Victoria University: Youth Work Class Speech

14/08/2020

Spoke to Youth Work students at Victoria University in a class about "young people of all abilities" discussing disability, working with disabled young people, and inclusion.


Issy - they/them 17, I have a number of disabilities being chronic pain, psychological/psychosocial and neurodevelopmental in nature. I am currently completing year 12, and also work for an organisation called 'Youth Disability Advocacy Service', but today I am here speaking as myself not as an employee.


I am mainly just going to be talking through some things, a bit casually, please interrupt me at any time for any reason, if you have a question or need me to clarify something. Anything at all, I want this to be nice and chill.


A few things to define off the bat:

  • Ableds: a term used to describe people without disabilities, I use this term rather than able bodied because you can be disabled and be able bodied, so that term is not fully inclusive.

  • Ableism: the discrimination or poor treatment against disabled people by the notion they are less than ableds.

  • Social model of disability: the notion that disabled people are disabled by society not being accessible and catering for their needs, not because they themselves are disabled. It puts the burden on society to make itself more accessible, and not disabled people. This is as opposed to the medical model of disability which places the burden on disabled people and characterises us as being broken or needing fixing. This model of disability is also

  • Identity first language vs. person first language: this is a big debate broadly in society, where person first language could be for instance person with autism, where identity first language is autistic person. I use identity first language, which is for the most part, by the disabled community, the most preferred language. Though some people will prefer person first language, as well as if someone has a non-permanent disability they will almost always use person first language. But what should happen is if you are unsure which to use, ask that specific disabled person what their preference is, and use what they say.

  • Disclosure of disability: this means if a disabled person either chooses or is forced to disclose if they are disabled, but also what their disability is. This can be empowering if it is done by the full agency of the disabled person or can be incredibly harmful if they don't feel safe sharing it or if by doing so they will lose access to things.


School experience (both positive and negative) growing up

  • Public school: unequipped to handle students with additional support needs like myself. Particular stresses relating to mental health support and lack of arrangements made. I personally faced bullying that was related to being disabled

  • Alternative school: much more equipped to cater for students with different needs due to their approach to the system and education overall as being less restrictive, the vibe was more inclusive

  • Education system overall: one size fits all, that doesn't fit the size of disabled people, Ableism very much still real and no education about disability means students and teachers will perpetuate it and further alienate disabled peers, the high school certificates are much harder to achieve for disabled students because they fail to acknowledge the barriers

    • Some specific things that helped me and i know help other people: lower contact hours or adjusted hours required for certain things, having different options for assessment tasks ie. in speech form, or essay or presentation based on what is best for a specific person, making sure all special consideration opportunities are widely available and talked about. For me that was like getting additional support during exams and being able to change how I sit assessments, but can also be things like a tailored student access learning plan and many more things. Also ensuring that there are active conversations with disabled young people and their educators/superiors etc.

Social model of disability and how it helps to explain the barriers that impact your life

  • The social model of disability is THE most important thing of knowledge to be equipped with when engaging with disabled people

  • It suggests that the world is disables someone, by not providing them with services and access to things that they deserve, rather than placing the burden further on disabled people and centring them as being the fault that is "broken"

  • It is especially important as a lot of disabled people struggle with not feeling "disabled enough" to deserve the supports that they need, and the social model of disability reframes that to validate all experiences of disability as it is their experience in society that defines their disability. I struggle with this every day, especially because to a lot of people, I look able bodied, as well as can appear to be able minded as well, so already fighting for things I need access too at the same time as not appearing to need to access them has been hard.

  • Something to note here too is that the social model of disability actively aims to remove negative stigma around disability and the word disability so it can be reclaimed to be empowering for disabled people and has encouraged identity first language (ie. disabled person) over what has historically been uses called person-first language (ie. person with a disability), and gives that power to the individual to label themselves not society, both are widely used but identity first language is quickly becoming the preference in disabled communities

  • For me personally, i for the longest time thought I wasn't disabled enough to even call myself disabled, but the social model allowed me to validate my struggles in being a person in an ableist society

How mentoring and advocates in the community help you to set your own goals (being inspired by others with a disability who share lived experience)

  • The disability community as a whole is incredibly positive that empowers myself and many other disabled young people to feel disability pride

