Parasol Project’s Photo/Audio Web Gallery about INCLUSION

(Working with Oxfordshire County Council as Young Activity Auditors)

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The Parasol Project is an Oxford based charity which supports disabled and non-disabled young people aged 13 – 19, and is committed to redressing the balance for disabled and disadvantaged children and young people experiencing, or at risk of, social exclusion, and their activities focus on inclusion, having fun and gaining new experiences.

Oxfordshire County Council invited the young people of the Parasol Project to work on a project in the role of Young Activity Auditors, to assess the local offer of activities to support well-being for young people aged 13-19 (up to 25 with learning difficulties and disabilities) in Oxfordshire, and they chose to look at the importance of inclusivity.

The young people discussed what they valued the most about being part of an inclusive group (like Parasol) when doing fun activities, as well as how it felt to not be included properly in groups and how beneficial inclusive groups are to everyone involved – where “anyone can join in” and there are “no limits” because everyone helps and learns from each other, and “everyone is equal”.  Altogether, forty different people have recorded an individual message in the photo/audio web gallery; the young people who are part of the group (some of which are ‘Role Models’ or ‘Volunteers’), as well as workers.

Although the group helped each other to take the photos, Oxfordshire County Council’s Youth Opportunities Officer supported the group to record everyone’s individual messages 1-2-1.  Some people felt they didn’t need any preparation and recorded their message straight away, others practised first, some worked out their message (and had their words written out so they could read them), and a few young people needed some help forming their views into a message.    Regardless of how messages were recorded, each message is unique, so……We hope you enjoy our web gallery!