Episode 1 Employable Me

This programme contains strong language.

-Tell me about your last job.

-Ooh! My last job was customer-based.

-Nipple-clipple.

-I have a first-class honours degree.

-Why have you not got a job?

-You tell me.

I want a job because it's about feeling like

part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Employers say they welcome disabled applicants.

But a million want to work,

and many have found the job hunt impossible.

What does it mean to have a job?

You achieve self-actualisation,

which is demonstrated in Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs.

In this series,

disabled job-seekers are coming together from all across the UK.

I have applied for 3,000 jobs.

Not even a thank you.

Can somebody give me a hand with the door on this side?

How are you doing?

Psychologist Nancy Doyle will help the group

realise their potential, in a unique training centre.

Full-scale IQ, 141.

Wow, borderline genius, essentially.

That's correct.

-Above average?

-Way above average.

-Me?

-Yes, you.

I've never been described as above average in anything!

Having a disability is not a barrier to employment.

Having discovered their skills,

they'll try to break into the job market.

Ten.

-Ah!

-Fab, fantastic.

I didn't want anybody to think that I wasn't capable of doing a job.

Oh!

It's times like this I do doubt my employability.

-It's called, um...

-HE WHISTLES

Fishy fanny. It's not called that.

I don't mind working hard. Bring it on.

Could their differences finally be seen as a strength?

All I need is one person to see past the fact that I can't.

There's sparks of brilliance in what you've done.

The train is approaching, get on board.

Yeee!

I scare you when I do that, don't I?

I'm going to miss you.

I am.

Turtle soup!

Go and eat your lettuce.

Fry him up for dinner!

-Don't worry about a thing.

-Turtle soup!

22-year-old Ryan is heading for London.

The adventure awaits. Aw!

There's a lot of disabled people out there that do want to work.

There should be no reason why an employer

should not give anyone a job.

If they can accommodate disabled public to come into their shops,

then they can accommodate for a disabled employee.

Take care. Text us when you get there later, yeah?

-Yeah, don't worry, I will.

-All right, see you later.

-OK.

52-year-old Andy will be joining him at the training centre.

I'm a very proud person.

I don't like being told that I'm useless.

How does that make you feel?

Pissed off.

What more can I say than that? Pissed off.

Andy and Ryan will be part of a unique group of job-seekers.

Despite their skills,

they have thousands of failed job applications between them.

It's about being seen as just a member of society,

-and not a disability.

-Hi.

Employers see the wheelchair first,

and me and my abilities second.

I want to push myself, but I'm being held back.

The jobcentre is the brainchild of psychologist Nancy Doyle -

a pioneer in helping mixed disability groups find work.

It frustrates me, this narrative that all

we need to do to get a job is change ourselves,

and sometimes that's not true,

sometimes, actually, the employers aren't playing ball.

The world is going to end!

She'll be bringing some of the country's top employment

experts together, to help the job-seekers.

Blind man walking a deaf dog.

-I'm Ryan.

-Yeah, nice to meet you.

-Uh, what's your name?

-Kerie is my name. Kerie. Woo!

Um, if I say anything, I don't mean it, I do have Tourette's.

-That's all right.

-So don't take anything I say too personally!

That's OK!

-Hi! Hello!

-Hi there!

Ooh!

All the bone in my wrist was destroyed and turned into gravel,

and it severed all the tendons in the back of my hand.

Nancy's hoping that the group will learn from each other,

through the challenges ahead.

So, who knows that they'd like to start?

My name's Andy.

I have absolutely no idea what I want to do.

None at all.

Why do you want a job?

It's no good sitting at home, doing nothing.

I mean, I'm a good, solid worker - before the stroke.

A good, solid worker after the stroke,

but I'm not getting the opportunity.

Never.

And I am trying so hard

to get a job, to show that I'm needed.

Basically, yeah.

Andy was once the managing director

of a successful superbike business.

Come on!

I've tried everything to get a job,

everything you can think of,

marketing to manager

to cleaner.

I'll go for anything that comes up.

I just want something as a job.

You know Dad's picking you up at 3.35 this afternoon?

He used to be the main breadwinner in the family.

But now Andy's a househusband, looking after his two teenage sons

whilst his wife, Donna, goes out to work.

Work before the stroke was extremely important.

I was thinking about it every day - even Christmas.

It meant such a lot to me.

It really did.

And then the stroke,

and that was it, you know.

Ellie, look. Ellie, look.

Andy's life turned upside down in 2011,

after an operation on his neck.

I've got a little lump here, tiny little thing, about that big.

Um...

And that small, little bit of tumour

turned into a big bit of tumour,

which led to me having a stroke.

The next ten days...

..was,

"Will I survive or will I won't?"

