The Florida Youth Council

The First Annual Youth Summit

By Matthew Boselli

Lets look back at last years first Annual Youth Summit and some of our activities that took place. The Florida Youth Council had to come up with interactive activities for the youth that wanted to participate. The one activity that stands out in my mind is the tile writing. Each young adult had to pick a tile and write whatever came to their minds. The reason it stands out in my mind, is seeing all the smiling faces and the joy it brought to each individual as they accomplished their achievements.

Here are some sessions that took place while at the Annual Youth Summit. One of them is disability etiquette. Some different ways to help a person with a disability are; if you see a person with a disability and you see them struggling, go ahead and ask them if they need help, don’t always assume that they need help. If that person has a service dog with a harness on, do not automatically go over and pet the dog since he is a “working dog” and in working mode. Never walk in front of a blind person because they may lose their balance, fall or injure themselves.  As the golden rule states “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

The first Annual Youth Summit was highly successful because all the young adults were motivated to have a successful event and gain knowledge. We should continue to have the summits so we can enrich young people with disabilities lives and earn recognition in the community so people with disabilities can feel like they are contributing to their families and themselves.