10 things to do with your young people to raise awareness of disability

1. Ask the young people if anyone has brothers/sisters/parents/grandparents who are disabled.  Invite them in to give a talk about their experiences.

2. Look round your building.  See if someone in a wheelchair could get to all areas.  What challenges might they face? e.g. steps and raised door edges, narrow doorways or corridors, different floor levels, height of tables, sockets etc

3. Get the young people to write down a definition of ‘disability’

4. Buy a newspaper or weekend magazine supplement and find photos and/or articles about disabled people?  How many did you find? What message does that give?

5. Learn how to play a disability sport (see youth resources on our website for ideas)

6. Read out Luke chapter 14 from the Bible then organise a party with food and invite disabled people

7. Look round your building.  what kind of difficulties might a young person with sight loss face if they attended your group?  Think about the levels of lighting, colour contrast of steps or doors, obstructions, visible information etc

8. Think of all the words you can relating to the word ‘disability’.  Next, categorise each one as either ‘positive’, ‘negative’ or ‘neutral’.  Which is the largest grouping?  Think about what message this gives off to people and society generally

9. Design a poster about your youth group, with the message that it is a welcoming, positive and inclusive place to be for disabled people.

10. Challenge the group to see who can find the largest number of well-known people who were disabled

You could take things further by contacting Through the Roof for more resources, a speaker, DVDs of the work etc