Local Assembly Member Paul Davies was delighted to recently offer a work placement to Aled Thomas, an autism activist. Mr Thomas, who lives with autism himself, was given the opportunity to work alongside Paul at his Assembly office in Cardiff Bay. During his placement, Aled had the opportunity to see first-hand the work that Paul does at the National Assembly for Wales and contributed to preparing Paul’s plenary work.

Mr Davies said, “I’m delighted that Aled has enjoyed his time shadowing me in my role as an Assembly Member. I hope that the placement was able to give him a taste of the work that I do and I’m very thankful for all his hard work over the past few weeks. It’s always great to see people actively engaging with local and national politics and I look forward to welcoming more work experience placements in the future.”

Mr Thomas said “I'm delighted to have had the chance to work with Paul Davies AM on a unique work experience placement. I never would have dreamed that this was possible for me as an individual living with autism. I had the chance to do a variety of things such as attend public events, write press releases, contribute to writing and translating a speech and learning more about the Welsh Assembly in general. I would like to thank Paul Davies AM for helping me to gain the confidence, the knowledge and experience required to progress into employment that is suitable for me and my interests in politics, and most of all, for making me feel comfortable and welcome in this environment. Every day was exciting and I even had the chance to speak about this experience on the news which was an experience I will never forget. Diolch yn fawr."