This week marks one year since the first Coventry Youth Activists (CYA) session at Grapevine.
If you don’t already know, CYA is a youth democracy and citizenship group that raises awareness of barriers in society faced by young disabled people – galvanising their response as a campaigns group.
In just one year, they have grown eight times in size, put on five major events – including appearing at Coventry’s Godiva Festival for the first time this year – and spread the word further with four appearances on local radio. Over 400 people follow their Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feeds.
Their latest campaign is reducing the statistic that one in three young disabled people spend less than an hour outside their family home on a Saturday, often restricted by access to public transport and concerns over going out alone.
The first step for #CYASaturdays was holding an open Ideas Factory at Coventry city centre’s Herbert Art Gallery in September, where 26 people came up with six ideas to start tackling this issue.
The ideas – to be revealed during course of the campaign – included planning a trip to a gig together on, you guessed it, a Saturday.
The group also shared stories and came up with words associated with what a young person’s life should look like.
Words like “vibrant”, “well-lived”, “fulfilling”, “care-free” and “full” will now be added to the giant C, Y and A doodled by artists Melissa and Alan at CYA’s recent successful appearance at the Godiva Festival.
Here’s to another great year of “when I say C, you say Y, A!”