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You can apply by filling out this form by 11pm Monday 6th March 2025

Apply if you are 

• Disabled 
• Aged between 18 and 25 years as of Monday 6th March 2025 
• Live in Victoria 
• Interested in codesigning resources about accessibility and contributing to work focused on consent education and prevention of gendered violence for Disabled young people
• Available for online meetings once a month on the last Monday of each month, 6pm-8pm 

Background
In 2023-2024 we ran a project called Get the Go-Ahead. We worked with a group of Disabled young people to codesign and co-create resources about affirmative consent and sexual and reproductive health. Check them out at gtga.org.au.  

Get the Go Ahead is led by Women’s Health East in partnership with Youth Disability Advocacy Service. Get the Go Ahead is funded by the Victorian Government.

This year we’re expanding Get the Go-Ahead!
Young Disabled people should be able to get support in a range of places – from youth workers to social workers, youth groups to advocacy services. 

We’ve heard from Disabled young people that this isn’t always the case: ableist attitudes and practices create too many barriers. 

Disabled young people deserve accessible support and welcoming community spaces. It’s especially important for young people with questions about consent or sexual health, safety in relationships and families, or concerns about gendered violence.  

We’ll be creating a new set of resources aimed at workers – giving them the tools and knowledge they need to support Disabled young people and make the organisations they’re part of more welcoming and inclusive. 

Some of the Disabled young people from the first two years are staying on as part of the codesign group, but there’s a few spots for new participants. The group will be a total of 10 Disabled young people aged 18 to 25. 

We will be creating resources about access and inclusion aimed at people who work with Disabled young people. 

Codesign and focus groups
The codesign group is a group of Disabled young people who will guide the project and the resources we create. This will be ongoing throughout the project, with monthly meetings. 

We’ll also run focus groups, where Disabled young people can join for a one-off workshop to share their ideas and experiences about accessibility and what good support looks like. 

What it involves 

• You’ll take part in monthly codesign workshops. These will run online over Zoom. 
  • The Zoom workshops will be on the last Monday of each month, 6pm-8pm 
  • There will be a Discord server where you can share your ideas if you miss a meeting
• We’ll decide as a group what kind of resources we want to create and what they should include within the focus of this project. 
• We’ll run focus groups for other Disabled young people to contribute their views. You’ll have the option to co-facilitate these if you’re interested. 

Payment
Each codesign workshop will be two hours, and you will be paid $150 for each workshop you participate in (including prep time). 

Who can apply
This project is open to Disabled young people aged 18 to 25 years who live in Victoria 

We aim to recruit a group of diverse Disabled young people. It’s open to people of all genders and we particularly encourage queer and trans Disabled people, Disabled people of colour, and young people with a diverse range of lived experiences to apply. 

Disabled
This is a broad category, and we know people might use different language to describe themselves. In this project we recognise a broad definition of disability, including physical disability, intellectual disability, neurodivergence, mental illness, chronic illness, cognitive disability, and sensory disability. 

Age
This project is focused on young adults, which are people aged between 18 and 25 years. You can apply for this if you will be between 18 and 25, as of 6th March 2025. 

Accessibility 

• Meetings will be online via Zoom 
• Meetings will have live captions 
• You can contribute through the chat or voice 
• We’ll send out an agenda beforehand 
• We’ll ask about any other access needs

Apply 

 

Codesign 

These are the ideas that will guide how we work on this project. 

Codesign is about sharing decision-making power 

• A codesign group is not an advisory group where suggestions, knowledge, and ideas are shared and then decisions are made elsewhere 
• By definition a codesign group must have decision-making power 
• Major decisions including what topics the resources focus on and what formats they’re in will be made by the codesign group
• The resources will not be published without the approval of 
  • the codesign group
  • Women’s Health East
  • Youth Disability Advocacy Service 
  • DFFH (the project funder) 

Codesign must centre those most impacted 

• Codesign brings together people from the communities that will be impacted by the work being codesigned. 
• We must recognise lived experience as an important form of knowledge and respect those with lived experience as experts. 
• We shouldn’t assume that someone who connects with a project on the basis of their lived experience can only share their personal story. Disabled young people have expertise as Disabled young people, and equally can have knowledge from their academic, community, or professional backgrounds.
• Centring those who are most impacted means including a broad range of people, particularly those that are often left out of these processes. It means thinking about how intersecting forms of oppression create unique experiences, and seeing how we can include those perspectives.

Codesign must be paid 

Contributing to a codesign process is work, and should always be fairly compensated. 

Codesign must be accessible 

• Options to contribute in different formats, e.g., audio, text
• Flexibility and understanding that people’s capacity may vary throughout the year 
• Actively asking about access needs and providing enough information about the process to make it easier to identify potential access needs upfront 
• Checking in regularly about how codesign is going 

Codesign must be transparent

• We will be clear and honest about the limits around what we can do 
• We will share frequent updates with the codesign group about what we’ve done, how we’re following their decisions, and any ways we aren’t 
• If anything changes in the project we will tell you promptly
  

If you have any questions you can email Kochava Lilit, klilit@whe.org.au, or apply now