Mum had a phone call,

the doctors told her he has, like,

three days to live.

He couldn't speak. He was just kind of clinging on, I guess.

That was quite hard to see.

And then he decided not to die.

And then the doctors are like, "Oh, he'll never walk, never speak."

And then he started speaking, and then it just got from that point

to this point here, I guess.

Andy lived life at 150mph, but unfortunately he had

a stroke, which then made his 150mph life

grind to a halt.

Who came here to go slower today?

Andy used to run a motorbike school

with a million-pound turnover.

He ran training for MotoGP,

and was a respected motorbike journalist.

You want about a fist's distance between the back of the tank

and your wedding tackle.

I think that's the politest way I can put that!

Here's me, with a visor up, here's Rossi with the visor down.

If you could have a chat with him at that age, what would you say to him?

Don't give up. Whatever you do, don't give up.

Simple as that.

Ow!

Peas in a pod.

Mayonnaise!

Oo-woo!

Knobhead!

Organic cucumber!

I want a job because I don't want to be sitting around on my

fat arse, playing with meself.

No, oh, Jesus, shut up.

-"Decorators wanted."

-No, you can't do that.

Yeah, straight away.

A year ago, Ryan was working in a pound shop...

Woof, woof.

..but he had to quit his job

when he was diagnosed with severe Tourette's syndrome.

You can't be a support worker, some of the things you come out with.

-Fucking old nonces! Get in your grave!

-Yeah.

You can call me names, but you can't call other people names.

Since then, his mum, Nikki, has been helping him

try to get back into work.

There you go, hairdresser.

Chop your knob off! Mrs Knobdresser.

-See, all those sorts of things.

-Yeah.

-You do make me laugh.

Woof!

Gardening. You'd be the only one.

You're on your own, you're your own person.

You're not stupid, you went to uni for a little while,

-so it's not like you haven't got it up there.

-Mm.

You've got to use what you've got,

-because there ain't nothing in here for you.

-Yeah.

It's all right. Hmm.

I don't do well in crying situations.

Crybaby!

-It's just hard. Because you go through...

-Dry your eyes, mate!

..you go through so much.

Do you want a tissue for your issues?

-SHE CHUCKLES

-Shut up!

There's not actually a lot that you can do out there.

-No.

-None of them.

Treacle!

There you go, you could be a paper shredder.

Yay! Let's get cooking!

Woo!

I'm cutting up a human's heart, cannibalistic me.

-Korma or tikka masala, Ryan?

-Korma.

Ryan lives with his boyfriend, Charlie,

in a studio flat in Berkshire.

Fuck off, let's do pancakes!

His doctors believe he has one of the most severe

cases of Tourette's in the country.

Skin the cats and use them as pelts.

Charlie, that's gone in the turtle tank.

-It's cool.

-We cannot have that.

For years, they thought Ryan's behaviour was psychosomatic.

I had...brain scans, blood tests.

Um, they believed I had strep throat

when I was younger, which could have caused my Tourette's.

I don't think anybody wants to be taken in a room,

and say, "This is what's wrong with you."

Mother Nature or whatever's happening has gone,

"There's your abnormality, there's your difference.

"You're going to stand out from everyone."

So, I was kind of like, "How am I going to deal with it?"

Ooh! Baseball bat to the head.

This is what I mean, I try and do normal things with my life

and I can't.

It's all cool.

-Thank you for that.

-Sorry.

-Salmonella.

I'll wash up, and then we'll do that.

You see that button that says "Don't push"?

But you have that urge to push.

I can stop it but it hurts to stop it,

so my brain goes, "No, we're going to do it."

Shout out random noises!

Surf and turf!

-You can still use it.

-No.

An estimated 300,000 people have Tourette's in the UK.

Despite being on medication,

Ryan's tic attacks are at the extreme end of the condition.

I wonder if my tics are too bad for me to work,

because there are days where I cannot leave the house.

But do I want to work?

Yes, I do want to work.

Fuck!

Getting back into the workplace for Ryan would mean the absolute world.

The only want that he has is going to work.

And it hurts me seeing someone that you're in love with

going through that battle, every day.

It's the first day of Ryan and Andy's group training.

-Does that mean you only have one hand?

-One hand, yeah.

How do you do everything?

Most people would think that about probably all of us in here, right?

At 11am, Nancy starts off by lifting the lid on the hidden

world of secret job opportunities.

Most people who are looking for work don't know this:

70% of the jobs available at any one time aren't advertised.

What I want to do for you is give you the ways to access

the hidden job market, when the competition doesn't exist.

For the next two hours,

the candidates have one-on-one interviews with recruitment experts.

Should I disclose that I'm in a wheelchair?

I wouldn't put it on your CV.

