Stronger Voices Together

Introducing Stronger Voices Together, a podcast series dedicated to exploring the diverse world of disability and inclusion, created by John Lyon's Charity and hosted by disability activist Lucy Edwards. This series will unfold over five thought-provoking episodes, each released every two weeks from Tuesday 23rd April.

For too long, the teaching of Arts subjects in schools has been undervalued in comparison to other academic subjects – we're here to challenge this hierarchy. This conversation welcomes the voices of passionate guests who advocate for the transformative power of creativity, confidence, and communication skills that are nurtured through Arts education, particularly for D/deaf, visually impaired, neurodiverse, and disabled children and young people.

Language and disability labels still act as a critical barrier to participation for many young people and the fear of ‘getting it wrong' can prevent organisations from embracing inclusion. In this episode, Lucy and our guests share their personal and raw experiences of language and labels, advocating for a more inclusive approach to communication that places lived experiences at the heart. This podcast contains language some people may find distressing.

In this episode, we explore what it truly means to be inclusive for D/deaf, neurodiverse, and disabled children and young people and highlight the importance of bespoke approaches to inclusion to remove barriers to participation.  Lucy and our podcast guests discuss how organisations can strive towards inclusive practice and find the solutions to ensure inclusion is meaningful, whilst also confronting the discomforting realm of tokenism, challenging where inclusion falls short.

Too many D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse young people face barriers when trying to find a job and too many employers seem unwilling or unable to change this. In this episode, Lucy and our guests as delve into the barriers faced by D/deaf, neurodiverse and disabled young people in securing employment and advocate for the systemic change needed to bridge the employability gap.

In this episode, Lucy and our guests discuss the obstacles faced by families of D/deaf, neurodiverse, and disabled children and young people in accessing the opportunities that so many take for granted. Join us as guests share their valuable lived experience as parents, and the organisations working with them, to address what more can be done to ensure inclusion is meaningful for the whole family unit.