Graduation celebration for Tyrone students with learning difficulties

SMILING Omagh students were among more than 200 adults who recently celebrated graduating from their bespoke courses facilitated by NOW Group – an award-winning social enterprise that brings fresh opportunities for people with learning difficulties and autism.

The sparkling ceremony, which took place at the City Hotel, Belfast, was hosted by radio presenter, Cate Conway, and saw Alderman Tom Haire; the Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast; and NOW Group staff in attendance, while participants’ family members travelled from across the North to attend the special day.

And that’s not all: Making the event even more memorable is that the 211 students had been waiting eagerly for their graduation day – almost two years, to be precise, following the postponement of the 2020 event due to the pandemic.

The extravaganza was timely, too; taking place just a number of days before ‘ World Autism Day’, which was celebrated globally on Saturday (April 2).

Chief executive of the NOW Group, Maeve Monaghan congratulated all involved.

“This is a day that has been much anticipated for over 200 families,” she said. “While the skills shortage and need for greater inclusion is a daily topic of conversation amongst employers, people with disabilities are rarely mentioned as part of the solution.

“We want to play our part in changing that, and bringing more diverse skills into the workplace.

“The NOW Group academies demonstrates the wider commitment to support our participants, and to provide them with real skills and qualifications to help them into the world of work,” she added. “We want to build a community that recognises and rewards future innovators and leaders who can drive growth and transformation within their chosen fields.”

Established in 2000, the NOW Group is a social enterprise focused on supporting people with learning difficulties and autism, helping them gain qualifications and life/work experience so they can move into paid employment.

Providing a range of services, the work is about social inclusion, and leads to those they work with having better health, a better education, and a brighter future. In the past year, the NOW Group has supported more than 1,540 participants through its initiatives, with more than half of the participants going on to gain paid employment across the sectors as a result of the training.

l For more information about NOW Group, please visit: ‘nowgroup.org’.