FLARE Member, Sam shares his experience on delivering a workshop at the Youth Voice Matters conference.
My name is Sam. I am a disabled young person with SEN, who believes passionately that we all have a voice and we should use it. I have complex physical disabilities and I use a power wheelchair. I also have difficulties with communication and, although I can talk, it can sometimes be unclear. I use technology when I want to speak in large groups and for speeches and presentations. This has really helped me with my participation and confidence. My main passions are equal opportunities for all young people and accessibility. I feel very strongly about these issues as I face them every day.
I joined my local SEND youth voice group two years ago. Since then, I have also become involved in my local Youth Council and I am currently training to be a Young Commissioner. I joined FLARE last year, FLARE is a group that operates nationally for the Department for Education. Being in FLARE and my other youth groups allows me to represent disabled young people with SEN in a variety of ways.
I wanted to take part in the Youth Voice Matters conference to show other young people how they can advocate for themselves. When things haven’t gone right for me in the past it has been very frustrating and upsetting. The Council for Disabled Children is really good because they want to do more than just what the law says, by running the Youth Voice Matters conference they allow young people like me to speak up. It’s feels good to do something positive and proactive, instead of just complaining when things have gone wrong.
My workshop was called, ‘How to get the right educational support’. This topic is very important to me because I have had experiences where I haven’t had the correct support, especially at times of transition. When you have complex needs like me, involving lots of services, it is very difficult to interlock them together, so they all meet my needs at the same time. Getting the right support in education is not easy. For me, it has been hard to stay in mainstream education as it has been hard for them to meet my physical needs. I have done it though!
I delivered the workshop with two other FLARE members who, like me, have struggled with getting the support they need. We talked about the things that schools and education settings need to do by law to meet the needs of disabled young people with SEN. We also suggested things that young people can do for themselves to make sure they are getting the correct help.
This was my first time running a workshop and my first big event with FLARE. I have recently been trying to develop my communication using technology so that I can be understood better. Delivering this workshop really helped me to develop this further, as I had to work on my timings and make sure I said the right thing at the right time. We practiced the session on a Zoom call, but our first live run-through was on the day. Everyone did amazing and there were no mistakes! I felt like people were really listening to me. My local group also came to my workshop. I felt really proud to do my workshop for them and they were really impressed.
There was another workshop also designed and run by FLARE members. This was called ‘Making the most of social media as a platform for self- advocacy’.
I was also a ‘roaming reporter’ throughout the day. I interviewed young people and adults, asking them about the conference. There is going to be a video from the day, which I can’t wait to see.
I was invited to the National Children’s Bureau’s all-staff meeting to tell them about the conference. I joined the meeting on Zoom and spoke to ninety people using my technology! I got loads of positive feedback in the chat box, which was amazing.
I hope I can return to the Youth Voice Matters Conference next year and maybe, one day, I can even co-chair it, like Carys did!