An inspirational young sixth former from West Coventry Academy organised a fantastic workshop for visually impaired young people, driven by her own experiences.
Sixteen-year-old Milly Judge-Porter invited visually impaired students from West Coventry and several other schools to attend her one-of-a-kind event.
She was inspired to put on the friendly seminar by her own experience of starting sixth form and looking at the job market as a person with a vision impairment.
She said: “When I moved from Year 11 to Year 12, I started wondering what barriers there are for visually impaired people accessing work. For example, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, but with my impairment I can’t.
“So, I wanted to put on an event to get young people with visual impairments thinking about the support they might need, and the opportunities out there for them in the world of work.”
Milly’s workshop featured speakers from the Job Shop and EKFB Civil Engineering, who told the children about different ways they can be supported in a work environment.
Milly said: “Our speakers told us how we can bring our visual impairment into interviews without it being a big deal – and even how we can make it a positive thing.”
Putting a positive spin on visual impairment was important to Milly, who had experienced a change in perspective on her own impairment which changed her outlook on life.
She explained: I used to view my vision impairment as something I didn’t want to talk about – I just pushed it to the side.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to embrace it, and since the students who attended the workshop are quite a bit younger than me, I thought this would be the perfect time to help change their perspective too.
“It doesn’t have to be a negative thing – you can make it a positive by making it work for you.”
Staff at West Coventry Academy worked hard alongside Milly to make her idea for the workshop become reality.
Milly said: “It’s been a lot trying to organise consent forms and arrange everything myself, but the staff have been really supportive. This project is really close to my heart and they know that, and they’ve done everything they can to help.
“I’m so proud of what we’ve managed to put together, and it’s so special getting to help other young people with vision impairments feel more confident about themselves and their futures.”
West Coventry Academy Headteacher Ana Neofitou said: “We are so proud of Milly for her efforts to organise this event, which attracted a lot of interest and support – she really is inspirational!”