Young People
As part of their preparation to adulthood, we have encouraged young people with neuro-disability living in Hackney to use their voice to highlight accessibility issues/ become facilitators in the local community and discuss what their disability means to them and with others. Below are some of the different innovative, creative projects that have run to date.
How to take part
We are always looking for new ideas! So if you’ve got a cool project idea for a project that could help you or other teenagers with additional needs talk about disability or prepare you for adulthood, speak to your OT or physiotherapist for guidance.
YouTube
Abdullahi and Ramon are two young people who are both energetic, funny, smart, and share a love for YouTube! Abdullahi dreams of being a motivational speaker and Ramon dreams of becoming an actor / comedian and has his own YouTube channel. They both have Cerebral Palsy and walking can be challenging for them at times, so we set them a challenge to ‘plan a trip to the YouTube London office!’ The aim of the trip was for both Abdullahi and Ramon to build on their independence in the community, develop their planning skills to travel around London using a variety of transport modes and then feedback their findings to Transport for London.
We Need To Talk
An education project for young people with cerebral palsy and chronic conditions worked with a photographer and staff to open a dialogue about their disability This culminated in a photography exhibition which aimed to showcase their life growing up with a disability and to change the way we think about disability.
Cerebral People
The young people with cerebral palsy were encouraged to take part in different exercises to create multimedia content to communicate their thoughts and explore their diagnosis. The end product of this ground breaking project was a documentary about Cerebral Palsy.
Access All Areas
A group of young people aged 12-18 with neuro-disability visited community venues/activities across Hackney and took photographs off issues/facilitators around disability access. Photography was used as a medium for self-expression in this instance. Participants commented on their thoughts around accessibility to accompany their photographs. The young people subsequently wrote letters to the venues/transport facilities/council to highlight positive and negative aspects of the access they experienced.
Hackney Captains
Hackney Captains is a youth group for 13–19-year-olds who use Hackney Ark services, meeting three to four times a year to improve support for young people with additional needs. It provides a space for members to use their voice to shape how services can better meet the needs of children and their families as well as trying out new activities and having fun! If you would like to join or would like to find out about the next meeting please can contact the team at huh-tr.hackneyarkcaptains@nhs.net or 0207 014 7025 .
“I very much enjoyed the photography project and I’m really happy that people may listen to my opinions when they come to look at the exhibition.”
Constantin
“I loved taking part in the project. I hope that our views on access will be heard because I feel the exhibition is not only our voices but also the voices and thoughts of hundreds of other disabled children all across London.”
Clara