D R M E M P LOYM E N T A N D E D U C AT I O N
From Feeling Like a “Useless Idiot”
TO BECOMING AN AWARD-WINNING ACCESSIBILITY ADVOCATE AND ENTREPRENEUR Autistic entrepreneur Callum Gamble and his mother and business partner Caren Launus-Gamble tell DRM readers how a bad experience took them on a passionate mission for digital inclusion. HAVING been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when he was eight and slower at processing information than his peers, attending mainstream school wasn’t easy for Callum. Still, his determination and resilience got him excellent results in his GCSEs and A-levels. In 2019, he graduated with a first-class honours degree in Creative Media Technology from Leeds Beckett University and got a job
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at one of the big digital agencies in Leeds as a front-end Web Developer. “That is where the reality of neurodivergent employment set in,” Caren says. “After only three weeks, Callum had to leave his job, having been humiliated in front of his colleagues and put on a performance warning by his line manager. Despite disclosure, the company refused to make any reasonable adjustments for his autism.”
disabilit yreviewmagazine.co.uk
