Covid: 'How being a delivery man helps my autistic son'

A mother has thanked her "wonderful" community for giving her autistic son a focus during the coronavirus lockdown.

Cal Carr feels he has "changed" since starting to deliver groceries and prescriptions to people living in the Vale of Glamorgan village of St Athan.

His mother Sarah said gifts and support from neighbours had made him feel needed and his meltdowns, which had worsened in lockdown, have "stopped".

"It's changed me so much, it is so wonderful," said Cal, 31.

One neighbour gave Cal a hoody printed with 'Cal's Delivery Service' after hearing he wanted to wear a uniform like his siblings.

Sarah said for Cal, who also has a severe learning disability, it meant the world.

"Callum likes to feel he's the same as everybody else," she said.

"His siblings used to wear a uniform [to school] but they didn't have a uniform for his [special] school so for photographs I used to get him a sweatshirt the same colour as his siblings to make him feel the same.

"He wants to be accepted, he wants to be the same as his brothers and his sister, he wants to go out and be working but with his disabilities he's unable to get paid work."

Other neighbours have made Cal a lanyard, ID cards, leaflets and given him a shopping trolley - and he's been given a new trike to help him make deliveries.

Sarah said life at home with Cal had become very difficult as she said he "wasn't coping with the lockdown".

"He got very depressed and didn't want to do anything so we came up with the idea of Cal's Collection to get him out and about really," she said. "To get him away from the four walls."

"Since Callum started this delivery service it has had a positive impact 100-fold on family life."

The family, who moved to south Wales from the Midlands two years ago, said they were very grateful for the "very strong community spirit in St Athan."

"They've really have taken Callum and ourselves to their hearts," Sarah said.

"Callum feels valued and that he has a purpose now, he's happier, he's more positive in mood, he's more helpful, he wants to go out and do the deliveries and prescriptions."

Cal has said the support of his village has made him "really, really happy".

"I was really, really fed up," he said.

"I needed to get out to do things - I have meltdowns most of the time. I get really, really frustrated and angry.

"I can't understand why changes are happening, different things are happening… I can't understand why Covid is here, why it is still going on. I don't understand what I can and can't do."

Cal's customers have been thanking him on his Facebook page.

"Thank you Callum for supporting us through isolation," one posted. "You've been invaluable, you're doing a fantastic job."

Another wrote: "You are a star."

His family have now set up a second service - Cal's Collection Homeless Service, where he collects unwanted clothes, bedding and shoes and distributes them to people who are homeless or in need.