Autism Day Spotlight with Stuart, Jonathan & Eddie
World Autism Acceptance Week is from 28 March to 3 April, with World Autism Day falling on 2 April. At Fuller's, we aim to create an environment where everyone feels they belong. So, on this day, we wanted to shine a spotlight on Stuart Green, general manager at The Cabbage Patch and two of his inspirational team members Jonathan and Eddie.
Stuart is involved with various charities and organisations to not only open The Cabbage Patch up to support those in the community with intellectual disabilities (ID) and special educational needs (SEN), but he also helps find work for people with an ID or SEN in his pub.
Stuart has two autistic team members who are very much part of the Fuller's Family, Jonathan who works front of house and Eddie who works in the kitchen. We caught up with Stuart and the boys to find out a bit more about how their roles have shaped their lives and also how much Stuart has learnt and benefited from working with them.
Stuart, Jonathan & Eddie
Stuart has been at The Cabbage Patch for 25 years and in his first year he was introduced to the learning difficulties department at Richmond College. He was appalled that the students weren’t able to gain any work experience.“I decided that I wanted to make a difference, so I set up a whole work experience programme for them with the goal that at the end of the programme, they would be able to leave with a skill. I realised very quickly that the skill could be very basic but as long as it was something, I felt I’d made a difference."
"25 years on we have at least one person in our team every single day with an ID or an SEN and the goal is to get more into employment because they absolutely love it. I think we can make ourselves more accessible, we’ve got loads to learn as an industry and I get frustrated that the industry is so slow to see how much people with an ID can bring to it.”
Pictured above: Eddie (left) Jonathan (middle) and Stuart (right).
Monique, Stuart & Sian
Monique Samra is the People Experience Manager at Fuller's. She sat down with Stuart and Jonathan's mum, Sian to discuss the amazing work Stuart has done to support Jonathan and his other employees with IDs and SENs.
"Stuart is a legend. Jonathan is so much more confident and he's grown in so many different ways. I never imagined that he'd be so happy in a working environment. I didn't think he'd actually even be able to get a job if I'm honest" - Sian
"Jonathan trusts Stuart and he's been given an environment that suits him. He can't do long shifts so he works for two hours which most employers can't offer. He gets a lot of support from the other staff and it's a really special place for him." - Sian
Pictured above: Jonathan's mum, Sian (left), Stuart (middle) and Monique (right).
Jean & Stuart
Jean Frampton, Employment Specialist at Choice Support and Stuart have been working together for a number of years and Choice Support is the charity organisation that helped place Jonathan and Eddie at The Cabbage Patch. Choice Support works to place people with all disabilities into jobs in the Richmond and Wandsworth areas."I think the reason employers aren't in a rush to employ people with disabilities is the fear of the unknown... it really isn't hard you just need to be aware of what you say and sensory overload if there's too much noise, or too many instructions can cause them to become overwhelmed. But the plus side is that when they're here, they're here to work." - Jean
"They only need to work a couple of hours a week and for our industry that's perfect. The two hour lunch period is perfect for Jonathan and perfect for us, I don't have to find more hours. Eddie comes in for three hours on a Thursday and peels vegetables but then he releases another chef, maybe with a bigger skill set to get on with something else, which is brilliant for me." - Stuart
Pictured above: Jean (left) and Stuart (right).
Happiness Is with Bruce Aitchison
Listen to the Happiness Is... with Stuart from The Cabbage Patch here, which was recorded ahead of this year's Six Nations tournament. Stuart also talks more about the work he had done to find employment for people with IDs and SENs.
Join the Fuller's team
Do you want an exciting career in hospitality? Browse available jobs in Fuller’s pubs – from kitchen porter and chef roles to pub manager and front of house positions.
Develop with Fuller's
Our award-winning training and development programmes have been recognised as some of best in the industry, giving our chefs, front of house staff, managers and support centre workers the opportunity to grow and progress in their careers.
Find out more about the training and development opportunities available at Fuller’s: Fuller’s Training & Development.
Find out more about Fuller’s Chef Apprenticeship Programmes: Chef Apprenticeships.
Related Articles:
- A million pints: Barman celebrates 35 years at The Wych Elm
- Celebrating our apprentices for National Apprenticeship Week 2020
- The Cabbage Patch raises £15K for Clarendon School's Sensory Room
- The Harp is Evening Standard's best pub for second year running
- Ye Olde Mitre named London Pub of the Year by SPBW
- Fuller's wins 'Best Apprenticeship' at BII NITAS
- What it's like to be a Commis Chef Apprentice with Fuller's - Jakub's story
- Fuller's Managers take the LEAP with new apprenticeship programme