  • Lots of education and sharing of resources from disabled advocates and leaders, such as individuals or organisations, or broad communities, can mean that information to other disabled people more easily and in a more accessible way, that resonates with them

  • Having activists who can articulate their own lived experience validates that of other disabled people, myself included, as well as sharing those experiences with a larger platform means that decision makers and those who support disabled people are more aware of the struggles and successes of the community, as communicated through the community, rather than assumptions or ableds speaking for disabled people, which happens all the time

  • To see someone you admire say "this bad and ableist thing happened to me" or "these are my experiences" or "this is how i got the support i needed" is incredibly empowering as it is validating and allowing for self growth and learning

  • Seeing amazing disabled people do amazing, but also normal things proves it is possible. While inspiration porn can be highly problematic, things such as creators or advocates sharing what they did in a day, even if it seems mundane, is a true representation of disabled people which is super rare otherwise.

YDAS programs - Emerging Young Leaders Program, eMYF

  • I work for, but also have engaged in programs from YDAS for a while, and YDAS, the Youth Disability Advocacy Service is the peak body for disabled young Victorians and actively works WITH disabled young people to ensure their rights are being met

  • YDAS does systemic advocacy, in the sectors of disability and youth, but also more broadly to ensure the needs of disabled young people are prioritised

  • YDAS has an individual advocacy team that works directly with young people who have issues in achieving their rights and helps them to get supports they deserve

  • Emerging young leaders program is a program run by YDAS that in each round equips 15 disabled young people and helps work with them to become the leaders they are through self discovery, team work, advocacy and pride based activities, including incredible disability advocates sharing their experiences and advice. They are run in 4, 4 hour sessions over 2 weeks and there are a few rounds each year, with the program expanding all the time

  • eMYF is the translation of a long time in person workshop series around disability pride, the NDIS and self care that was delivered to disabled young people, into an online module and resource that can be widely accessed and used by all disabled young people. It is interactive and engaging as it was codesigned by disabled young people

Advice for students (future youth workers, teachers, social workers,criminal justice workers) in how to best support disabled young people

  • Treat us like people, do NOT infantilise us, this goes for all disabled people, but in particular disabled young people are individuals and not babies, assuming they are not actually an infant. Infantilisation can look like a few things, could be calling disabled people cute just because they are disabled, using simpler language even if that hasn't been requested as an access need, using high pitched voices and speaking slowly, assuming help needed and trying to "help" disabled people if they didn't ask

    • It is so invalidating and dehumanising for people we engage with to think less of us and think we are incapable of things because we are disabled

  • Actively work to dismantle ableism, not just when engaging with disabled young people

  • Make everything you do as accessible as possible

    • Whenever working with disabled people, ensure you ask them what they need, instead of assuming. This can be in the format of a registration form that asks for access needs or even just a conversation

    • Having any information you share in multiple different formats, such as in a written form, or audio recorded or visually. This can also be how the information is shared, ie. via email or phone call or in person, via text etc. If there is a specific way a person can consume information best, you should ask them and then do that.

    • Choosing environments of engagement knowing their accessibility, things to consider are bathrooms, distance from public transport, entries into places, if there are hearing loops in buildings, if there are different types of lighting, if there are braille signs etc.

    • Having access keys. An access key is a document that details all of the accessibility considerations of a location, event or platform. It will have all of this information so a disabled person knows if they will be able to access it beforehand. It is also really helpful generally for people to get as much information as they can in advance so they feel more comfortable

    • Using the language that particular people feel most comfortable with, this is connected to identity vs person first language, as well as not forcing people to disclose their disabilities if they don't want to

    • This is not specifically about disability, but also ensuring there are active conversations about pronoun usage cause it can help people feel more included and thus more engaged

    • Aiming to use non jargonistic language where possible, as it can be inaccessible both for young people as young people but also disabled young people too

  • Centre the disabled young person in your support with them - ask they what they need from you, don't expect them to come to you if they need something as society makes that very hard, show you are there for them before an issue arises

  • Do not assume what people are capable or not capable of or what they need

  • Most important thing: "nothing about us, without us"

is hay © All rights reserved 2021

I respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land I live work and breathe on,
the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their
elders, past, present and emerging. This land was violently stolen, sovereignty was never ceded. This
always was, and always will be Aboriginal land. 
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