A lot of employers out there still are prejudiced towards disability.

What's your current approach to finding a job?

Five, six applications, every day for a year.

Everything from managing director all the way through to a cleaner.

You come from being a managing director of a very successful

business, and you've got yourself to the position where

-you're applying for cleaner roles.

-Well...

How does this happen?

Because a cleaner is something.

Ryan has never met people with such a broad range of disabilities.

My tics are observational, so I'm trying to not

pick up on people's things.

There's a lot of Lord Of The Rings going through my head,

Legolas and all that lot.

By the afternoon,

he's finding it increasingly difficult to control his tics.

-Hello, Ryan, I'm Jane.

-You all right? Where's your Tarzan? Hi!

-Now, I have to stand because I have a dodgy spine.

-OK!

So you can sit or stand or do whatever you prefer.

Ryan hopes that one day he might find a job working with animals.

I have quite an extensive knowledge on sort of, like, turtles,

so I wouldn't mind being somebody that rescues them.

That's my dream, anyway, setting up a turtle sanctuary, like a charity.

The thing about your particular condition is that you can't

-blend into the background...

-No.

..anonymously. You're going to be noticed and remembered.

Which isn't always a bad thing.

So it's not just about, "Hey, I've all these skills,

"and I'm sorry but I've also got Tourette's."

-You can use that as a sales point.

-An advantage, yeah.

-Yeah.

HE WHISTLES

Thank you. Bye! I hope you find Tarzan!

To prove to the group that it's possible to find a job,

even with an extreme disability,

Nancy has invited a special guest to come for the afternoon.

We're going to have a talk from a chap called Tom.

Thomas the Tank Engine!

Not Thomas the Tank Engine, sadly.

THEY LAUGH

Tom is going to talk about his experience of having a sudden

disability, and then going through the process of getting

-back into the workplace.

-KNOCK ON DOOR

Come on in.

-Hi!

-Hi!

-I've got Tom and Nic for you.

-Thank you, Grace.

-That's all right, no worries.

Nicola is Tom's wife, and has come with him today.

OK, Tom.

I was thirty...eight years old.

Never had a day off sick in my life.

Nic was pregnant again with our second child,

and suddenly I fell ill.

I had what is called sepsis.

I'd been to the dentist, and got a nick in my gum,

and within three or four hours,

I was starting to go into a coma,

during which time

I had both of my arms amputated,

both of my legs were amputated,

and all of my face from my eyes downwards was stripped off.

At that point, Nic was actually giving birth to our son, Freddie.

Ryan has spent almost an hour trying to hold in his tics.

If I keep my tics in, it hurts,

it aches. It feels like fire ants.

Yeah, it's not a nice thing to live with.

All of you people are excellent,

top-quality problem solvers, aren't you?

You wouldn't have survived and got to where

you are unless you were brilliant at solving your problems.

Say your head is a can of pop,

and somebody shakes it.

You're going to get that pressure build up...

..until it just... And then that's when everything spurts out.

And thank you for listening to me.

APPLAUSE

Argh!

Fuck off! Dickhead! Woo!

HE WHISTLES

I ate Peppa Pig for breakfast.

Knobhead!

Prostitutes on the corner!

I've got Tourette's, so...it's fine,

you don't need to watch and stare.

I'm not having people watching and staring over there.

Ooh!

Watching you was amazing, how well you were actually able to

-hold on to those tics, to be honest.

-The twitches I was doing,

-I was trying to release a little bit of that urge.

-Yep.

What I didn't want to do downstairs was that my brain was picking

-up everything wrong with Tom.

-Yep.

Not me, I'm not that kind of person,

but my brain was,

and that was what was aggravating me so much.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

What he needs in order to avoid pressurised situations

is to just be upfront with people and not be embarrassed to interrupt

something at the very beginning and say,

"By the way, I've got Tourette's, this is what might happen."

Let's do it. Let's... I'll come down with you.

Over two days,

the group practise the skills necessary for the job market.

Mock interviews...

What is it that you really look for in a job?

-Six till six...

-Yup.

..seven days a week.

-Right, OK.

-Yes!

..cold calling...

-Good morning.

-Before I carry on with my call, I have got Tourette's.

OK, that's fine, yes.

..and group feedback.

He might not see this but other people just instantly like him.

I'm going to go back home, and take this forward,

what I've learnt from today.

Prostitutes not real!

Um, from this whole experience, that I can do it.

But after all this training, they must face the outside world,

and put the lessons learnt into action.

It is going to be really tough for them.

When they wake up tomorrow, it's just going to be them,

at home, with the laptop and the telephone and a long list

of things to do to get in front of an employer

and start getting that job.

Back home in Northamptonshire,

Andy's acting on Nancy's advice,

and starting to think about how to sell himself to employers.

