Youth Power Policy Forum 2026

One story is easy to dismiss. A room full of them isn’t.

Finding work, keeping work, being treated like you belong once you’re there, these are hard for a lot of young people with disability. And we get told that the problem is us.

But put enough of those stories in one room, and you start to see the actual shape of the problem. The same barriers, turning up again and again, for people who’ve never met each other. And that’s much harder to ignore.

That was the whole idea behind the Youth Power Employment Policy Forum… A two day event in July where young people with disability shared their experiences of employment, identified the barriers young people face and presented decision-makers with recommendations for change.

Day One, we told our stories

Every story went up on a wall, and together we stood back and looked for what kept coming up: recruitment practices, workplace expectations, access to supports and workplace culture.

Then we split into three groups and got to work on three questions:

  • Why does this keep happening?
  • What would need to change?
  • Who actually has the power to change it?

Day Two, we turned our shared living experiences into recommendations for change

  • Finding work: make workplaces accessible before someone has to ask, and say so upfront, so you’re not gambling on whether you’ll be supported once you’re in.
  • Safety and wellbeing at work: a clear, standard set of adjustments you can count on, so support isn’t something you have to fight for, over and over.
  • Employer accountability and culture: stop leaving it to goodwill. Hold employers to account, fund disability-led organisations properly, and put disabled people in the rooms where the decisions get made.

 

Each group stood up and presented the problem and their solutions to the people who can actually do something about it.

Key decision makers –  including The Hon. Hannah Beazley MLA and Mhairi Cowden, Deputy Director General of the Department of Communities –  joined us to listen to our recommendations for change, ask questions, and get the conversation started.

The impact went beyond policy.

Participants spoke about the value of meeting other young people with disability, sharing experiences, and building valuable connections. We can’t wait to see where these ideas, connections and conversations lead next.

A huge thank you to all the young people who shared their living and lived experiences, and to the facilitators, support staff, interpreters, stakeholders and decision-makers who helped make the Forum such a success. This work carries on, and it carries on because of you!