Jackson West is a great walker, he can carry parcels and loves travelling in a car. It was the 26-year-old's skills - not his limitations - that inspired his mother Sally Richards to design a small business around her intellectually disabled son.
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Jackson's workday starts at 8.30am every weekday and with his driver Philippe Morincome, the pair deliver and pick up mail from businesses and schools.
In its fifth year of operations JACKmail has delivered more than 17,000 items of mail. It's not the fastest courier service in Canberra, but JACKmail improves Jackson's quality of life.
The 26-year-old was born with Phelan-McDermid syndrome and his mental development stopped at 15 months.
He is non-verbal and requires one-on-one care and Ms Richards said the work gives him purpose and routine.
''For him it gives his days and weeks structure, it has just been fantastic and for me it's one of those things that gets you out of bed when you don't particularly want to,'' Ms Richards said.
''This job has a deeper focus of forming relationships and of people getting to know Jackson very well, I wanted him to be missed if he didn't turn up to work,'' she said.
''He's seen as a contributor, a worker, a man about town, a man with a business, a uniform, a car, a colleague, a purpose and an income.''
It has also allowed Ms Richards to return to work. In the business's first year it turned over $20,000. Its purpose was never to make a profit - Ms Richards would have been happy if it just made enough money to cover Jackson's support costs. But for the past two years the business has made a couple of thousand dollars.
Mr Morincome said he finds working with Jackson rewarding and their bond was growing stronger each year. ''Now mostly we're mates, we get along, we're comfortable,'' Mr Morincome said.
This reporter is on Twitter: @ewakretowicz
