Haltons The Buzz project engaging young people with disabilities

Tags: disability | Halton | learning difficulties | North West | young people involvement

Following on from our in-depth guide to creating a myplace project that engaged young people with learning difficulties and disabilities, we have spoken to The Buzz project in Halton, Merseyside to see how they have gone about it and what advice they would give to others. They have shown that nothing should be too much trouble and even the smallest things can make a massive difference.

Available on the website at the moment is an in-depth look at our disability guide and resource list. There you will find detailed information on how best to consider young people with disabilities during the various stages of development of your myplace project.

Aside from the legal requirements your centre has to provide facilities for young people with Learning Difficulties and Dfisabilities (LDD), it is essential that their needs are met in order for them to fully participate in whatever you have to offer.

If you don't then you are in danger of alienating a very important proportion of your demographic, and more besides. Myplace is all about offering world-class facilities for young people. All young people.

However, a list of suggestions and recommendations is no good unless projects actually implement them.

The Buzz in Halton, Merseyside is one project that has successfully taken on board the needs of young people with LDD and shown excellent leading practice in demonstrating that, with a bit of forward thinking, it is not that difficult to make sure everyone is catered for.

"Disabled young people have had a direct input in our development of myplace," explained The Buzz's Loraine Crane. "They have played an integral part and have participated at a high level since the beginning of the project".

One thing that disabled young people feel is of utmost importance is that they are simply included in consultation so that they can have their say and get their point of view across, and this is something that Lorraine says has been key to The Buzz.

"he initial young people's myplace design team had two members who have disabilities and therefore the design of the project has been heavily influenced by the views and wishes of these 2 young people as representatives of this vulnerable group. Through their involvement accessibility has proven to be a key element when designing places to go and things to do for young people in terms of inclusiveness."

Another impressive measure is that Halton Youth Service has developed a consultation event aimed directly at promoting the voice and influence of young people with LDD in the borough of Halton.

The event, named 'Circles of Influence' was a pilot event this year, with the view of making it an annual event, so to involved the majority of LDD young people in Halton and enabling them to voice their needs and shape services.

Members of the design team have also attended targeted youth provisions such as Equality and Free2bme, and it is this kind of practice that Lorraine sees as vital.

"Such consultations have been integral as part of the myplace design. Using this approach and methods our design group have ensured that the ideas and concepts we have used in our development of myplace are fully accessible and inclusive to disabled young people and meet a higher level of DDA standards."

Being honest, there have been some barriers to meeting the needs of young people with LDD at The Buzz, as will have been the case with any project, but they have done very well in working around these and, as Lorraine points out, it is identifying these barriers that is most important, as only once they have been identified can they be overcome.

"Identifying and having awareness of varying needs of LDD young people must to be taken into consideration first and foremost. Holding events like 'Circles of influence' which was specifically designed to meet the needs of the target group allowed young people to share thoughts and voice ideas in a safe environment with the support they require with the methods allowing young people to participate fully."

She highlighted one specific barrier they have faced.

"One member of the young people's design team is a wheelchair user and although all venues have been fully accessible this young person requires supported transport which incurs a cost. This young person also requires support and assistance with general care i.e. communicating, eating, drinking, administrating medication and personal needs.

"Ensuring we have appropriately trained staff to support this young person participate has been essential, if this had not been secured it would have been a barrier to him participating. This experience echoes the overall barriers for young people accessing most provisions."

Despite this, the young people at the project solved the problem by acquiring funding from the Youth Opportunity Fund to cover transport costs and services to ensure all staff are appropriately skilled to provide any additional support to the young people.

This just goes to show that there are ways and means of overcoming any barriers you may face.

Lorraine also had some advice for other myplace projects wondering how best to engage young people with LDD.

"It is vital to ensure all young people are represented and consulted in all matters concerning the design of places to go and things to go for young people. it is important to firstly take into account the needs of this vulnerable group which may be different to other groups.

"Although we consistently strive to make all opportunities to young people as fully inclusive as feasibly possible sometimes it works much more effectively to target a specific vulnerable group and adapt the method of consultation to meet their needs for the most effective outcome."

A wide range of other material is also available for those wanting more information on the subject and can be found in our Feature Article under the 'Getting Further Help'. It really is essential reading if you are to fully meet the needs of all potential users of your centre.