The end of 2024 marked just over a year since I joined the 2023-2026 cohort of the Scottish Disability Sport Young Person’s Sports Panel. This panel, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund, is made up of myself and 12 other young people aged 14 to 22, “who come with a huge amount of enthusiasm, knowledge and experiences to help shape the future of disability sport in Scotland.” Personally I have found it to be an extremely enjoyable and empowering experience.
I like to approach my time on the panel with the mindset of ‘you get out what you put in.’ I try and put myself forward for every opportunity I can. So far on the panel I have been involved in a wide array of events, and here are some of my favourites so far.
The main event on the panel is the yearly residential to Inverclyde. The residential is an overnight trip and was my first time meeting most of the other young people on the panel. It was a jam-packed weekend with trampolining, games, a trip for pizza and ice cream and personal development workshops. It was also my first overnight stay in many years and this helped me to prepare for starting university that summer. My favourite part of the residential was making friends with people who have similar interests and ambitions to me. I cannot wait for this year’s residential coming soon!
In February, myself and fellow panel member Rae presented at the Children 1st conference about children’s human rights in sport. Presenting in front of 150 people from sport governing bodies across Scotland was a nerve-wracking experience, but it was so worth it to hear people’s feedback. We talked about our experience of PE as young, disabled people and I felt like we made a real impact. This was my first experience of talking in front of such a large group and it gave me such confidence I can bring into the future. This presentation also led into my role in athlete facilitating. This is where I travel to schools across Scotland and share my story with teachers and support staff, as part of the Inclusive PE Disability Inclusion Training (DIT). This has opened up a pathway for me and I hope to get into DIT tutoring in the future.
Another great conference experience was Europe In Action 2024, ran by Enable Scotland and Inclusion Europe. I am very thankful to be offered tickets to this conference through SportScotland. It was my first time going to a conference alone, which is another example of confidence building. With many international experts and advocates talking about the past 70 years of campaigning for those with learning disabilities, I found it to be a hopeful experience. As well as discussing the gaps in care for disabled individuals, the conference also highlighted to progress that has been made in the disability rights community in recent years. At the end of the 3-day event, I was invited by SportScotland to write a blog post on the event. I enjoy taking every opportunity to practice my writing and promote my blog, so this was the icing on the cake.
Both of these conferences were centred around things I was passionate about before joining the youth panel, and there have also been plenty new experiences for me too. One example was my introduction to the sport of boccia. Boccia is a Paralympic sport designed for athletes with physical disabilities. Because it has no Olympic equivalent, I had never even heard of boccia before my work with Scottish Disability Sport – and now I am involved in practically everyway possible. I have undertaken my refereeing qualification, I am currently working towards my Level 1 in coaching, and I have enjoyed playing with my fellow panel members and at the Scottish Student Sport boccia championships. All of these opportunities have helped me with many skills for the future, such as leadership, collaboration, problem-solving and confidence.
This really sums up my time of the SDS young person’s panel so far. As well as all of these skills, I have developed an awareness of different sports and disabilities and most importantly, I have widened my horizons.
I am autistic 