Karen's story

With Peer Mentoring, young adults with learning difficulties or other disabilities volunteer to work with younger, less experienced trainees on a one-to-one basis, offering support with work tasks and acting as a positive role model. Karen, 20, is one such person.

‘I am blind in one eye and in my other eye my vision is very restricted. I was born the way I am and I have learned to cope with it the best I can!

I came to AFK after college to get some work experience. I'm a big computer buff and I really like to help, so I was asked if I wanted to be a peer mentor.

I thought mentoring would be difficult because I had never been asked to assist other people before. I thought I'd be at loss as to what to do, but I surprised myself! It's proving to be very rewarding for me; I hope it is for the other students too!

The atmosphere here is great, very laid back and friendly. Everyone knows each other; it's like a sort of AFK family.

I'm hoping that after this experience I will go on to get a job of some kind. But first I need to convince employers that whether you are visually impaired or even blind, you can still do as much as everyone else. As long as we get the right support, we will do a great job.

I would consider working in a place like AFK in a heartbeat!'

If you would like more information please email wrl@actionforkids.org or call 020 8347 8111 and speak to Samantha Holloway.