Hello, I’m Sarah Oliver and I am delighted to have become the newest member of the ASUK team. I'm joining the team as the new Care Coordinator and will be working four days a week usually Monday to Thursday alongside Jane Biglin.

My new role will be a national one supporting families and individuals across the UK. I have supported people with sensory loss / deafblindness for most of my working life. I trained as a secondary school teacher and worked as a special needs assistant in a secondary school for a short time, before I started working for the charity Sense in 1998. During my time with Sense, I’ve had several roles including 7 years working as an Assessment and Advice Officer, this is very similar to my new role as Care Coordinator at ASUK. I also spent 3 years as a Care Act Assessor completing Specialist Deafblind Guidance Assessments, these were commissioned by Local Authorities across England. I spent two years studying part-time whilst working to complete the Deafblind Studies Diploma. This developed my understanding of living with sensory loss and qualified me to be able to carry out specialist assessments. Almost two years ago, at the start of the pandemic, I was made redundant from my role at Sense. Since then, I have been a support worker for a young person who has complex needs following an accident.

Whilst working for Sense, I have had the pleasure of meeting some of you and been trusted by you to complete your Specialist Care Act Assessments. This enabled me to develop a knowledge and understanding of Alström Syndrome. Jane and I also both worked for Sense at the same time, occasionally working together providing assessments, advice, and support to people with Usher Syndrome.

I live with my family in North Yorkshire and have two teenage sons. One who has just left school, the other who has just started his GCSE’s. Apart from spending time with my family and working I'm also a governor at the local primary school, where my children used to attend.

I look forward to meeting you all, hopefully in person at some point over the coming months. As well as catching up with those of you who I’ve not seen for a while. Please contact me directly if you would like any information, advice, or support.

I can be contacted by email, sarah.oliver@alstrom.org.uk or by phone or text 07917 958502.

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