Lance works for a charity called SeeAbility as an Eye Care Champion in London. Read on to find out about what the role is all about.
I work with my Champion co-workers to promote eye care for people with learning disabilities and autism. People with learning disabilities are 10 times more likely to have a serious sight problem than other people. Despite this, many people with learning disabilities are still not receiving the eye care they need.
What do you start with every day?
On a normal day I start with some bed stretches.
My work day normally starts with checking emails in case I have a lot or there are important ones to reply to. Depending on my calendar, sometimes I have meetings with colleagues to plan work and presentations.
We do lots of presentations to different groups of people including people with learning disabilities and autistic people, carers, university students and professionals from the learning disability and eye care sectors.
We explain why it is important for us all to look after our eyes and tell people about reasonable adjustments so they can get the eye care they need.
Sometimes I join my colleagues in meetings or presentations to the professional eye care bodies, sharing good practice and looking to influence national policy. The presentations can be face to face or online.
What do you love about your job?
I love travelling round to different places to present or visit health groups. I like doing presentations because it gives me a chance to gain confidence, skills, and knowledge. I also like the people that I work with because they always make me feel part of the team and we work well together. As a person who is mildly autistic, I am able to talk about my lived experience to make eye care more accessible to other people.
What are the challenges?
This is my first paid job and I have had lots to learn! Sometimes there are documents to read that can be full of complicated words and big paragraphs which does throw me off due to my autism. I would ask my colleagues to help me out by going through it with me. Sometimes there are a lot of meetings in one day virtually so I would have to organise and manage my time.
What do you do to wrap up the day and prepare for the next one?
I set up my out of office, I check calendars and update them. Anything really important that I need to do as soon as I log on next, I note down as a reminder.
Find more about SeeAbility Eye Care Champions here.