Young People Are Great - Spotlight on Haitham

Haitham was brought to Dundee in 2017 from Egypt and was put into the care of the local authority. He was unable to speak any English at that time but engaged well with secondary school, despite having complex needs that mean that he relies entirely on the use of a wheelchair and requires significant personal support. However, Haitham remains an extremely positive, self-motivated and aspirational young man, who is exceptionally popular at school and is well regarded by both pupils and staff alike. Haitham was referred to the Stepping Up transition program run by Enable Works and engaged really well with his Employment Coordinator (EC). Haitham had originally been interested in attending college to enrol in a course around Creative Media or Computer Gaming. However, due to his circumstances he did not meet the academic entry requirements for any of these courses and may have had to settle for something that wasn’t particularly meaningful to him or perhaps in a supported education environment. Knowing that Haitham was an animal lover, having his own dog “Shadow”, and that he often watched nature and wildlife programmes on TV, it was mentioned to Haitham that he might be interested in finding out more about college course in Animal Care. This immediately piqued his interest and he was supported by his EC and his school career adviser to make an application for a suitable course. He was then supported by his EC to a visit to the college to show him the animal care facilities, to get a flavour of what would be involved and the animals that he could be caring for, and to also discuss and assess his needs in terms of logistical and personal challenges and potential considerations or adjustments in terms of learning and education supports.Since, Haitham was subsequently invited to attend a group assessment and interview and he was successful in obtaining an unconditional offer of a course place of which he is extremely proud. Congratulations Haitham! The DYW Tay Cities Team wish you all the best!