Self employment case study

'My name is Joan Latta and I have cerebral palsy. 

'After my job contract ended and I wasn't able to get another job I went into a mild depression for about ten months. Towards the end of this time I had three dreams that were all the same. I was crying in the corner of a large church, when a voice demanded that I stood up and fight back. 

'So, I formed the idea that I should start my own business based on teaching people about cerebral palsy and depression. This idea has turned into Cerebral Palsy Alive and Kicking, the name of my business.

'To begin with I went down to the Job Centre who suggested that I phoned The Prince's Trust. The Prince's Trust took me on a four-day course and gave me a mentor who has helped me with business start-up. In March, I started my market research and put a business plan together outlining my business proposal. I then took my business plan to a panel who decided if they thought that it was a good idea.

'Since I passed the panel, my mentor and I meet once a month so that I can report to him what I have done and he also helps to improve my ideas. 

'So now I am self-employed, giving talks to audiences of 30-250 people for selected businesses whose staff need training in all aspects of cerebral palsy and depression as part of their education, or running training programmes.'