-So, what did you write?

-Well, there is...

There is business out there, if you like, but they have...

I...I've forgotten.

OK. Did you explain that you had aphasia and struggled to speak?

I'm not doing too bad on this one.

After his stroke, Andy was paralysed

and developed aphasia, which affects his speech.

What were your two main achievements?

I don't think I have many achievements,

but everybody else tells me I have.

You survived a bastard stroke.

A lot of people wouldn't have achieved that!

I've been able to walk.

Yeah, you see, that's an achievement.

You can talk.

I can talk. Um...

-A lot of shit most of the time, but you can talk.

-A lot of shit, yes!

He had a life-changing thing happen to him,

and it was shit for him and it was shit for all of us,

but you can just give up and then go, "Oh, woe is me,"

or you can actually get on with your life

and find opportunities out there.

I think it's purely proving a point, that just

because you have a disability doesn't mean you can't do things

that you would be able to do normally.

As part of the training, Nancy visits the job seekers at home.

She's concerned the aphasia is undermining Andy's confidence.

-Hello! Come on in!

-Hi!

Aphasia is when the part of the brain that's responsible for speech

and language has been damaged.

That's in the left hemisphere,

and if Andy's stroke has affected that area, it means that he

might have difficulty finding the right word to express what he means.

It means he might forget words or use the wrong word,

and that can be really difficult.

Nancy is assessing Andy to discover

if his verbal skills are as bad as he fears.

What is the highest mountain on Earth?

-Everest.

-What animal group is a frog?

-Amphibious.

-What distance is a marathon in miles?

Uh, 2-6, point...

I think it's 4-0.

Not quite sure.

-Yeah, you did well, actually, Andy.

-You think?

-You really did.

For the verbal scores,

most people score between 8 and 12, that's

a good, strong, competent score.

You've got an 11, which is in the zone,

and you've got a 12, which is just on the edge of the zone.

I think generally in a workplace,

I don't think you should worry about your verbal skills.

I think you make yourself heard and understood very well.

That's...encouraging.

Those skills are still there.

That's superb.

Really motivates me to do something

I can...I love doing,

but I don't know what it'll be yet.

From the training centres, and especially with Nancy, I've got

a lot of confidence.

That was a real big step for me.

All I do need is somebody to be able to look at me and say,

"You've got potential, we're going to give you that chance."

That's what I'm looking for.

Come on, kittens!

Ryan's determined not to let his condition hold him

back any longer,

and has decided to focus on a career with animals.

I'd love to own my own zoo, I think.

I did have a newt in here, but he's gone.

What goes through your mind when you're with your animals?

Peace and tranquillity, and they don't answer back.

One cricket?

PHONE RINGING

He's approached a local aquatic centre

and has managed to secure an interview for a job trial.

-ON PHONE:

-Good afternoon.

-Hi, it's Ryan.

I'm ringing up to confirm the interview tomorrow?

-Hello, Ryan.

-Ooh!

-Yes. No problem.

We're looking at one o'clock, if that's OK with you?

That would be brilliant, thank you.

-HE WHISTLES

-Fish guts. Sorry.

-I'll see you then.

-Will do.

-Fucking crab claws!

-Yeah, I think that went well.

-HE LAUGHS

Ooh! It's something that I'm really interested in.

Yes, it is a customer service job, but the only good thing with

that is, it is something to do with something I've got a

passion about. If I've got a passion about it, my tics subside.

So, yeah, I am really excited. It's going to be awesome.

We're going to cook sushi!

Ryan's interview is the biggest step he's taken towards work

since his diagnosis.

If the aquatics store offered me a job tomorrow,

I would snap that up in a heartbeat.

I'm going to prove to myself that I can do it and not

dwell on the fact that I think everyone is going to think I'm a freak.

Organic cucumber.

Ryan wants to feel independent, he wants to feel that he can do it.

And fair enough, if he can't do it, he can't do it,

but at least he knows he's tried.

I do have Tourette's. I'm kind of leaving it into your hands

if you want to cut and paste between the lines.

-HE WHISTLES

-Bob the Builder. Not that one.

So, er, the job. I see you've got a bit of experience in retail already?

-A good few years ago.

-HE WHISTLES

And then, full vocal tics, I only got this last March.

-Right.

-But I have these things called tic attacks.

They look like epileptic seizures or have you seen the film The Exorcist?

That's why I had to leave my previous job.

They didn't really want me on the shop floor.

Here, I'm kind of hoping my tics sort of subside like they do at home

when I'm messing around with my turtles and my fish.

-Hopefully I'll be able to sort of mellow it out.

-Yeah, yeah.

I mean...is there anything that you...

you...you're interested in? A bit of a goal for the future?

