Joe’s good news s”TOR”y

Meet Joe, a lively, friendly, autistic male with a great gift of the gab and sense of humour who plays on words with any chance he gets!

Joe who was in “Dire Straits” with his fitness, but with great support from his support worker Josh, Joe walked up Glastonbury Tor!

Somerset’s landmark icon stands proudly at 518 feet high, making it a great visual goal post for the esteemed walker.

Joe says…

“I’m pleased that I walked up the Tor. I enjoyed the view (and sort of enjoyed the wind!) I liked that I could see my mum’s house from the top, but the best part about climbing the Tor was seeing the sheep and getting back to the bottom to relax!”

Josh, Joe’s key Support worker says:

“Joe began talking about climbing the Tor after spending the weekend at his mum’s. Although he was initially put off by how steep it was, with gentle encouragement to take it “step-by-step”, it had grown into a serious goal.
It helps the Tor has a couple of benches visually breaking it up into a 3 step action plan. For example, the first base was the first bench, the second bench was halfway, and the Tor marked third base. So really, Joe has done the walk, not once, not twice, but three times in three weeks!

Joe has shown tremendous courage and pushed himself to achieve a personal victory. His exercising has remained consistent since Joe now goes for weekly walks, if not up the Tor, then around Glastonbury or in his home village.

He has discovered a lot more about himself, including that he can do more than he thought with some extra support. This adventure has become a stepping stone for more.”

Joe plans on doing more walks in different locations for his fitness and weight loss goal this year gathering great photoshoots along the way.

But, for now, he is taking a well-earned rest and getting ready to celebrate his recent victory and upcoming birthday with a barbeque in his garden whilst his favourite band Dire Straits plays through the speakers.

Congratulations and happy birthday Joe!

We can’t wait to see where you get to this year!

Here’s a birthday song just for you:

Here comes Joseph, and he’ll tell you the s”TOR”y
Hand me down my walkin’ shoes
Here comes Joseph with the power and the glory
Backbeat the talkin’ blues
He got the action. He got the motion
Oh yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
Joseph, do the walk, do the walk of life, Joseph, do the walk of life!

In Joe’s words, “sounds like a plan”!

If Joe and Josh have inspired you to help people get more from life, take our quiz to see if you would make a great support worker here!

The Dimensions group (which Discovery is a part of) is awarded as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces for Wellbeing by Great Places To Work (2022)