Youth Voice Journal – Special Issue (2010) Empowerment

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From the Youth Voice Journal archives comes the first-ever issue of the Youth Voice Journal. This youth-led qualitative research project explores young people’s (aged 16-25) views regarding the exclusion of under 18s from legal protection under the Single Equality Bill. The project found that young people feel they are on the receiving end of what they consider to be harmful age discrimination. As such young people expressed a need and desire for under 18s to be included in the protection of the Single Equality Bill. The current exclusion of children from the bill has resulted in these young people feeling less valued by decision-makers. In addition, these young people were unaware of how to go about getting their voices heard through the consultation process. Furthermore, factors such as negative media representation of young people were found to affect the way young people felt about themselves and their attitude to engaging in decision making processes.