I'd like to raise enough money so I can have my own turtle rescue in my back garden.

He's got the passion. The way he speaks about his fish at home,

you know, they mean something to him. But the biggest challenge obviously

is vocal tics and being face-to-face with customers.

It's always a concern for us because our customers are the most

important thing for us. It's quite important for us to not upset them.

-We will be in touch.

-Sweet. Thank you.

-Cool. Cheers, man.

That's all right. Ooh-ooh!

Yey! Dickhead!

Fuck off! Oh, they're all coming out now.

I surprised myself today with my tics actually being quite limited.

A bit easier to... Fishy fanny!

..erm, to explain to them about Tourette's

and how they could help me in the workplace and, yeah,

it's probably also where I'm surrounded by fish

and I'm in my element. I was like, "Oh."

-HE WHISTLES

-Finding Ryan.

Encouraged by Nancy's assessment,

Andy has made an ambitious career choice.

Hello? I'd like to know who to get in touch with about my speaking.

He wants to use his experience of fighting back against the odds

to inspire others through public speaking.

Of your speakers that you have,

do you have anybody that has aphasia?

If not, would you like to try me?

I just don't think

we're at the stage of after-dinner speaking at the moment.

We're trying to get to the letter E without going through B, C and

D at the moment.

Do I mail you? What do I do?

-INTERVIEWER: How many more to go?

-Hundreds.

He isn't the person that he was and we all try to help him

be the person that he needs to be now, but he wants to be the person...

..that he once was, and so that becomes quite frustrating.

Andy's hours of cold calling may be about to pay off.

This will be the first time I've ever really talked about my life.

I'm nervous about me because it's about me, if you see what I mean.

A London agency has agreed to let him

audition for a place on their talent list.

Hopefully it will be good enough to get some work out of it.

The speaking marketplace is hugely competitive.

We have 30-40 new speakers coming in every week.

They only get one shot because there's always a next speaker coming along.

It can be a lucrative career choice.

A speaker can earn thousands of pounds a night.

People want to learn from people.

If you've done something extraordinary,

written a book, achieved amazing things in sport,

you potentially have got a story to tell.

Before being taken on, Andy needs to convince the whole

office that he has what it takes to be a public speaker.

-At this point, Andy, I step away and I say it's all yours.

-Thank you.

First impressions count. When Andy steps up on stage, he's

got 12 seconds to make an immediate impression.

He needs to get them onside straight away, else

he's fighting a losing battle.

Right, my name is Andy Ibbott. I am a stroke survivor,

but also an aphasia victim.

He sends messages up here but it doesn't always come out here.

-Yes?

-AUDIENCE:

-Yes.

-All right, then.

Andy kicks off with his previous career in superbikes.

There you go. That's the sort of thing we did.

I can't actually tell you more, except that is an Aprilia engine.

To be the race bikes, the ones that do 250 GP,

they don't now, they do 600 now. OK?

Ten minutes later, he moves on to the day that everything changed for him.

I started feeling this small lump in my throat.

They sat me down and told me,

"You won't walk and you won't talk."

Bollocks to that.

Rob, my friend, he helped me walk

down our lane 100 yards, until eventually he got me doing 26 miles a day.

The most hardest thing I've ever done.

But if I can do it, no reason you can't.

You can do it now.

-All right?

-Thank you.

-OK, then.

-Thank you very much.

-APPLAUSE

Andy's clearly got a lot of content. I worry that he's not

clear in his mind what the messages he's trying to deliver are.

A few bits of feedback.

The first ten minutes, where you're talking about

kind of your motorbikes, that needs to be done in 12 seconds.

I don't really care. The interesting part starts once you've

had your stroke, cos that's the story of you re-inventing yourself.

You need to refine the content of the speech and you need to

have confidence and maybe some training in your stage presence.

And I think with those three things, suddenly you'll turn yourself

into someone who's got the confidence they can actually get into the speaking scene.

But we're not going to be actively pushing you yet.

I was expecting a flat no, to be honest. It will just mean

working hard, that's all. I don't mind working hard, bring it on.

It's been a pleasure meeting you and I really enjoyed listening to you.

It was me standing in front of people

telling what I wanted to tell them.

A pleasure. Absolutely.

-INTERVIEWER: Do you love it, this kind of thing?

-Yes. Definitely.

The first time where a job means something to me.

What?

In Berkshire, Ryan's chances of building a career are starting to look up.

The local aquatics centre has invited him back for a job trial.

-Are you nervous?

-That's the wrong thing to ask me.

-Are you excited?

-That's better.

# Relax, just do it. #

Er-ah! Er-ah! Er-ah!

My last job was customer-based. Nipple-clipple.

