Youth Advisory Committee
Committee Role
The Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) is comprised of post secondary students from all 5 Canadian regions. They are between the ages of 18 and 30 years old and represent a variety of disabilities. The purpose of the YAC is to serve as an advisor and focus group for the Youth Initiative Project Team. Each month the YAC is presented with key project topics and are asked to provide constructive feedback. This ensures the voice of the youth is present in key project areas of the Liberated Learning Youth Initiative. YAC members also have the opportunity to contribute to the project in a number of other ways: engagement and network building; technical design or testing; disseminating project information and research/evaluation.
| Committee Members | |
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Leah Simeone, Committee Principal Leah is currently entering her third year of law school at the Common Law program at the University of Ottawa. A staunch advocate for disability rights, Leah works pro bono with Reach Canada, serves on the board of directors for the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association National Capital Region branch, and hopes to continue advocating as a lawyer in her future career. Leah has had bilateral hearing loss with low speech discrimination since birth, and has never let it hold her back! She loves traveling, painting, fire-dancing and reading science fiction novels. |
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Denise Goegan Denise is currently in her final year of an undergraduate honours psychology degree program at the University of Calgary. She was diagnosed with a learning disability in grade four. In grade seven she was the recipient of the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada ‘Beat the Odds’ Youth Award. More recently, she has been a session speaker at the 2007 Alberta Provincial LD Conference and at the 2009 National LD Conference in Whitehorse where along with her mother they discuss their family’s journey with learning disabilities and the successes and obstacles they have encountered. |
Calgary, AB |
Daniel MacDonald Born: September 6 1990 |
White Horse, Yukon |
Marc Ross Born in Vienna, Austria, March 7, 1981, Marc William Ross was raised in Calgary, Alberta and graduated from high school in 1999. Shortly after his seventeenth birthday, while on an exchange program in France, he broke his neck diving off rocks with friends. After months of rehabilitation and therapy, Marcus decided to get back to school. He graduated with his class and went on to earn both his BA and MSc in Psychology at the U of C. He is now working on his Ph.D. in Educational Contexts. |
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| Evelyn Smith | Alberta |
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As the project proceeds, we will be seeking additional volunteers to join our YAC. If you are interested in this opportunity or any aspect of the project, please contact us
