AMCHP 2005 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
DELIVERING RESULTS, IMPROVING PREGNANCY & BIRTH
February 19-23, 2005
ALEXANDRIA POWELL: Well, good afternoon. It’s not afternoon yet, it’s morning. It’s afternoon to me though. Now, that we’ve seen the overview picture of it. Really, what do youth want? What do you think? What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages? And what are the tips? Adults moved forward and created many things for youth. We had ADA . We’ve had IDA, Individuals Education Disabilities Act. And many others. But we really don’t care about those. We want to be apart of what adults do. So, really what can we do? What should you do to get youth involved? 1) Realize that youth have a voice and they want to be heard. We want to tell you your mistakes. So, you can learn from your mistakes and one day they’ll be our mistakes. So, here’s what you can do. If you have a group advisor, you create one for youth. We may not always be able to come in person but, due to the advances in technology, it’s great; instant messaging, teleconferencing and many others.
It's always good, because youth like money. But, then again, with everything being cut across the board, especially in the areas of (inaudible) rehabilitation, which are critical for those youth who are in college. But, needless to say in the competitive market having a good strong national reference might do you some good in the market, especially if you have a disability which often looks down upon. So, as you can see the benefits range from all over. But, maybe one of the most important things, if youth are involved in the health care system we can learn how we can avoid it and how we can make the edge. I’m going to be 23 and I already have to start thinking of how am I going to get health insurance with only being still in college and with the rise of college; Because I can’t be under my parents anymore.
And then there’s the thing where health care systems love to make the forms incredibly small for those with visual impairments. So, what youth suggest “Why can’t you use the computer where you can blow it up to 150%?” It makes life easier for all because the more youth get involved the more they can contribute and the less you have to worry about them. Although, you still do. My mom calls me every night. So, now, some tips. And there are blanks because I might of forgotten stuff. So, please, do contribute. Now, we go to the tips. Youth are a little different group. We have a short attention span. So, here are some suggestions. Actually, some adults do too. So, when you’re considering creating an advisory group for youth, you have to make it fun. We love little knick knacks and toys and super balls and stress balls with smiley faces, little slinkies and maybe play-dough. Well, let’s see. Time is an issue because after 90 minutes, we’re done. But, time can fly when you have discussion time and presentation time.
What you will discover is that if you give a youth a chance we’ll talk for hours. So, I guess in the end what you will see is that we want to be heard, we want you to wake up, we want you to listen. Because we care, we want to participate. It’s our life; why can’t we decide? We have issues that are important to us that never get heard. Yet, somehow we’re supposed to live in this world under all these laws when we don’t even know what they mean. So, maybe what we can do yet today is still decide and help us navigate our lives through the system so we can get to where we want to go. My goal is to get to college and get on to get my PHD in education. I don’t know if I’ll get there but, I’ve had a lot of help. So, continue on supporting and educating because that’s what youth want.