THE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SBH MEETING: INDEPENDENT LIVING IN YOUR EYES

On August 11 2022, The IF International Youth SBH Meeting: Independent Living in Your Eyes was organised by the IF International Youth Group SBH. The meeting  was held online, which brought together 12 youth from all over the world, four from Europe, four from Africa, three from Pacific Asia and one from the Americas. There were three men and nine women. All of the participants were youth with disabilities. The meeting was a great opportunity for all youth to gather to share their thoughts and their experiences related to the topic of independent living, also to learn from each other and enhance their knowledge of this topic.

The  meeting was moderated by the member of the IF International Youth Group SBH with the participation of five inspiring youth representatives from Africa, Oceania, Asia Latin-America and Europe. They shared their views of independent living, highlighted the importance of independent living. Besides, experiences and tips for independent living were also shared.

The sharing from five speakers was followed by a discussion with all participants. Participants were very engaged during the discussions and raised several challenges that hinder them from achieving independent life such as accessibility to healthcare and transportation.

The discussion was fruitful with lots of experiences and insights exchanged. All participants expected follow up meetings for further discussion about concrete actions to deal with those challenges and to advocate for their rights of independent living.

Following their requests, IF keeps facilitating further meetings with youth members to support and empower independent living for all youth with SBH. One of which is the pre-conference workshop for youth with SBH during the 29th International Conference on Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus – Diverse Needs, Same Rights with the trainer: Kamil Goungor (policy and movement support officer at ENIL). This workshop will take place on September 5 2022 with the aims of providing the youth SBH community with more in depth knowledge of their rights to independent living and essential skills and tools to advocate for their rights to independent living.

The registrations are now open, please register for the Pre-Conference Workshop on September 5 here.