Young people speak out

OUTSPOKEN young people will tell government ministers and employers exactly what they think of their policies when they travel to London tomorrow (June 24) to speak at national charity Shaw Trust’s eye-opening conference in London.

Six delegates, chosen from lively seminars held across the country, will be given the chance to speak out during the daylong focus on Improving Access to Employment, Education and Training for disadvantaged and disabled people.
Hundreds of 14 to 24 year-olds, ranging from those with disabilities to youngsters shunned by society after being expelled from school, attended the Shaw Trust seminars in Glasgow, St Helen’s, Birmingham, Swansea, Boston and London.
Their experiences - in education, careers advice and work and their forthright views have been turned into a report that will be launched at the conference, at London’s Barbican Centre.

The conference aims to break down barriers facing young people. The future success of this country depends on the development of our most vital resource, young people, and that includes ALL young people. It requires commitment from every area of government and industry. Young disabled people have a contribution to make and yet are still being denied the opportunity to make it, says Shaw Trust’s Managing Director Ian Charlesworth.

One of the young delegates taking part in the Young People’s Feedback session is Pembrokeshire teenager Jessica Sutton, 18, who has cerebral palsy. She is taking time out from studying journalism at the Southampton Institute to have her say.

I’ll probably frighten the life out of them, because I’m not afraid to say what I think, she says. I want to get the message across to employers that they should look at what a person could bring to a job, as opposed to just looking at their wheelchair and getting scared. I can do the job just as well as someone not in a wheelchair. I just need the chance to prove it.

Other young delegates include Lincoln lad Thomas Harrison, an out of control teenager, who was chucked out of school at just 14. Thomas, blacklisted by society because of behavioural problems, has turned his life around, with the help of national charity Shaw Trust and Lincolnshire County Council’s innovative last chance education project Solutions 4. Now he is on a winning streak as a trainee mechanic with superbike champions Honda Racing.
The conference and the seminars, have all been sponsored by HSBC.