Pedros People – Galway City Youthreach

Why as a team did you choose to focus on this challenge?

We chose to focus on this challenge because diversity and inclusion is very important to us and many people face challenges with discrimination, homophobia, racism, sexism etcetera on the daily in Ireland. It also affects a lot of students in our school and all of us in our group in many different ways and in the different aspects of our lives. We also that these issues cause so many people so many unnecessary problems in life that to help come up with even a small solution to it could save and help better so many people's lives.

What do you know now about the challenge that you didn't know before?

From our research we discovered that diversity's important for us, because being around people from different backgrounds makes us more creative and we gain more knowledge from those different from us. We also learned that there’s more services available to support inclusivity than we had previously thought. We also found that our schools internet filtering policy prohibited access to the ‘BeLonG To’ website but did permit the other websites on the B!G Idea site, which was upsetting, as a lot of the students in our school and team members are LGBTQIA+ so it showed inclusive spaces can mess up too.

What have you learnt about your Hero?

Our Hero is Pedro, he's mixed race, has ADHD and ASD/autism, is a gay man, and a refugee who fled his home as his family were quite homophobic and abusive to him. He faces a lot of challenges in life, such as the language barrier he experiences daily as a refugee in a foreign country, having to flee his home and family due to their homophobia and his lack of access to the correct care for his asthma, ADHD, ASD/autism and significant trauma. The reasons for his trauma would be his family and the societal discrimination he faces frequently.

If you could improve one thing for your Hero what would that be?

We would try to improve Pedro’s support network. We would try to give him access to a medical support system, like a good GP, get him a medical card etcetera. We would also work on his social support system; make sure he has kind, caring friends and co-workers as well as try to provide him with economical supports; make sure he has a stable job as well as access to any charities, benefits, grants or allowances he's entitled to as a disabled person. We would also try and find him support and advocacy for his refugee status if he wishes.

Do you have any ideas for a potential solution? No matter how raw, share them with your Mentors for feedback.

One idea that our team had for a potential solution to some of Pedro’s problems was an LGBTQIA+, sensory friendly, disability accessible, inclusive café, that is also part library but specifically holds literature which contains accurate information on relevant LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent and other such issues and information on events going on for these groups and help on how to be a good ally to these communities. It would also have what is known as a ‘Human Library’, where you can meet people that are part of these communities and affected by the lack of diversity and inclusion in our society.

Ask your Mentor anything …. This is a chance to ask your Mentors a direct question relating to your Big Idea.

Questions we as a team have for our mentors are; Do you think our idea for a solution to Pedro’s situation is helpful? Do you think there are any ways in which we can improve our idea? Do you feel like our idea is plausible? What would you have come up with to help Pedro? Do you think our idea could also be helpful to people besides Pedro? Do you think we could get funding for our idea via a social enterprise or grant or other means? Have we as a team met the brief for the project so far?

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