Disability is no barrier to helping others

TEENAGERS are not always portrayed as the most likely people to help others, despite many of them doing a great deal for their local communities.

But imagine giving up almost all your spare time to do exactly that, not get paid for it, and doing all of it despite suffering with a type of cerebral palsy which makes everyday tasks incredibly difficult.

And yet that's precisely what 19-year-old Rebecca Sibthorpe has been able to do.

Rebecca has just clocked up 50 hours of volunteer work at the George Hurd Centre, in Basildon, after she was assigned there by the Basildon, Billericay and Wickford Council for Voluntary Service, a charity which supports people working in the voluntary sector.

Her achievements are such that she received her award from Basildon MP Angela Smith.

Rebecca said: "I was blown away to meet an MP, and that she would take the time to come and give the award to an ordinary person like me, was amazing.

"It's so nice to have the work I've been doing recognised in this way."

And Mrs Smith was full of praise for the young volunteer. She said: "I was very pleased to present the award to such an amazing young woman.

"Her disability made it more difficult, but she came through with flying colours."

Amazingly, Rebecca, of Brookmans Avenue, Grays, spent 50 hours helping office staff at the Audley Way centre, despite her condition, ataxic cerebral palsy, affecting her coordination, which makes handling any small object, such as a pen, extremely difficult.

Yet her work involved office tasks such as inputting information into the database, and other administrative tasks, which she excelled in.

Jo McPherson, who helped set Rebecca up with the placement, works for the South Essex branch of V, a charity which helps match young people to volunteering opportunities.

She said: "We've had such excellent feedback about Rebecca, saying how capable she is, they couldn't say enough about her.

"I hope it goes a long way in helping her find a job. Clearly she would be a real asset to any office team."

Rebecca's dad, Kevin Sibthorpe, 50, described his daughter, who recently graduated from Palmers College, in Grays, as an inspiration.

He said: "I am incredibly proud of her, she's a wonderful girl.

"How she stays so positive, I don't know. She wakes up every morning just smiling her head off."

Mr Sibthorpe said Rebecca's time with the volunteering support charity had given her great life experience as well as valuable time in an office environment.

He said: "She's doing everything she can to make herself more desirable to employers, so she can get a job. But it is difficult for her – people are afraid of disability and they often don't want to approach her."

Rebecca, with the help of her family, sister Louise, 21, and mum Joan, 48, has always refused to let her disability hold her back.

She stayed in mainstream education and managed to pick up five GCSEs as well as taking A-levels in English, maths, media studies and IT.

Her proud dad said, apart from her desire to get a job, Rebecca's big passion is BBC show, Top Gear, and he confided how much she likes presenter Richard Hammond.

Rebecca is also a computer whizz, and also enjoys shopping and going to the cinema, when of course, she is able to fit it in.

Echo, 4th March 2009