{"id":18102,"date":"2022-12-20T10:30:45","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T10:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=18102"},"modified":"2024-03-28T10:54:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T10:54:05","slug":"getting-into-the-spirit-of-christmas-with-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/getting-into-the-spirit-of-christmas-with-martin\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting into the spirit of Christmas with Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-intro\">Each year that Martin\u2019s been with Sense, he\u2019s unwrapped new pleasures that make his life richer. He\u2019s come a long way; now he gets so much out of going for a Christmas meal out or to see a panto performance! Here\u2019s his key worker, Sobiah, spreading Martin\u2019s Christmas cheer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before coming to Sense, Martin had a lot of anxieties. These centred around having people in his house and going outdoors \u2013 even opening a window would be challenging. He\u2019s done incredibly well to overcome these feelings of unease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Christmas, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/giving-martin-the-keys-to-open-up-his-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">all the ways that Martin\u2019s behaviour and outlook on life have changed<\/a> really shine through. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Getting into the spirit of Christmas with Martin\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PoifWPb8VWk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block    accordion__item\"> \t<summary class=\"accordion__title\">\n\t\t<h3 class=\"accordion__toggle\">\n\t\tDescriptive transcript\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t<\/summary>\n\n\t<div class=\"accordion__content\">\n\t\t<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p>The film starts with Martin, a middle-aged man with dark skin, dressed in winter outerwear. He leaves his home with a Sense support worker. He gets into the back seat of his car.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sobiah: Christmas for Martin has improved so much over the years. Now, at Christmas, we always go for a pre-Christmas dinner where staff will take Martin out and then he\u2019ll have his miniature Christmas party with a couple of members of staff.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see Sobiah. She is wearing a Burgandy dress and a brown hijab. She is sitting in Martins back garden speaking to camera. We then see Sobiah and Martin back at Martin\u2019s home. Sobiah is platting up Martin\u2019s favourite meal of fish and chips.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin sits down to enjoy his food.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sobiah: We actually make him a Christmas dinner and get him involved in the process of cooking his Christmas meal, opening presents throughout the day and Martin doesn\u2019t get a small amount of presents.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>He gets presents from Secret Santa, other service users, and then opening presents in an another environment, not his home.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So it might just be everyday things for me and you, but it\u2019s definitely been positive for Martin.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see Martin and Sobiah standing on the grass outside the front of his bungalow.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two dots fade into scene. Orange on the left and purple on the right. The dots spin around the screen then comes together in the centre, forming two hands with the letter S in the middle. This is the Sense logo. Text appears below the logo.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Voiceover: Sense. No one left out of life<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An appetite for new experiences <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"422\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Martin-patno_3-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18114\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Martin and Sobiah at Coleridge primary school, for the Christmas panto.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Festivities in Martin\u2019s household start early. It usually begins with a pre-Christmas dinner at a local restaurant, which he really enjoys. Martin gets a lot of pleasure from food \u2013 as we all do at this time of year! When you think that, not that long ago, he\u2019d wouldn\u2019t even step outside into his garden, going out to a restaurant is an amazing milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ll be there for a few hours, while Martin enjoys a full three courses of dinner, and a hot drink. It\u2019s still quite new for him, but he\u2019s more and more relaxed in new environments. Now, he seems to really enjoy the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems like such a small thing, but these experiences really bring a smile to his face \u2013 to all our faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, Martin attended his first ever Christmas panto. Oh yes he did! Sense Centre Rotherham partnered with Coleridge primary school, organising a pantomime and inviting individuals supported by Sense. It was a special rendition of \u2018Jack and the beanstalk\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin got really into the spirit of it, calling out the famous panto lines and singing along throughout. That was a really proud moment for us. It\u2019s so rewarding to see Martin stepping out and trying new things that bring him so much pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Getting festive on the big day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On Christmas Day, we have a mini-Christmas party. His team will make him a full Christmas dinner, involving Martin in the process of preparing the meal. He\u2019s very proud of having his own home and is always happy to get stuck in with jobs like cooking and housework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just like everyone else celebrating Christmas, the next most important thing is presents! Martin doesn\u2019t get a small number of presents \u2013 he gets gifts from Secret Santa, from his team, his family and from other people supported by Sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, Martin will enjoy another Christmas with all the trimmings! We can\u2019t wait to see what more he\u2019ll accomplish in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n  <div class=\"wp-block  box  ctaBox    is-style-textured-primary-tint-10\">\n    <div class=\"ctaBox__row\">\n      <div class=\"ctaBox__content\">\n        <div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p>Over the last year, Sense has shared many important moments with disabled adults like Martin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can learn more about our work, the people we&#8217;ve reached and Martin&#8217;s incredible journey with Sense here, on Our Impact page. <\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n      <div class=\"ctaBox__cta\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/about-us\/our-impact\/\" class=\"button  button--primary\">Our Impact<\/a>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At Christmas, all the ways that Martin\u2019s behaviour and outlook on life have changed really shine through. Here\u2019s his key worker, Sobiah, spreading Martin\u2019s Christmas cheer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":18117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[385],"class_list":["post-18102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-sobiah"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18102"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=18102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}