Pupils Advocate for their rights in their local community

Sam Cummings, RRSA Lead at Crownbridge School in Wales shares how pupils led a campaign in their local community to improve wheelchair access leading to powerful impact both locally and further afield.

It all started with pupil voice
At Crownbridge School there is a group of pupils known as ‘Our Voice.’ Some pupils find public speaking difficult so work behind the scenes, some have difficulty with communication so take part practically. The team is made up of pupils of all abilities, and they all play an equal part. The ‘Our Voice’ group received many letters and comments from pupils, staff and parents concerning the challenges they faced with access in the community, and the group decided this should be the focus of a rights campaign. 

Documentation and Dissemination of Real-Life Issues

The young people identified what they wanted to achieve from the campaign:

• People to think about their actions and what they do to us.
• To stop these issues getting worse
• We just want the same rights as everyone else in our communities.
  
• Make sure all the people in Torfean and across Wales will have an understanding about our issues.

With support from a local youth worker and funding from the police ‘hate crime funding’ the young people purchased ‘Go Pro’ cameras and went out into their community to record the issues wheelchair users face such as parking on pavements and blocked drop kerbs. They documented all the issues they came across and created a presentation.

The next step was to work with Swansea University to make a video – “A Day in the Life of…” using the footage they collected.  On World Children’s Day, the video was showcased in the local council chamber in front of guests who were able to make change in the community. It was also launched in the Welsh parliament on the same day.   

Far reaching Impact
Since the video was created it has been passed on many times to different organisations including councils and local schools to show pupils and parents. The local council took on board the young people’s concerns and have changed some of the pathways and curbs and adapted building plans. Double parking on curbs have also decreased making the curbs more accessible.  A year after the campaign the group were approached by Amnesty International, who have used the campaign as a case study in their children’s book “These rights are your rights” Since the accessibility campaign, the young people have been involved in many other projects including recently designing an all-inclusive park with the council in the local area.