Back At College

These are the views of the author and not those of Fixers 

I am currently in my forth week at Leeds Technology College where I have enrolled on a level two media course which will last a year. Deciding to go back into education was a choice made when I became disillusioned with the lack of support from my Work Programme advisors at Ingeus. This means the lengthy transition off unemployment benefits has passed and will be a distant memory for me when I get busy with my college assignments.

The building where I am studying media is great because it is very close to two top venues in Leeds: First Direct Arena and O2 Academy. Sometimes I wear my Bruce Springsteen Wrecking Ball Tour t-shirt around college and it makes people ask if I went tothat gig at Leeds Arena because they want to know what the place looks like inside. I want to work in music because I would like to find an under the radar artist with the potential to be on par with my hero Bruce so I could promote them in order to make the world a better place.

My main goal is to find full time employment in a career where I will be happy and can contribute a lot to society. If I find this job before my current course finishes then great, but if that does not happen then I can always take the level three journalism course which will keep me at college for two more years. This means a minimum three year break from places like Ingeus which I don’t want to step foot in again if I can help it.

The advice I want to give to people with Asperger’s who are on the dole and have the same circumstances that I was in is get yourselves back to college. Until Work Programme providers can create jobs for the people they’re supposed to help into employment then they will continue to let down the unfortunate people under their so called professional guidance. With regret I can’t give this piece of advice to other people in different circumstances to me because it’s not my place to do so.

Currently I am enjoying life thanks to having great family and friends around me. Without them I probably would not have even considered going back into education and thrown the towel in years ago. I’m convinced that this is the turning point for me where things will turn out alright.