East Mids Disabled Sports Personality of the Year opens opportunities fair for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities
Sarah Dunster, the East Midlands Disabled Sports Personality of the Year opened the What Next For Me? Opportunities Fair at Mansfield Civic Hall on Wednesday 27th September.
The record breaking 27 year-old cerebral palsy athlete (pictured with Gary Longden), who has recently retired after dominating the 100m, 200m and 400m events is an example of the success that can be achieved through hard work and determination. Sarah offered words of encouragement and advice to the young people saying: “Just take advantage of all that is offered to you. Believe in yourself and just go for it.”
Sarah currently works as an athletics coach in Mansfield.
This is the first county-wide opportunities fair (of this size) specifically organised for young people with disabilities. And after Sarah kicked off proceedings, FE Colleges, training providers, specialist organisations and some of the county’s employers raised awareness of the opportunities available to young people with learning difficulties and disabilities in Nottinghamshire.
The fair, which was organised by Connexions Nottinghamshire and supported by Nottinghamshire LSC, the Parent Partnership Service and Wilkinsons ran from 10am until 4pm.
The event was specifically aimed at raising the aspirations of young people in Nottinghamshire. All special schools in Nottinghamshire were invited to attend the event, with parents also dropping in to check out the options available.
In addition to the stalls in the market place, young people also had the opportunity to take part in workshops which included the Cragrats theatre production – a fun performance illustrating the different learning options – which went down a storm!
Gary Longden, Assistant Chief Executive at Connexions Nottinghamshire said: “We think this is the first time that a county-wide careers and opportunities fair has been organised specifically for students with learning difficulties and disabilities. It’s vitally important that these young people are aware of the diversity of the opportunities available to them and have the chance to talk to people from industry and at learning institutions about the possibilities open to them.
"It’s great that there are so many young people here today from all over Nottinghamshire. Everyone is having fun and learning about options and choices along the way!”
