Make Plays Change Lives
Annual Report 19/20
Generation Girls What? Generation Girls is a targeted, drama-based empowerment programme for Autistic girls and girls who have learning disabilities, aged 11- 19 years. It is designed to increase these young women’s confidence talking about themselves, their bodies and their relationships and to ultimately reduce their risk of sexual exploitation. The programme offers sessions on a range of topics relevant to the target group and this includes body image and eating disorders, healthy relationships and consent and all aspects of mental health including anxiety and low mood. This year the Generation Girls programme delivered in 3 SEN schools and 34 girls took part. Sadly 2 schools’ projects were cut short as they were interrupted by the Covid-19 restrictions and we were unable to deliver further planned projects. However, the team also created a new online resource GG – Online with a dedicated website, Instagram account and 8 ‘smartscripts’ which used innovative prospero software to create interactive video sessions that girls can access remotely at home.
How? Specially trained young female creative practitioners, supported by trained peer educators, deliver sessions with girls in their schools with the support of female teachers and teaching assistants. The sessions are designed to be fun and engaging but to also tackle those topics which are most important for these vulnerable girls.
12
During this year we ran the project in 3 SEN schools in Surrey and developed new online resources which girls can access from home. Translating the learning from Generation Girls into an accessible, inclusive, safe and creative resource was an exciting challenge. To do this we: • Developed a new partnership with digital applied theatre specialists C&T upskilling our staff team to use Prospero software to create interactive smartscripts which could be access from home. • Commissioned freelance, feminist illustrator and chronic illness activist Ananya Rao-Middleton to create a new visual identity for the Generation Girls including three diverse characters; Katy, C.J and Simran. • Commissioned sensory theatre maker Natalya Martin to create and film some sensory sessions designed to support girls’ mental health and wellbeing especially during the challenging lockdown period. • Worked with a range of actors and voice over artists including autistic performer Talia Grant and actor Kathleen Humberstone who has Downs Syndrome to voice the characters and express some of the worries or concerns girls might have when accessing the smartscripts. • Worked with our freelance facilitator team to film and edit a range of accessible content. • Built a new dedicated accessible web space and Instagram account.
Why? There are multiple factors which make this group vulnerable to sexual exploitation and domestic abuse:
Feedback and engagement From Philip Southcote School where the full project was delivered before lockdown.
• As women they are more likely to experience sexual exploitation and domestic abuse than their male peers (with women aged 16-24 years most at risk). • Many attend schools where, because Autism and other learning disabilities are more highly diagnosed in males, they are in the minority and can lack a strong female network of friends. • Many attend schools further away from home than their mainstream counterparts so may lack a local supportive network. • MLD (moderate learning difficulties) schools are usually small and rarely offer sixth form provision. This means that these young women often attend larger mainstream sixth form colleges and are often ill equipped to cope in this new environment. • Young people with disabilities are often infantilised and desexualised and this means that some adults feel uncomfortable talking to
them about sex and relationships, meaning they are often more naive than their non disabled counterparts, and less likely to receive education about being LGBTQ. • In the schools in which we currently work up to 20% of the girls come from the traveller community where young women are often culturally discouraged from talking about sex. • The behavioural strategies used for well-meant reasons, with children with additional needs can inadvertently reinforce the importance of ‘good’ behaviour which means compliant behaviour. Girls are often unable to protect themselves from abuse as they have been conditioned to do as they are told. One young woman told us, ‘I would not shout out as shouting is against the rules. These challenges were exacerbated during the pandemic. "Our new findings show that nine out of ten autistic people have worried about their mental health during lockdown. Compared to the general public,
autistic people were seven times more likely to be chronically lonely during June and July and six times more likely to have low life satisfaction." (National Autistic Society). "In general, marginalised populations are likely to be more heavily impacted by Covid-19, which will in turn affect their participation in education, including sexuality education. It may take time for young people to return to full school attendance, and their family or living situations may have changed dramatically in the meantime. Potentially vulnerable young people are the most in need of sexuality education, which, when taught effectively, can have a positive impact on attitudes and behaviours, including those related to genderbased violence (Haberland, 2015). In the aftermath of Covid-19 it will, therefore, be more important than ever during for schools to recognise the role of sexuality education in meeting their responsibilities in safeguarding all children and young people."1
• I feel confident talking in front of new people - Session 1 (22%), Session 10 (66%) • I feel confident leading a group Session 1 (22%), Session 10 (56%) • I’m happy to ask for help Session 1 (44%), Session 10 (100%) • I like talking about my feelings Session 1 (11%), Session 10 (56%) • I feel confident to say “No” to things I don’t want to do - Session 1 (44%), Session 10 (100%) • I know what consent means Session 1 (33%), Session 10 (100%) • I know what a healthy relationship looks like - Session 1 (44%), Session 10 (100%) The group also chose to write a poem about their Generation Girls experience (see image above).
https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/identifying-the-potential-impacts-of-
1
covid-19-on-school-based-sexuality-education
13
