On Sunday 30th June 2019, Deaf Roots & Pride Midlands hosted an event at The Way youth zone in Wolverhampton along with Zebra Access, a Deaf led charity based in Wolverhampton.
We had 12 young people from the Midlands join us to celebrate Deaf Roots & Pride 5th birthday! Deaf Roots & Pride started in Northern Ireland 5 years ago and then grew across other areas in the UK including DRP Midlands, which started 3 years ago.
This year, we had various activities at The Way youth zone in Wolverhampton, getting the young people involved.
In the morning, we started with an ice breaker to get to know each other better.
After that, Adam Breeze and Dawn Lynch (who are mentors on the DRP project) led sports activities, including football rounders. We all had a great fun!
In the afternoon, we had a mini-tour of the youth centre. Some said it reminded them of the Tardis from Dr Who, as it's HUGE inside the building. They have an arts & craft room, a dance studio, a music studio, a boxing ring, wall climbing, a sports hall, a kitchen... you name it, it’s there!
Youth Development Officer, Deirdre Maguire from Zebra Access gave a talk to the young people about Deaf role models. The Young people did not realise that there are lots of Deaf role models out there. After that, our mentor, Peter Kendall, gave a talk to the young people about the BDA and BDA's history. Before we finished for the day, we played badminton, football, and basketball in the sports hall.
Sean Noone, Mentoring Officer says:
“It’s important for Deaf young people to celebrate something that belongs to them, as young people are at the heart of the Deaf Roots and Pride project.
It was brilliant to see Deaf young people learn about role models and what the BDA is. As that is something they never think of or miss out on. Now, they have this amazing opportunity to learn about their culture and their world, as they facing a number of barriers and often miss out information in their daily life. Now, it’s time to empower Deaf young people by giving them access information, which is their right.
Now, they know more about BDA and what BDA is doing; as BDA belongs to them. At the same time, we all had the chance to celebrate Deaf Roots and Pride’s 5th Birthday!
A big thanks to Zebra Access for joining us and for giving a talk to Deaf young people about role models, also thanks to The Way for allowing us to use that amazing venue.”
If your child or you know a young person who would be interested to join the Deaf Roots & Pride project West Midlands’ upcoming events, please contact Sean Noone, Mentoring Officer via mentormidlands.drp@bda.org.uk
