma of mental illness, Asif’s self-confidence began to grow. For Laura and Gina, building trust was an essential early step. “I wanted to make sure that he knew that he didn’t have to hide anything from us, and that he wasn’t alone,” Laura says. “The whole objective was to highlight what he was capable of and what his skill sets were.”
Today, Asif is much more comfortable with the person he has become, and has worked hard with the support of his village — coworkers, family, doctors, and his counsellor and job developer at the YMCA — to overcome the stigma of living and working with a disability. Now gainfully employed for nearly a year at a rental company (the first job he’s had for longer than one month), Asif says that his biggest accomplishment was learning to believe in himself.
“The reassurance and support [from the YMCA]...it helps you. It shows what you can achieve. Look at me — if i can do it, anyone can.”
“People have looked at me differently ever since I was young, because I’ve always had a learning disability,” Asif says. “Though it doesn’t necessarily look like it when I’m talking to you, I’ve worked very, very hard to work with my disability.”
Needing to find direction in his life, Asif visited the YMCA’s Access to Employment Program. Now in its 15th year of service to the community, the program helps those with diagnosed disabilities find employment. In his first meeting, Asif knew something was different about Laura and Gina, his counsellor and job developer. Though he had explored working with other agencies, “I liked them...they seemed to understand me and my situation. I wanted to give them a try.”
Through a series of job training sessions, guided job searches, and a lot of one-on-one talks about life and overcoming the stigma of mental illness, Asif’s self-confidence began to grow. For Laura and Gina, building trust was an essential early step. “I wanted to make sure that he knew that he didn’t have to hide anything from us, and that he wasn’t alone,” Laura says. “The whole objective was to highlight what he was capable of and what his skill sets were.”
Today, Asif is much more comfortable with the person he has become, and has worked hard with the support of his village — coworkers, family, doctors, and his counsellor and job developer at the YMCA — to overcome the stigma of living and working with a disability. Now gainfully employed for nearly a year at a rental company (the first job he’s had for longer than one month), Asif says that his biggest accomplishment was learning to believe in himself.
“The reassurance and support [from the YMCA]...it helps you. It shows what you can achieve. Look at me — if i can do it, anyone can.”
