From the earliest days of
The Futuristex Project, we have looked to uphold the projects and dreams of the young learners in our Professional Learning Network ('PLN') - the term that describes the community of people that an educator connects with on Twitter. Many of these students
go to superb lengths to see their dreams grow, inspite of the financial challenges that their aspirations and situations face.
Adam Bojelian
I came to know young Yorkshire-based student, Adam Bojelian @Adsthepoet when he became part of our PLN in early 2013. Very quickly I realised that Adam and I had something obvious in common, we both love writing poetry! As time past it also
became obvious that, like so many others in our PLN, Adam shares a love of sport, particularly Rugby Union and Football.
One of the things that makes Adam so remarkable is that he writes his poetry through blinking; indeed all of what Adam communicates is achieved through blinking. He was born with cerebral palsy and lost all movement at ten months. He has spent much of his
life in Hospital. Most recently Leed's Children's Hospital, a place that Adam is very passionate about; a place from where he writes much of his poetry from where he connects with so many people around the world. He speaks so highly of the care he receives
there, yet is hoping to find a way to raise more funds for all the children of Leed's Children's Hospital. He is hopeful that the children with disabilities at Leed's Children's Hospital, especially the ones in isolation, will have access to a range of fun
activities in the long term. Here is a poem that Adam wrote in May 2010 after he went to an event about disabled children's rights. Lots of people were talking about disabled children being in a ghetto and it got him thinking about it. He then wrote a poem
about it:
Coming Out Of The Ghetto
We are coming out of the ghetto,
We are shouting loud and clear,
About the rights that we have,
This is going to be our year.
We are coming out of ghetto,
We are going to join you all,
Full participation,
Is our clarion call.
Don't dare to underestimate
All that we can do,
We have our thoughts and with help
We are able too.
We may be small, may not walk,
May talk in different ways,
But with our determination
We'll set the world ablaze.
Give us disabled children
The voice we should have,
Stop deciding what is best for us,
We've really had enough.
We know our minds, if you just ask,
We'll tell you what we need,
Don't think you always know what's best,
Let us take the lead.
We are coming out of the ghetto,
We are shouting loud and clear,
About the rights that we have,
This is going to be our year.
We are coming out of the ghetto,
We are going to join you all,
Full participation,
Is our clarion call.
(c) Adam Bojelian, May 2010
All Rights Reserved
Support Leeds Children's Hospital
The power of Adam's message and his talent as a writer speaks for itself. Nevertheless Adam needs our support in order to help make the lives of the disabled children at Leeds Children's Hospital as fruitful as they can be. The Futuristex Project wants to
do everything in its power to uphold Adam's dreams.
My name is Andrew Woodman. As Principal Curator of The Futuristex Project, I've committed to running the this year's
Sydney 14km 'City 2 Surf' in order to help raise funds for the items Adam feels Leeds Children's Hospital is most in need of. So these are the items we are aiming for:
*** Visiting Live Musicians
*** Board Games
*** Electronic Games
*** Portable Sensory Lights Kits
For more information:
