"We are just like you" campaigns youngsters
Published by rtownsend for Sanctuary Housing Association in Communities and also in Education, Housing
A group of youngsters from Bromley are raising awareness and fighting to combat the stereotypes of people with learning disabilities.
The youngsters, who all have learning disabilities, live in a Sanctuary Supported Living scheme and have created an emotive poster campaign to reflect the negative experiences they have been faced with as a result of their disabilities.
With the help of Fixers, a national charity which supports young people to tackle issues that matter to them, the group of six have designed three posters featuring themselves in everyday situations. The posters encourage the audience to see past the disability so the young people can be seen for who they are and what they like, rather than for what disability they have.
Lead Fixer on the project Holly Pace, aged 25, said: “We all have learning disabilities and some of us use wheelchairs. Sometimes it is difficult for people who don’t have a disability to appreciate our needs, and we have all had negative experiences as a result.
“Through our poster campaign, we want to tackle issues like being stared at in the street and being interrupted when people speak to us. We want people to treat us how they like to be treated.”
The posters will be distributed around the community including to local schools, bus companies, shopping centres and council facilities. Fixers and the young campaigners will be encouraging everyone to put the posters up as much as possible so they are visible to the public.
Sanctuary Group has provided £75,000 funding to Fixers to support projects for residents and staff in locations across England and Scotland, which are led by young people aged 16 – 25.
Fixers is a charity which supports young people across the UK to take action and change things for the better. The Fixers project has already supported over 11,000 young people to have an authentic voice in their community. Each Fixer is supported to create the resources they need - such as films, websites or print work - to make their chosen project a success.