By: Alexa Lehwald
Recently, I was involved with ‘Equally Empowered’ and a Film Festival. I also participated, presented and volunteered at an Inclusion BC Conference. This all took place between October 2021 and May 2022.
Do you want to know what Equally Empowered is? Let me tell you what it is! It’s a program where adult self-advocates with disabilities become leaders by going to schools and teaching students how to be leaders too. We talk about inclusion, accessibility, and standing up for yourself and your community. It’s a lot to talk about. We had a lot of fun playing social bingo and creating art, and poetry to learn more about these topics.
Now let me talk about the Film Festival! This was a part of Equally Empowered but we only worked with grade seven students. We watched and rated short videos. Then we picked the best ones to be in the film festival for the Grade 7’s to show all the students, teachers and important people from their community.
Next, I did the Inclusion BC Conference. I was nervous but it was good to do it with a partner and she was happy for me. It’s a conference that had presentations about the disability movement. That’s why I did it!
I taught people how they could empower others to be inclusive leaders. I volunteered at the Inclusion BC Conference by giving people their name tags and showing them where to get their lunch.
I feel amazing that I got to do these things!
