{"id":81535,"date":"2026-02-09T15:23:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T15:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=81535"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:04:20","slug":"finding-joy-joes-valentines-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/finding-joy-joes-valentines-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Joy, Joe’s Valentine’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joe is 57. He lives in Sense-supported living accommodation in Birmingham and volunteers every week at the reception desk at Sense TouchBase Pears<\/a>. It\u2019s the perfect role for Joe, who describes himself as friendly and sociable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Joe<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Joe first came into contact with Sense in 2002, when he moved into Sense accommodation. He\u2019s deafblind and, at the time, faced barriers to living independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSense has been really good to me. They\u2019ve helped a lot with day-to-day living. I like using my computer, and they supported me to get set up with the right accessible software.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Joe found his Joy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sense has also supported Joe through another major milestone. Proposing to his fianc\u00e9, Joy.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He tells the story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first met Joy in 2018, but she already had a boyfriend. We lost contact during Covid, then saw each other again in February 2022, when restrictions were lifted. This time, she was single!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We used to see each other at a lunch club every two weeks and at our favourite, sensory discos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I worked up the courage to buy Joy a Valentine\u2019s card, but I was nervous to give it to her, so I kept it for a little while. When my support worker helped me give her the card, she was really pleased. That day, she won some biscuits on the raffle at the club and shared them with me. I asked my support worker to pass on my contact details, and three days later, Joy called me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest is history. We\u2019ve been together ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Joy
Joe and Joy celebrating the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paralympic Games at TouchBase Pears, pictured with their own Sense medals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The big question<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Joy is a really lovely person. We have lots in common. We both like dancing at discos, animals, going out for meals, coffee mornings and listening to the radio. We do lots independently, but Sense is always there to support me if I need someone to come out with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Joe
Joe and Joy sat next to each other on a train journey, with Joe’s arm around Joy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I knew during our first Christmas together that I wanted to propose to Joy. Unfortunately, she wasn\u2019t very well at the time, so I waited for the perfect moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got engaged on Valentine\u2019s Day at a special disco, then arranged a party to celebrate with our friends, family and people from Sense. I got down on one knee again in front of everyone while our song played. It was \u2018When You Say Nothing at All\u2019 by Ronan Keating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We held the party at Sense TouchBase Pears because it\u2019s such an important place to me. It wasn\u2019t my idea. Josie, the building manager, suggested it, and I knew it was perfect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Joe<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sense has always been there for me. They\u2019ve helped me a lot. I don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be without them. I\u2019d be lost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe moved into Sense accommodation in 2002. But Sense has also supported Joe through another major milestone: proposing to his fiance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":81779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[1383],"class_list":["post-81535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-joe-coffin"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81535","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\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81535"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=81535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}