Include Me TOO, a national (United Kingdom-based) charity, joined hands with the Commonwealth Youth Council, an international youth-led NGO, to advance mutual objectives. Include Me TOO an award winning charity has led on disabled children and young people, and their families, from a diverse range of backgrounds participation and inclusion for over a decade, with innovative and creative approaches. The charity is committed in promoting and supporting social justice, equality, inclusion and the rights of disabled children and young people.
The Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC), as mandated by the Commonwealth Heads of Government as the official voice of the 1.2+ billion young people of the Commonwealth, have embarked on an 18-month campaign to promote the interests of youth with disabilities. Their priority areas are empowerment of young people with disabilities, both economically and as community leaders; recognition of the work of young PWDs; data collection about young PWDs. The CYC is supported by the Commonwealth Secretariat that recently launched the Global Youth Development Index and a clear call was made for age-disaggregated data. The CYC is going further to make a call for age, gender and disability disaggregated data so that no one feels invisible to evidence-based policy. Overall, the campaign seeks to change perceptions.
Both organisations are coming together to strengthen the participation, inclusion and rights of disabled young people internationally with Commonwealth member states. The partnership’s project titled ‘Commonwealth Include Me 2’ will also be promoting disability awareness and understanding aiming to increase the positive attitudes and acceptance as well as developing a platform for diverse representation of disabled role models. Another key areas of the project is increasing the involvement of disabled young people in the planning and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) 2030’s agenda.
