Erasmus + Youth Exchange for disadvantaged youngsters: Miguel’s testimonial
2024
Erasmus + Youth Exchange for disadvantaged youngsters: Miguel’s testimonial
This text was not to be written by me, but by my son. Miguel has no conventional language and has taught me to put his thoughts and feelings into words. He is 30 years old, mentally and physically disabled, highly dependent and suffers from a serious illness: epilepsy, which is difficult to control. "Living the life, he wants to LIVE" is not easy for a person with a disability and very difficult for people who need a lot of support, as is his case.
Here is his experience of participating in the Erasmus + Youth Exchange for disadvantaged youngsters, funded by the EU, with the participation of the organisations Avante3 in Leganés and Sambaresille in Toulouse, and the essential collaboration of all the volunteers who made the "Connected with Music" project happen.
Why was this text written? When Miguel returns from his travels, I usually have the feeling that I have not expressed all my gratitude for having helped him to live this experience, and after his European Erasmus+ mobility, this feeling was particularly strong.
In order to understand the message, I would like to clarify a few concepts as I understand them:
What is Erasmus+ Youth Programme?: Economic funding from the European Union to develop youth projects.
What is a Youth Exchange? A European mobility project that aims to create meeting places for young people to get to know and share resources and cultures, build a European spirit and bridges of understanding to improve coexistence between countries.
What are "young people with fewer opportunities"? People who have difficulties in accessing basic or standardised resources for themselves. This difficulty may be caused by limitations in their intellectual, physical, sensory, emotional, economic or social capacities, which may place them in a situation of vulnerability and social exclusion.
What is a person with high support needs: Someone who needs help to live, and to live the life he/she wants to live, they need the help and involvement of many people.
What does 'living the life you want to LIVE' mean? I think that living the life you want to live is difficult for many people, but with this expression I mean having the right to make your decisions, to be taken into account and to have your life choices respected in the most basic and essential aspects, both in the area of assistance (eating, sleeping, walking, washing, buying clothes...) and in the social area (friendship, relationships, carrying out tasks and jobs that are within your abilities).
What is "living the life you want to live"? I think that living the life you want to live is difficult for many people, but with this expression I mean having the right to make your own decisions, to be taken into account and to have your life choices respected in the most basic and essential aspects, both in the field of assistance (eating, sleeping, walking, washing, buying clothes...) and in the social field (relations with friends, relationships, carrying out tasks and jobs that are within your abilities).
What are enriching experiences? Experiences where you learn things and have fun at the same time.
What are transformative experiences? Experiences that help you take big steps in personal growth. Experiences which, in addition to learning and enjoyment, create the possibility of acquiring or modifying moral and social values.
What are reliable quality partners? Partners are the organisations responsible for carrying out the projects. If they are involved in the development and implementation of the exchange, they become "reliable partners". If the project involves young people with many support needs, it is essential to have reliable partners.
With these concepts clarified, I define the exchange that Miguel experienced as a transformative experience with trusted partners. Miguel likes to travel, spend time with his friends and meet new people and places, so he enjoyed and appreciated this opportunity. According to him, it was an enriching experience (when we ask him if he had a good time, he answers with his throaty affirmative sound "JI"). It was also a transformative experience. The Miguel who returned from Toulouse was not the same one who had left the Zarzaquemada station in Leganés. When I came back, I saw an older person, calmer, with a serene and happy look, very happy. He had matured in those 8 days.
He left happy, he was going to live an adventure with his friends. And indeed he did, he experienced new situations outside his usual activities, he met people who spoke in a different way. Although the language barrier is always present, in his case, because he does not have a conventional language and has many needs to communicate, he is used to using his senses and feelings to express himself, which certainly facilitated his understanding with the French, allowing a more fluid and intense communication than expected. They were united by what they felt through drumming and music.
Living new experiences shows us different ways of doing things and broadens our way of perceiving, feeling and living. Living without the presence of parents allows them to face themselves. For a person with many support needs to be able to live these experiences requires a lot of effort and interest from their carers.
The participation in European mobility projects of organisations working with people with severe disabilities is highly appreciated. For these young people, they are the door and the key that opens the possibility of "living the life they want to live". Participating in European mobility programmes with young people with high support needs is more than just a job, it is getting involved in their lives, it is an act of generosity and commitment that allows dependent people to have a mobility experience that, even if they have the right to participate and the means to do so, requires the involvement of the organisations that care for them and know them to be able to do so.
Now that reference has been made to social innovation projects and socially responsible enterprises, it may be a good time to highlight, as an example, institutions that care for people with disabilities and participate in European mobility programmes, so that they get the recognition they deserve.
In my view, it is also important to highlight the work of the various administrations, which are working closely together to promote the ideology of a fairer society and equal opportunities.
https://www.comunidad.madrid/servicios/juventud/juventud-europea
