Uniting Disabled Youth: Research, Empowerment and Participation – Developing a Methodology to Involve Disabled Youth in International Decision-Making Forums

Disabled young people are often invisible in local, national and international decision-making forums. This British Academy Youth Futures funded project seeks to address this through an innovative partnership between the University of Portsmouth, disabled activists, disabled person-led organisations (DPOs) and disabled young people across the Global South and North.

Specifically, the project team is looking to adapt a disabled young people–led research methodology developed in the UK to meet the cultural/political environment of the Philippines. This methodology has been successfully used in England by for example, the Children’s Commissioner to develop their submission to the UNCRPD as part of the UK shadow reporting process. Co-led by English disabled young researchers, (the RIP:STARS) the project team will work in partnership with a DPO in the Philippines to train a group of disabled young people to gather evidence on the enactment of their rights and its implications for the UN’s 2030 agenda.

Learning from the Global South/North will be shared in order to empower disabled young people to be involved in decision-making at local, national and international levels.