LISBURN girl Rachael Dumigan, a young
activist with the British Youth Council, has met with Parmjit
Dhanda, the Minister for Children, Young People and Families to
secure his support for an ongoing campaign that tackles negative
stereotypes of young people.
21-year-old Rachael, who is a member of the
Respect? Young People's Advisory Group met with the Minister on
Wednesday 18 April to express young peoples' concerns that they
are not being listened to by decision makers.
Respect?, alongside the British Youth Council
(BYC) and online charity YouthNet, aims to change the way young
people feel they are portrayed,.
Launched last year with a study that exposed
the shocking extent to which young people feel they are viewed,
the Respect? Campaign empowers its young supporters to challenge
the degree to which they feel they are misrepresented.
Rachael said: "It was good to be able to air
young people's views to a Minister - the main concerns being
that decision makers don't listen to us and we lose respect for
older people when we get labelled as 'yobs' and 'hoodies'."
Mr Dhanda said: "Young people are all too often targeted
unfairly and linked automatically with anti social behaviour. It
was encouraging to meet a group of young people with such strong
ideas and opinions on how to challenge negative stereotypes in
the media."
