“Advocating for our rights through leadership” study session organised by IFHOHYP
Qais Khan, CI User and from UK, has shared his experience through study session
I had an opportunity to attend the study session “Advocating for our rights through leadership”, organised by the International Federation of the Hard of Hearing Young People (IFHOHYP) with the Youth Department of the Council of Europe. The study session took place in the European Youth Centre Budapest from 22nd to 27th August 2022 and aimed at empowering hard of hearing young people in effective leadership in organisation, advocacy work and developing a more inclusive world by bringing positive attention to disabilities and the human rights movement.
This has been the most unforgettable, life changing experience of my life. 30 young adults who are hard of hearing from around the world met together in one big room to be empowered, improving competence skills such as how to build leadership, improving our public speaking skills, turning our ideas into reality through project management, and actions that can be used in the fight for the human rights of deaf/hard of hearing people.
The whole six days were full of creativity, innovative ideas and working together as a team. The study session has helped me improve as a leader and an overall individual in numerous ways. This allowed me to assess my strengths and weaknesses, and has forced me to outline my goals as an individual, which helps me in achieving them. They have also taught me to take action when possible. It helps young adults who are hard of hearing to get up in front of the class each and every day to present, to share our passions and ideas, to conduct reviews, and that has helped us tremendously. This allowed us to gain experience and confidence in front of a large group of peers. It was a good opportunity to learn from practice, reflection, and observation during all this time.
This course was perfect for hard of hearing young people who struggle to work as a team, to speak front of a crowd and hope to improve their leadership skills. We all had a wonderful time, and huge thanks to everyone who made it possible!
1 September 2022