Disability

Are you a freelancer who specialises in Disability Issues? Would you like to write for Youthwork Workshops?

We are looking for writers to champion Disabilty issues?

We need 200-300 words on the some of the issues in Disability in the youth, community and play sector general.  Should there be a space devoted to Disabilty at all? Morally (and legally) all freelancers should be working with disability, but are they? We will credit you and your organisation  but please do not sell your own services in this space -  please do that in your Directory Entry. Please send your words to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and it could appear here and be read by thousands of youth, community and play professionals.

Disability Equality Workshops 

Why run Disability Equality Workshops for young people?

How many times have you been unable to enter a building?

How many times have you been unable to get through a door that isn’t wide enough?

How many times have you been talked ‘at’ or ‘about’ by someone who assumes you cannot understand them or will be unable to reply?

How many times have you been told that you cannot do something because you are a health and safety risk?

How many times have you been unable to buy something because it is upstairs in a shop with no lift? 

Most people would answer ‘none’ to all of most of the above questions providing they do not have a physical, learning, mental or sensory impairment. The questions above describe what are, to most people everyday situations, and activities… and as such, very often we take our ability to undertake such things very much for granted.

Not being able to get into a shop isn’t an issue until you have a mobility impairment, responding to, or asking a stranger a question, isn’t an issue until they assume you won’t be able to talk or understand, because you have an impairment of some kind….and yet, recent figures show that 1 in 7 of us have a learning difficulty or disability…that means that probably every extended family has a disabled member, and as no one is infallible, we should all keep in mind that disability can affect any one of us, at any time.

Slowly but surely our world is changing, but disabled people still endure discrimination that most other minority groups haven’t endured for a long time. Evidence shows that where disabled people fit into other minority categories too (homosexual, BME, female, refugee etc…) life is even more difficult.

In a world where people live longer, and medical science permits far more children to survive who would have previously not lived due to their impairments, we are a society that needs to be aware of the rights of disabled people, and how we can treat them as equals.

A disability equality workshop is beneficial to young people on many levels: It will raise awareness and debate, will inform and challenge views and stereotypes. It will start discussions around not only disability but the other 6 equality strands. It will give young people a grounding that will make them more socially responsible citizens.

                                                                                                                                K. Matthews, Disability Advisor