I'm hoping employers sort of have the mind-set and go, "Right, we've got to concentrate

"on the person, not what is coming out of his mouth...involuntary."

So, yeah. Woohoo!

Excited?

-Yeah.

-You've got nothing to be worried about. It's...

-HE WHISTLES

-Cool.

For the first time since his diagnosis,

Ryan will be dealing with new co-workers and serving the public.

# When I'm cleaning windows. #

RYAN WHISTLES

You're going to be food with chips.

I'm going to batter all these knobheads.

I'm not going to lie, I was a little taken back at first.

You do not hear that in a shop anywhere.

The coping mechanism I'm going through at the moment is

pretending that what I'm doing is what I do at my house.

I'm trying to get my brain into saying, "You're familiar with this,

"you don't need to feel out of place."

And if I can find a place to work like this

full time, I'd be well happy, over the rainbow and all that. Ooh-hoo!

Munchkin land.

-Are you guys all right?

-Just getting some shrimp.

-Getting some shrimp.

-I'll let you get on with it.

-Thank you.

RYAN WHISTLES

Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug.

Whoo! Sorry, I do have Tourette's. If that startled you, then...

That's all right.

RYAN LAUGHS

It's full of protein.

It's called... Ooh, fishy fanny! It's not called that.

-OK.

-So you're interested in...that?

-I'm going to go away and think about all that.

-That's all right.

-And when I get ready, I'll come back. Thank you very much.

-All right, then. Thank you.

It's the customers that are giving me a bit of the heebie-jeebies

at the moment, because I don't know how they're going to react.

Oh, there's people coming in here with kids,

this is the worst thing in the world.

Fucking midget.

Ooh!

-Ooh!

-RYAN WHISTLES

Coffin dodgers. I am so sorry. So sorry.

-We all have our problems.

-THEY LAUGH

-But, yeah, I hope the plants make your tank, er, pond pretty.

-Hope so.

That was a bit embarrassing, but they took it in jest.

That's all right.

When he's able to talk to customers about something

he knows about, it's great.

But I do have some concerns, I'll be honest,

given the nature of his condition.

We wouldn't call our customers coffin dodgers.

That would normally result in a disciplinary.

-You have my CV.

-Yeah, if anything comes up in the shop, we will give you a call straight away.

Thank you. Right, I shall see you later.

In Northamptonshire,

Andy still hasn't secured any public speaking work.

I'd like to talk. I'd like to see if people would book me or not.

But he's refusing to give up on his new career path.

Bye.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think you're going to have to tell people about the difficult times?

Yes.

In my public speaking, I will...

..trace a time that was really bad

because I nearly committed suicide.

And...

..that's no good at all, erm...

..but at that time, that was my only option.

INTERVIEWER: I didn't know that.

Where were we? So we've got more.

-What were you dealing with at that time?

-Life.

Not being able to use my arm, not being able to use my leg.

Talking next to...was nothing.

Nothing was...

Was...

Was nothing and I felt that.

It's been a difficult ride since then,

but I always take the...

..opportunity to overcome it.

Hello? Hello? My name is Andy Ibbott,

I have aphasia and also a stroke.

Ryan, take a deep breath, all right? Move the fucking table, please.

Ryan's tic attacks are getting more serious.

Where are you going?

Do you want help?

Don't stress yourself.

Slow down for a minute.

You're really hot, Ryan.

Vest, vest...

Just stay there.

-VOICEOVER:

-I want the best for him,

but his brain is putting a stop to it, that's the big shame.

His health stops him from doing what he wants to do.

Stops him from having a job, stops him from going into town,

stops him from doing day-to-day, normal things.

So, it's gutting.

I'm a little bit concerned about Ryan,

and so I thought it was a good idea to just go and see him at home.

If things have got so bad, what does this mean for his job prospects?

What does this mean for his ability to work?

KNOCKING

-Hello.

-Ryan!

Look at this!

God, this is amazing!

H-H-He's my main baby.

-What's his name?

-Plop.

-Plop.

Let's have a little bit of a catch-up.

How has all of this left you feeling?

It's all left me feeling quite crap.

-HE WHISTLES

-Ooh, shit!

Shit a brick! Shit a house! Crap.

You've got this month, you're going to go back and see

-your specialist.

-Yeah.

Can you even think about work in that space?

I really want to.

-This is me, this is a rock.

-Yeah.

-This is a hard place and they seem to be...

-Yeah.

..slowly getting closer together at the moment.

There's a big difference between what you're motivated to do

-and what you're actually capable of doing right now, isn't there?

-Yeah.

It's... It's horrible, yeah.

We've got to look at the medical issues before you can really focus

-on job search.

-Ooh!

-HE WHISTLES

I feel very frustrated for Ryan.

