Youth led advocacy
A lot of the advocacy work we do at CYDA is led or co-designed by young people with disability.
2024 Summit Zine
At our National Youth Disability Summit in in 2024, young people with disability came together to talk about:
- identity and empowerment
- community
- creating change
Participants were invited to contribute artwork or written content to a zine to be published after the Summit.
Image: Letters that look like they’ve been cut from newspapers read: “CYDA Summit 2024 Zine”. The background looks like slightly crinkled paper, ripped at the corners with dark blue behind.
Image: A young woman with fluffy dyed red hair, a colourful beaded necklace, and a black headband with pearls, speaking to someone right of frame.
LivedX
A series of videos and papers in which young people with disability have their say about the issues that matter to them. These issues include:
- tertiary education
- healthcare for LGBTQIA+ youth with disability
- inclusion and decision making
- financial security and employment
- developing confidence
- disability and transformative justice
- deconstructing a “one size fits all” approach to education
What young people said
At our National Youth Disability Summits in 2020 and 2023, young people with disability came together to talk about:
- diagnosis
- self-care
- inclusive education
- employment
- mental health and wellbeing
- the NDIS and housing
- awareness, access and inclusion
Image: Brown text next to red and blue irregular shapes reads: “What young people said”.
Image: Five people, two men, three women, dressed in smart casual, smiling and posing together in a row, outside the UN building in New York.
“We know our own issues best ... and we are one of the most creative, entrepreneurial sectors of society and we are continuously underestimated."
Each year the UN holds a conference for countries that have signed on to the UN Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities. CYDA facilitates young Australian delegates with disability to network and learn from the international community of delegates, and represent young disabled Australians at the event.
CYDA’s 2022 Federal Election Platform
Young people with disability were heavily involved in building CYDA’s 2022 Federal Election platform. They also held a free, online forum for politicians from Australia’s major political parties to answer questions from young people about their policies.
Image: Text in a blue blob reads: “Young, powerful, engaged”.
