INTEGR8 Youth Zone

Hello my name is Abigail and I am 17. In September 07 I wrote a letter to Tim Wood to say that I am doing my Queen’s Guide Award over the next few years and one of the sections is Community Action. This challenge is over a 12 month period and involves undertaking two projects about a chosen topic with one being of a practical nature and the other being research orientated. At the end of the 12 months I have to present the findings of my research and an evaluation of the practical to the people that have been involved.

I asked Tim if I could do something for Intergr8 as I had read in Vital Link, and on the website ‘International’ that you were thinking of taking some 16+ youngsters to a developing country. I said I would be very interested in going as I would like to connect the trip to my Queen’s Guide Award and make it the practical part. The other project I was interested in was the Dalesdown holiday for families with autistic children.

Tim wrote back and said that he would like me to help. As you know Intergrat8 are now planning a trip to India in August 08. Tim said that he would like me to come along so they could see if other disabled young people could go on a trip like it in the future. My disability is linked to Asperger Syndrome and Dyspraxia. My purpose for going is to show that any young person with a disability could go to a place that they never dreamt of going.

I said that I would be delighted to be involved and so I will be going on the India trip. Part of my role will be preparing some craft to take out there. I will also be talking to the teachers at the schools we are visiting. We will be visiting a school for pupils with learning difficulties and which has a polio unit. As part of my personal preparation for the trip I will be helping at Dalesdown in May 2008 and using it as a stepping-stone to India. I have been meeting up with Tim once a month to work on the planning. It has been great to see how it is progressing. I am really looking forward to going.