The Vision
According to the International Youth Foundation, creativity allows young people to express themselves creatively and raise awareness of issues that are relevant to them. As well, creative projects have been shown to help young people improve self-confidence, boost interest in learning, encourage persistence, and develop valuable life skills such as critical thinking, effective communication, problem solving, and more.
As a woman with a physical disability, I'm well aware of what it's like to live life with a visible disability. But what most people don't realize is that I like my disability. In many ways, I'm truly lucky. I have a loving family, great friends, a wonderful daughter, and a job I look forward to every day. Yes, my life can be hard sometimes, but so is everyone else's. We all have our struggles and challenges. Some of mine just happen to be different from other people's.
People with disabilities, as well as LGTBQI+ individuals and youths in general, rarely have a chance to be heard. They are often silenced, ignored, or disregarded more often than people realize. The goal of this workshop is to give youths the chance to speak up about their experiences and realize that their voices are important. It will also help foster their creativity, build their self-confidence, and connect them to other young people in the City.