Photo of Jessi a 21-year-old person (she) with dark brown short hair with amber highlights. Jessi is smiling looking at her brown and white cocker spaniel. She is wearing blue rimmed glasses, a navy short sleeved dress with white roses on it and a collection of coloured bracelets. Jessi is pictured sitting on a chair in the garden with green and pink plants in the background.

About

Name
Jessi
Age
21
Studies
Health Sciences
Location
Glen Eira
Pronouns
She/Her
People with disability want to stay social, and we want to be involved in groups, join trivia nights, just be interactive within our community.

In the 2 years since Jessi started using a wheelchair, she has experienced the barriers people with disabilities face, but also the warm bonds to be made online.

While it can be difficult to find others with similar experiences, Jessi's involvement in multiple online groups offers great support and meaningful connections.

People with disability want to stay social, and we want to be involved in groups, join trivia nights, just be interactive within our community.

In an online art class, Jessi has been able to meet  “people who are also young like me and we get to spend time together, play games, draw, listen to music.

"We really get to interact with other young people and that's really important to me."

Given young people make up such a large part of the population, Jessi wants more to have their voices heard: "Whether its about health or anything else, we need to be able to make our voices heard ... we have a right to say what we need."

“We need to encourage young people to have a voice, to be able to show that we can say things and that we can influence change in the community.”