A TENBY woman has been helped to set up her own proof reading business thanks to the Government's New Deal for Disabled People.
Val Hobbs, aged 52, was forced to give up her job as a legal secretary because she suffers from chronic cluster headaches. This is a rare neurological condition, causing attacks of excruciating pain on one side of the head. Attacks can come on very rapidly, with little or no warning and it is stated by neurologists to be the most painful condition known to man. As yet there is no cure.
So Val decided to combine her secretarial expertise with proof reading and copy editing to set up her own business from home. She has been trading for about two months and is aiming to target small businesses which do not employ their own secretary.
She had already enrolled on a correspondence course in Proof Reading and Copy Editing before meeting Paul Ashman and Paula Goodridge from Broker Cymru, which helps to deliver the New Deal for Disabled People in Wales. They gave Val financial help towards updating her computer equipment, including buying new software.
Val was then referred to a variety of organisations, including Jay-Griffith Consulting, which helped her draw up a business plan, and Opportunity Wales, which gave Val a grant to enable her to buy a computer. She was also given invaluable business advice from Chwarae Teg.
Val added: "I can't speak highly enough of the help I've received from everyone. When I was first diagnosed with chronic cluster headaches over a year ago, and I realised I would have to leave work, I felt as if my world had collapsed. At that time I had never heard of New Deal for Disabled People.
"But I can honestly say that without the New Deal for Disabled People I would mot be sitting here today, running my own business."
Paula Goodridge added: "This is an excellent example of how New Deal for Disabled People can help people fulfil their ambitions to set up their own business."