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A few summers ago I worked for a local community project that provided carers for disabled people within the community. I had been asked to work with an adult group, providing support for their weekly social event in the village hall. Although I had known disabled children before, I was a little apprehensive about working with a group of adults, especially as they had a wide range of special needs. I didn’t know how they would feel about me and whether we would have enough in common.
In the first social meeting we met in the village hall and I was met with an array of different adults. Some in wheelchairs, others with walking aids, some with obvious physical disabilities and others with no obvious disabilities. Everybody stared at me when I walked in. I sat down and tried to integrate, but found it hard as the rest of the group all knew each other and were not particularly receptive to my questions. After an uncomfortable 20 minutes the discussion moved to cars. Suddenly I found one of the men in the group with special needs becoming very animated and excited when cars were mentioned. I started speaking to him and found out that his name was Ben. After a while I asked whether he had a car. He said that he had always wanted to but because he had suffered strokes he was not allowed to have a licence.
This saddened me as I could see how much he loved cars. I told him that I had a car and he asked which one. I told him that I had a Ford Fiesta. As he heard the words his eyes widened and his face lit up. “A Ford Fiesta? I REALLY LOVE FORD FIESTAS!” Can I go in your Ford Fiesta?”. He was so passionate about it that I couldn’t say no, so we went out to the car park.
As we climbed into the car he was buzzing with excitement and couldn’t stop touching the interior. I started the engine and the car rolled into action. Ben was quickly telling me that he wanted to go in circles around the car park and with each circle his excitement increased. After a minute he erupted into delighted giggles and wanted me to continue going around and around. After 5 more minutes he finally agreed that we had to stop. I stopped the car and turned off the engine. As he stepped out of the door he turned to me, beaming, and yelled at the top of his lungs “I REALLY LOVE YOUR FORD FIESTA!”. I still have the car to this day, each time I think about selling I remember Ben’s words. I couldn’t imagine parting with a car that has bought someone so much joy.
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