Spotlight Series: Pan Pan

This is the last profile in our spotlight series that we put together to highlight people with Down’s and autism, or who dedicate their time to creating an inclusive society. Read Pan Pan’s story below.

Before we go to Pan Pan’s story, you can check out other spotlights in the series from Anna, Earth, Parn, Kim and Nakita. And don’t forget to make a #stepupwithsteps pledge to help create a society that is a more inclusive world. Read more about our #stepupwithsteps campaign here.

If you come to Steps Ekkamai 10 you may see someone busy all the time and that’s Pan Pan. He’s probably the hardest working person. He loves to clean the building in every corner with a great smile and he loves to talk to customers too

“My name Pann Luangmanyrut. I’m 30 years old. I have a bachelor degree in Hotel and Tourism. After I graduated, I went to work at several hotels and factories.”

“I’ve been working at Steps for almost 4 years. My days here involve taking care of the whole building, from cleaning, checking and ordering stock, taking care of trainees’ snacks to making coffee for customers.”

Before he came to the Steps, his career took on a number of challenges.

“Can you believe it? A famous bakery chain asked me to quit after they found out that I have autism.”

“I’m lucky to have found Steps. Here, people treat everyone equally, we focus on capabilities and what the person can do. I get to do many different tasks here before
I find suitable ones for myself. I also feel like my opinion and suggestions matter here.”

I like that Steps has many activities to engage the community. We try to have events, weekend activities where people outside of Steps come and learn our concepts.

“I’m happy to welcome everyone and show them what Steps does and people can see me working too.”

‘My autism helps me to add value’

He also added that autism is not an obstacle, but a benefit for helping him to do more of his responsibilities.

“My autism is not an obstacle here, actually it helps me with my attention to detail and my time keeping skills. I can say I am a responsible employee and I have never missed a day at work.”

He wants to share a message with everyone about how importance of awareness neurodiverse people:

“I hope more families are educating their children to become aware of people with learning differences. So they develop their understanding when they are young and treat people with autism equally.”

Thank you for joining us throughout this series. Helps us to move from awareness, to acceptance by joining us in making a #stepupwithsteps pledge, share our blog on your social media account, or come visit us at one of our branches!