21 May 2009 Places to go for young disabled people
I go to a day centre two days a week and it does not have things for young disabled people to do. I was just wondering if anyone else has the same issue as me.
I live in London and the day centre is called Lambeth Resource Centre where I teach older people how to use computers. However I am starting to get fed up with it because I find it quite frustrating because I have no one my own age to talk to.
I would like to have access to activities that are more relevant to younger people like me such as karaoke, playstation 3, also dj workshops. It seems silly when you leave school there is no route into work or places for young disabled people to go. This is even more frustrating because so many places do not have disabled access so that leaves me stuck with nowhere to go so what do I do about it?
If anyone has any ideas or feels like they are in a similar situation please email back or let me know on this blog I look forward to hearing from you.
2 Comments
-
Bobby Ancil replied on 21 May 2009 at 16:33Report abuse
Rob, I am an older young person and I play bridge. I am in three clubs all fully accessible. If you like playing cards Rob bridge is the game to learn. All clubs are crying out for young people. Nature is taking its toll on a lot of the members. Once the basics are grasped, you'll be gripped. You need to go to night school for a year or two and then join a club. The EBU is the HQ. Once you've got some idea of the game, there are hundreds of books on the subject and every paper that has puzzles has a bridge problem or two to tackle every day. Although you might think it an older person's pastime, there is a club in London called the young people's bridge club where in due course you would be very welcome. Hope this helps,
Jim O'Shea
-
Sulaiman Khan replied on 21 May 2009 at 18:05Report abuse
Hi Rob,
Great post! Really nice to meet you, my name is Sulaiman and I've been working with MDC and Trailblazers since August 2008 (though, currently I'm working from home b/c my wheelchair is dead and I'm awaiting a new one) that I enjoy so much.
Sorry that you've had a hard time lately, but you're not alone. I know exactly how you feel, as I often feel the same. However, you just have say positive b/c there are so cool things you can do as a young disabled person, you just need to know who to ask and where to go, especially in London.
I think the major issue is that you need to other places to work other than the day centre, even though it's great of you teach people about computers, but if there's no one else there your age you can relate to OF COURSE you are very quickly going to feel frustrated. You need to pro-actively find more places where you meet younger people (gigs, museums, Trailblazers events and more, etc.) and try to find things that you enjoy b/c you'll always find like-minded people at relating events.
Furthermore, it sounds like you really music... So, how about DJ'g for events or setting up your own business where you could DJ and have a karaoke for organisations? Just some interesting ideas.
Also, having a creative outlet for yourself (whether thorough music or creative writing, etc) is vital, and I agree w/ you it IS quite tough for young disabled people to break into the workplace, but you cannot ever take no as answer b/c if you love doing something enough there's always a way to do it. Like me for example, I'm planning to work in the advertising industry (that I will start studying at uni in September), even though there are practically no severely disabled in this industry that is highly competitive and rigorous, yet very exciting, interesting and fun.
That's about it; I hope this helps. We definitely should get together sometime to talk about this in greater detail, but I just have to wait for a bit to get my new wheelchair b/c I'm currently not mobile and can't get out of my home yet.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
Chat soon. Bye for now.
Cheers,
Sulaiman
Commenting is now closed.