Background to the Research

• Section 75 of the NI Act 1998 says that people involved in the youth service must involve everybody in its programmes and activities. However, research carried out in NI in the past has shown that young disabled people are not likely to attend youth clubs that other young people go to. The researcher wanted to know why this was the case. It was thought that if the reasons why young disabled people do not want to go to youth clubs are understood, then the people who offer activities and programmes to young people would change the way youth clubs are run and all young people would feel welcome.
  

Research Approach

• Field work was completed in the spring and summer of 2002 in the area around Craigavon, Banbridge and Armagh. Thirty-six young disabled people talked about why they did not go to youth clubs.
• Twenty youth workers also supplied written answers to some questions about their youth clubs. These questions concerned: the number of young disabled people attending their youth clubs; whether disabled people can get into the buildings and move around the premises; whether the youth workers had attended disability awareness training and equality training; and what the youth workers were doing to encourage young disabled people to attend their clubs.
  

Main Findings

• Some young disabled people go to Gateway and Phab clubs.
• A much smaller number of young disabled people go to youth clubs that young non-disabled people go to.
• Some of the young disabled people were angry and some were sad that they did not go to youth clubs like other young people. The report highlighted poor access in some youth provision premises in the Southern Education and Library board.
• Sometimes it is people's attitudes about disability and not access that is the problem.
• Youth workers do not have to go to training to learn how not to discriminate against young disabled people.
• Youth workers receive papers from the youth service telling them the way to do their work. These are called best practice guidelines. Most youth workers try to follow these guidelines, but they are not required to do so.
• A lot of good activities are going on in youth clubs but the youth service and youth workers do not do enough to encourage young disabled people to attend.

Recommendations

• Having previously published a paper called Code of Practice on the equality of opportunities disabled workers have, the Southern Education and Library Board, responsible for youth work in its area, should produce another paper that includes the rights of young disabled people who go to youth clubs now or who may want to go to youth clubs in the future.
• Policy statements for the youth service should make sure that their message does not make any guesses about the lives of young disabled people and should be written in a way that the youth workers know the youth service is serious about any changes it wants to occur.
• The youth service should make a big effort to include young disabled people in youth and other programmes.
• Youth workers should be required to attend good training programmes that include disability awareness and equality training with regard to the new law in NI that says that disabled people have the right to be included in activities alongside non-disabled people.
• The young non-disabled people who attend youth clubs should be encouraged to attend good training sessions about disability and inclusion.
• As in other decisions relating to their youth clubs, young people should be encouraged to make decisions about how to include young disabled people in their clubs.
• Young disabled people, their parents or guardians and youth workers should think about how they can work together to make youth clubs a good and safe place to go to.
• Sign language should be accepted as a language by the government in NI. Money should then be spent to encourage people to learn and use it to communicate with deaf people.
• Advertisements about what goes on in youth clubs should be placed where young disabled people are likely to be.
• Youth clubs should be encouraged to set up 'buddy' systems.
• The Department of Education should make sure that the youth service has enough funds to include all children and young people in its programmes and activities. This means that youth club buildings should be made accessible for disabled people.
• Summer schemes that have enough trained workers should be held in youth clubs during the summer months. Buildings should be accessible for disabled people and all young people should be included in youth activities and programmes.