Blog post by Nina Portolan, EDF Youth Committee member.
This June I had the opportunity to attend the European Youth event, held at the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France. I was part of a delegation attending on behalf of the European Disability forum and it was my first time at this event. Now in retrospect, I have mixed feelings about the experience.
Starting with the positives, I was very happy to have another opportunity to connect with my colleagues from the Youth Committee and to meet with new people through the ASCEND project. I believe our experiences in person are very valuable because they allow us to know each other as people, not just in a professional sense. Some of my best memories were made outside of sessions, laughing and talking with this amazing group of people.
EDF organised two sessions during the event. The first one was titled “Know Your Rights“ and it gave the participants an overview of the protection of Human Rights for Disabled People, as guaranteed by the UN CRPD. For me, the best part of that session were the case studies we got to analyse because it allowed us to connect the situation which is presented to different rights, the documents that protect them and reflect on how the situation should be remedied. I wish there was more time for discussions, because it was very engaging.
The second session was titled “Working in Europe- Accessible for all?” and for this session my biggest impressions are not tied to the content itself, but rather my two colleagues Tamara and Ben, who had an active role in it. Ben moderated the session with great confidence and skill, measured replies and clear language, making it very dynamic and easy to follow. Tamara was one of the panellists and she impressed me once again by her speaking skills. She raised the points of obstacles and prejudice when seeking employment as a disabled person, woven into her personal experiences, and confidently challenged what is being done so far at European level. It was one of my favourite moments in sessions.
Apart from these two, I participated in two more sessions that expand my skills and understanding.
In a session titled “Fast Forward into The Future” we explored the concept of Design Thinking and had a Design Sprint session. Although this concept is commonly used in journalism or in start-ups, I found it very useful for writing in general, as well as planning and mapping future project ideas and starting projects. In this approach, it is possible to map out needs, define (sketch) a topic, generate a wide range of ideas and decide on an approach, prototype solutions and receive feedback all in a matter of days, by including a team of people from the start and giving them space to think creatively as well as reflect on what is already suggested. In a final step of this session we were put in pairs and had several minutes to come up with eight different initiatives or steps to tackle a specific issue. It was very challenging, but it allowed me to test my creativity, working under pressure and incorporating inputs from my pair. In the future, I hope to use this skill and tool once I have the opportunity to start my own initiatives or participate in some initiative with a more active role.
I spent part of my free time exploring the Human Rights stand where I got bracelets with Human Rights written on them, as well as the Language and Interpretation stand, where I put my knowledge of languages to the test in a fun game, and it made me want to learn another foreign language!
I also had the opportunity to go to a session organised by ENGSO Youth, and organisation working with youth in sports on a European level and focusing on sports as a tool for social goals and protection of Human Rights. Their session was titled “Youth Entrepreneurs: Sport as a Boost for Innovation“. While the topic may not appear seem relevant at first glance, for me as a para athlete who routinely uses sports as a tool for advocacy, it was very valuable. I was put in the role of a Sports Manager and, along with a group of people, I had to to analyse the common obstacles and misconceptions that come with our role. The next step was to come up with solutions for some of the issues and reflect on how these impact youth in sports and society in general. We spoke about how our actions or lack thereof impact others and how do we teach leadership, goal setting and resilience through sports. This experience was also very fun because I know some of the team members in ENGSO Youth from participating in a previous event and we were very happy to meet again. It was a very active and fun session with a lot of laughter and movement too.
It felt good to step out of the label of a disabled person for a moment and to just be. Especially because of how difficult it can be to advocate for our needs sometimes, and some of the accessibility issues I had faced during the event before that point.
Leading up to the trip to Strasbourg I was very nervous and overwhelmed, due to the amount of information and the various email we were supposed to keep track of. Warnings and guidelines about what we can and cannot bring, reminders about different things and many updates arrived in my inbox daily. Luckily, once I was at the event, I understood these were only precautions, however, there were more obstacles to come. Meters away from the hotel my wheelchair got damaged coming off a curb, then my room was not accessible and it had to be resolved. I am happy to have had the help of the EDF team with this, as well as the event itself. Unfortunately, when we arrived to register for EYE 2023 it quickly became clear that accessibility wasn’t fully implemented and going over all the physical obstacles was very stressful. I also noticed that the signalisation inside the buildings themselves wasn’t always clear enough. Some rooms were not accessible for wheelchairs so, in one session, I was forced to sit in the front of the room and to the side, separately from everyone else, which made engaging with the group difficult. I hope this will be something that is inproved in the future European Youth Events so disabled participants can enjoy the event equally.
Finally, I can say that my experience at EYE 2023 was, above all, one of learning and adapting, while appreciating all the beautiful connections with people my activism has given me. I will take away the words and actions of the many speakers and participants who filled my mind with new ideas and hope, while I wait for an opportunity to share them with others or implement them in a future endeavour. Walking around the centre of Strasbourg on my final evening, my thoughts drifted back to how, 4 years ago, my international activism journey started in the same city, and I could never even imagine what a big part of my life it would become. I don’t know what the future brings, but I do believe that every next experience can only be better than the ones before.
Photo credit: Nina Portolan