My Youth Leadership Experience
As a young child in Vancouver, my family had the opportunity to connect with a lot of others who had children who were blind or partially sighted at camps, events and even just in our daily life. However, when I was six, we moved out of Vancouver into a smaller community in the interior, and we lost a lot of those connections. Not to say that there weren’t any supports, but since there were very few other kids with visual impairments in the area, we didn’t really get the chance to hang out with other families or participate in those events that had meant so much to my family. That’s why I was so excited to learn that the Youth Leader training program had been temporarily converted to an online format.
Rather than one weekend in Vancouver, the program took place over six evening Zoom sessions, making it much more accessible to people all across the province. Yes, nothing compares to meeting with people in person, but honestly I think they did a pretty great job of making it feel like you were actually in the room with the other participants. We were able to have guest speakers and interactive discussions pretty seamlessly over Zoom.
On top of how great the actual program was, something I hadn’t anticipated was how many doors it would open up once I had completed it. Even if you aren’t in the Vancouver area, there are still a ton of different opportunities to get involved virtually. For example, I was able to volunteer with the Kids Connect program this fall. I had so much fun at Creating Connections meetings this past year, and it felt really great to help younger kids have those experiences too.I’d say I’m normally a pretty quiet person. Living in a smaller town, I haven’t really had any visually impaired friends growing up. One thing that I’ve always worried about hanging out with my sighted friends and peers is that I’m going to miss important social cues and misread people’s facial expressions. Spending time with other people who are blind and visually impaired has led me to realize that when people don’t rely so heavily on those things to communicate, I can actually be a lot more outgoing and friendly than I thought I could be.
It has meant so much not only to learn those important advocacy skills, but also to hear from real people who have been able to apply those skills to their lives and are thriving. Getting to hear from older youth leaders and alumni who are attending University, living independently and living in the city has given me a lot of hope that I will be able to do those things too. Over the last couple years, I’ve spent a lot of time looking into different Universities and researching different programs, and getting the affirmation that that is something I will be able to do has encouraged me to keep trying hard in school and to keep practicing those skills.Altogether, the Youth Leader training program has been nothing but positive for me. I’m so grateful for both the skills that it taught me and also the way that it brought me back into Blind Beginnings. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed being a part of the community until I was able to get involved again.
by Acacia