FERGUS FINLAY: Getting jobs for disabled people shouldn’t be such hard work

‘So, Samuel arrived in. We knew he had always wanted to be a pizza-maker, so I said, ‘Hey, Samuel, do you want to try your hand in the pizza kitchen?’ His eyes lit up and he said, ‘are you serious?’

Within a couple of hours, he was up to his elbows in flour, and, very quickly, he had learned how to knead the dough and twirl it. He turned out to be a fantastic pizza baker.

“Only trouble was, after a fortnight, he got bored doing the same thing every day and asked for something different. That surprised us, because we thought the repetitive tasks might suit him, but not a bit of it. Now, there’s no aspect of the kitchen that he hasn’t worked in. And every day he brings the same enthusiasm — and the same smile — to brighten everyone’s day.”