December 01, 2022 - 514 views
Deaf young campaigners tour the Senedd and plan future campaigns for deaf children
A group of eight deaf young activists from Wales took a tour of the Senedd on Saturday, 19 November, as part of a day of team bonding and campaign building organised by the National Deaf Children’s Society.
The group, who hail from all over Wales, are members of the charity’s ChangeMaker programme, which supports and mentors deaf young people to make improvements in their local communities.
During the tour, the ChangeMakers learned about the important work of the Senedd and explored how to get their campaigns issues onto the Welsh Parliament’s agenda.
They also voluntarily carried out an informal accessibility assessment of the Welsh Parliament, which they plan to feed back to the Senedd, enabling it to further improve its accessibility for deaf visitors.
At the start of the day, the group met at the Urdd Gobaith Cymru centre opposite the Senedd, where they took part in workshops about the history of campaigning and how to structure their campaigns.
They then looked at possible areas for future campaigning. Accessibility proved to be the dominant theme, with the group deciding on a greater prevalence of subtitling in schools and learning resources, as well as in wider society, to be a campaign priority.
The voices of Wales’s 2,500 deaf children and young people are represented at the Senedd by deaf Barry young person Dan Downton, who was elected a member of the 60-strong Welsh Youth Parliament in 2021. Dan was mentored and supported through the process by the charity.
Claire Berwick, Senior Participation Officer at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said:
“The Changemakers found the tour of the Senedd really inspiring, and it gave them a valuable insight into the importance of getting their voices heard by decision-makers in the Welsh Parliament.
“We formed the ChangeMakers so that deaf children and young people could drive positive change in their communities, and it was wonderful to see such passion and commitment on display today.
“The day was designed so they could all get together and channel that passion into action. They learnt how to campaign so they can enhance and improve the lives and prospects of deaf children across Wales.”
