Ex-Big Issue vendor Patrick Lawson has been given equal billing with Arsenal football legend Tony Adams in a new campaign asking employers to ignore difficult pasts to allow people to reach their true potential.
The Forward Trust’s More Than My Past campaign kicks off today asking ex-offenders and those in recovery from addiction to share their story and help end the stigma that holds back so many people in the UK.
People in both groups are the least likely to be employed in the UK, according to figures, with three quarters of prisoners having no job on release despite the huge role it plays in preventing re-offending. Meanwhile a quarter of people in recovery have been turned down for jobs three times or more after disclosing their past.
“I know how to play football and I know how to get drunk. But I don’t know who I am”. @TonyAdams describes the moment he began dealing with his past to finally enable his recovery from alcohol addiction. Get more inspiring stories here: https://t.co/vuUFqOsryo #MoreThanMyPast pic.twitter.com/ddiQGoO3wp
— More Than My Past (@morethanmypast) September 26, 2019
Gunners hero Adams has had a widely disclosed battle with addiction – as he discussed in a revealing Letter To My Younger Self with The Big Issue last year – and even went to prison for drink driving in 1990.
As for Lawson, his spells in prison were interspersed with times spent rough sleeping in London. Last year, he won Hello London Award for Outstanding Community Service at TfL’s London Bus Awards after being dubbed the “happiest bus driver in London”.