I’M A registered blind person. I left a school for partly sighted children at the age of 16.

The year I left was the first year that children who were blind or partially sighted were allowed to sit O-levels.

I left without any qualifications and at that time I was very low on confidence and had very little self-esteem.

Over the next few years I was sent to England on a short eight-week light engineering course and consequently found employment with two engineering firms that lasted three years in total. I then found myself unemployed for about a year-and-a-half.

I subsequently found out about a firm called Blindcraft that employed people with disabilities in Glasgow. I was employed by them in July 1979 and have been there ever since.

Within a very short time, I became a shop steward with the National League of the Blind and Disabled (NLBD) and attended many General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) courses and TUC stage one and two courses — then known as health and safety one and two.

Apart from giving me a solid education in trade union work, it also built up my confidence and contributed greatly to my personal development.

I soon moved up in the ranks of the branch, becoming health and safety rep, branch treasurer and eventually works convener and branch secretary.

In 2001 the NLBD joined the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC), which in turn joined the National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades (KFAT) and changed their names to Community.

Since then, I was elected onto Community’s national executive council and in 2013, I was elected Community president.

I have been the chair of the STUC disability committee and I am on the general council of the STUC and the executive council of the GFTU, the organisation that supported me so much in my early days as a shop steward.

I owe the trade union movement everything. It has changed my life completely and has given me the knowledge and support to help others.

Blindcraft has been through many changes over the years. Today it employs over 300 people, more than 180 of whom have a disability.

It is probably the best example of supported employment in Britain, if not Europe, and normally either breaks even or makes a profit while paying over the minimum wage.

Over the years it has changed its name to RSBI-Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries.

The reason this model of supported business has worked so well is that trade unions, the company’s management and Glasgow City Council have worked in partnership over many years.

The trade union movement educates thousands of its members every year and apart from organising and representing its members, it also plays a huge part in civic society.

I would encourage every worker to join a trade union; it could change your life too.

Robert Mooney is Community’s NEC representative for disabled workers.