He works so hard, he's so ambitious and he's got so much to offer.

He's had such a hard time.

He can do all of the things in the world to get himself into work

and then tic attack strikes and that is what he's got to deal with.

It's really damaging, really damaging.

HE WHISTLES

The last few weeks I was literally thinking, like, this is the way

that I want to go, and then it's like there's this big thing

that's suddenly gone, "No, I'm going to push you back."

I've gone back, like, four or five steps.

At the moment, my health is my number one priority.

It is, it is, it is...

Knobhead! Fuck off! Orange juice.

INTERCOM RINGS

Hi.

Although Ryan's too unwell to attend the next training session,

Andy and the rest of the job-seekers are back in London.

I've been turned down for about 30 jobs, but that's life.

But you will get a job. If you stop doing it...

-Oh, I'm not going to stop doing it.

-There you go, then.

So far, none of the group have found employment,

so Nancy's brought in a team of specialist recruiters to help broaden their job search.

There's a few different kind of customer service side of things.

-Right.

-Customer assistant in Tesco's.

-We've also got a new M&S opening.

-Mm-hm.

-Another one, Asda.

-Yep.

-They're all various different hours.

It's OK.

So the last one is a local charity

and they're looking for tutors to work with children in the city.

-Now you've got my interest.

-Yes!

-Tell me more.

It's just going to be working with children and being their mentor.

-We could set you up an interview.

-Have a definite interest in.

-Definite. Good.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Awesome.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

I feel quite positive about the things that he wants to do.

He knows how to achieve something that's really tough,

he's lived that. I really have got really high hopes for Andy.

I think if I play it right,

I shall definitely be in employment before the end of the year.

I'll get there.

For the past month, Ryan's tic attacks have become

increasingly dangerous.

This morning, he's seeing his neurologist.

My worry is that Dr Stern could turn around and say, "Maybe lay off the job search for now,

"concentrate on yourself," but then that's just going to put me all the way back in square one.

-HE WHISTLES

-Oh!

Ryan's one of my most severe patients at the moment.

So this is really the extreme end of the condition.

It has affected him to a very large degree.

-Ryan, would you like to come in?

-Yes, thank you.

-Ooh! Boing!

-RYAN GROANS

Dr Jeremy Stern is one of the UK's leading specialists in Tourette's.

RYAN BARKS

-Are they still coming in really strong bouts?

-Yeah.

With this...is my main concern

because I think my rage tics are back. Ooh!

So what happened? It looks like you've done more than scratch your arm.

I got in the front passenger seat and as I've done that,

with this arm, I've gone... Ooh! Knobhead!

Pushed it up like that and as I've done that, I managed to smash the car windscreen.

What we should probably do now is try and increase the tablets

-you're taking at the moment.

-OK.

The chances of them being really helpful,

unfortunately, are quite low. I can't give the hard sell.

-HE GROANS

-Is there anything you wanted to ask me?

Erm...it was really about the job front.

Do you think it would be too much pressure looking for a job?

Sit down, you noisy bastard!

OK, well, you are quite a confident person,

you can project your personality past the tics

and it's probably about finding the work that's right for you,

where you can function, and it's not actually stopping you working.

Oh! Knobhead!

Dr Stern was positive that I could work,

and he said I was confident enough to be able to go out and look for work.

That meant a lot to me. It's just about finding the right job.

It's an ongoing road, it's my yellow brick road to Oz,

that's... Yeah, that's the way I can describe it and it's just ongoing at the moment.

Determined not to give up,

Andy's found a new way to fulfil his dream of public speaking.

This company has let me have a go,

so that I can show I can work.

It's a godsend.

Grab a seat. You all right?

A local social enterprise has asked him to help with their fundraising.

First impressions are vitally important

and if we come across as not professional, not organised,

we will be overlooked.

It's Andy Ibbott here.

Andy will need to win over potential donors, both on the phone

and in public talks.

We want to fund the situation,

but we need some notes, some e-mails,

something we've got to fill in, so if you can

give us that, that would be most grateful.

Who makes your funding...? People?

Community fund administrators.

There were a few times on the phone where he did make mistakes.

He just needs to be clearer, that's all.

How the bags of help. How it works.

How do we get in contact with you?

That's one area that he will need some added support.

OK.

We're going down to the university,

we've got this wonderful opportunity to pitch.

It is really important that we get it right today.

See what you can come up with to fill ten minutes.

We will then hopefully go down to university and you can deliver it.

-Is that OK?

-No problem.

Andy's been asked to deliver a speech about the organisation

to a group of potential volunteers.

If I give a good presentation, I expect a lot of them to come down

and write their name down.

With a bad presentation, we won't have anything,

so it's up to me to give a reason why they should come.

Care for... Care... Urgh!

