Harin is one of our newest volunteer recruits and he supports 2 carers on our PenPal scheme. Harin has cerebral palsy but does not allow this to prevent him supporting others. He recently delivered a speech to over 200 people attending the ‘Now Festival’ (Young Peoples Mental Health). Read his speech below:-

Hello, My name is Harin Ellis and I’m 20 years old. I would like to take this opportunity to speak about myself and why I have fallen in love with sign along with us. After watching Jade, Christian and the rest of the sign along with us group on Britain’s got Talent,  this inspired me to speak out. 

I was born 27 weeks early and my mum was told that I was not going to make it. Throughout my life, I’ve been told I Will be unable to work because of my cerebral palsy and my speech. I’ve always thought that they were right. 

 Throughout my education, I have not had the best group of friends, but since I have found sign along with us on BGT, this proven to me that I can do anything I wanna do as long as I put my mind to it 

 I currently go to college and study customer service, and thanks to sign along with us, I have now became a penpal volunteer with n-compass. My dream is to become an independent advocate to ensure that everyone has a chance to have their say no matter of any disabilities. Moreover, I have now moved into my own supported living accommodation. Before I moved in , I was feeling very isolated due to the living condition of my previous accommodation, as there were more senior tenants living there, where I had no one within my age range to interact with. However, that was then and this is me now, having so many friends, thanks to sign along with us. My friends were a  shine of light throughout the darkest moment of my life. 

 If anyone  Out there is going through a difficult time in their life right now, I just wanted to finish off my speech by saying this , you’re not alone please speak out  if you don’t feel comfortable talking to someone that you know,  there are so many organisations out there that will be there to listen and support you.

Thank you for listening.

Harin