Refocus. Learn 2 Care.

-Learn 2 Care.

-That's it.

I keep getting that wrong, I don't know why, I just do.

-Hello, everybody.

-AUDIENCE:

-Hello.

-Yey! That's better.

Welcome to Learn 2 Care.

-I'm Andy.

-AUDIENCE:

-Hi, Andy.

Erm, getting on board is getting

quite hard with these organisations, setting it up.

You will notice that I cannot speak properly. I have had a stroke.

Now I am like this, all right?

So please, if I say anything where you think,

"What the hell does he want?" ask, OK?

What we want you to do is to volunteer. If you can come along,

you could say, "I like the idea..." you just come up in the upstairs

and sign your name on the piece of paper and we will contact you.

From the moment I opened my mouth,

I knew I was in trouble straight away.

I should have got the words more correct in my head.

What kind of things or, like, where...?

How much can you give us?

How much can you offer?

Despite Andy's concerns, volunteers are beginning to come forward.

Today was the first time in many years I've had a purpose.

This job, I know I can do it, but it

depends on whether Mike thinks I'm suitable or not.

-All right?

-Thank you.

-And you.

-Thank you very much.

-And you, thank you.

With my Tourette's, it has been quite the roller-coaster ride,

because at the moment, I feel I'm going through a nice, quiet spell

and while I'm doing that,

I can get myself out there and push for employment.

Ryan's Tourette's is taking a turn for the better

and the aquatics centre has been back in touch.

-Hello.

-Hello, Ryan.

-You all right?

-Not too bad.

I've got a call back for some feedback they want to give me,

which is a bit surprising because I thought that was

sort of the end of it, but I'll see what they've got to say.

When you were on the work trial, I was a little bit nervous.

There were a few awkward moments.

Normally we have a no swearing on the shop floor policy.

When there's a load of people my brain just goes, "Urgh!"

Having said that, there wasn't a single bad word

said from any of the customers that we spoke to after they'd been served by you.

-Brilliant.

-We do think you deserve a chance.

You've got passion, you've got bundles of it.

We've had a vacancy open up, just a couple of days a week, hands-on with the fish, feeding,

cleaning, and we would like you on board as part of the team.

That's brilliant.

It's amazing. I'm really quite chuffed with myself, to be fair.

-You definitely deserve it.

-Thank you.

Yeah, I'll be happy to do it.

It feels good to be employable.

I never thought I'd be employable. Whoo! Me mouth's a potty!

I'm back and I'm back with a force.

My horizons are a lot bigger than what I thought they were.

Now, being offered the job, I'm over the moon.

-I'm getting employed.

-HE WHISTLES

-Hi.

-You all right?

-How are you?

-Not bad. Ooh!

-I've got a job.

-Well done.

-I know.

My God! Now you can wake up to something.

You can get into a uniform and go, "Right, babe, I'm going to work."

I can't wait!

I am speechless. It's just unreal.

It's just a great opportunity for him.

To be told that anybody wants me is a big thing.

I'm not going to let my condition beat me.

I'm beyond happy. Reach for the stars!

-Andy, come on in, take a seat.

-Thank you.

While Ryan has finally been accepted into the workforce,

Andy's yet to discover whether he's done enough to secure a job.

How do you think the day went?

Erm, I thought I let it down.

OK. The script wasn't word perfect, but you got out

some of the key messages. I thought actually you captured them quite well.

And I think they connected with you rather well.

Our goal for the day was to get volunteers

-and we accomplished that.

-Yes.

-We have.

-We have, yeah.

We've had a successful day.

Good.

Thank you very much for your hard work.

We'd like to actually offer you the position,

to come on board.

And congratulations.

That has been truly amazing, amazing. I mean, I've... I've not had a job

offered to me since...

Well, 30 years ago... was my last job offer.

People didn't want to know me.

People didn't want to know me because

they couldn't see me the person,

so I'm very, very, very much appreciated it.

You were successful then and you're going to be successful again, so, yeah.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I got a job.

It's small but it's a job.

Brilliant, just brilliant.

I never thought anybody would say that to me,

"Here is a job." A job. It's unbelievable, unbelievable.

The last six years have been lost, but now it's given me purpose,

pure and simple.

It's superb to have a job, it's as simple as that.

It's superb to have a job, end of.

I do all of these things to make myself employable

and I still don't have a job and...

And I don't know why, to be honest.

Welcome to life with a disabled person.

-Hello?

-ON PHONE:

-Hello, is that Nicola?

-It is.

Just because I'm visually impaired doesn't mean I don't have the capability of thinking for myself.

-They're not having my baby.

-No.

I'm concerned that you're putting this off, if I'm honest, Marve.

I'm actually a bit concerned.