A Discussion on “isolation”
A big issue before I decided to leave the YA community (and part of the reason why I left) has reared it’s head again of late, the idea that several YAs have begun to feel isolated from the other members in the YA community or from RO itself. Now, before I go any further, I’m going to through in a definition, because the idea of “isolation” has seen me recieve negative responses in the past.
Dictionary defines isolation as “noun the state of being isolated”, and of course, isolated as “separated from other persons or things; alone; solitary.”
Regardless of whether you take the stance that isolation is merely about geographic location, or you are taking a less narrow minded approach and looking at the bigger picture, isolation within the YA community is becoming more prevelant, and seems to be driving YAs away from the organisation.
First up, I want to point out that geographically speaking, yes, I was lucky in being a Sydney based YA not having the trouble of traveling distances to go to workshops etc, and having access to celebrations such as the Inspire Xmas Party and post-AI Summit celebration. But the isolation I felt was not about not being able to attend meetings/celebrations (although I rarely did, as a result of the difficulty in getting there) it’s about out of contact with many YAs in the area for long periods of time and not being able to complete activities that have a seemingly higher value than others (presentations rather than vandalism stickering everything).
Really, I’m not standing out and saying that people who are geographically isolated have it easier nor am I saying they have it harder. To me, both situations present a valuable set of opportunities.
Isolated YA
- The ability to operate control over your activities
- Ability to undertake more activies rather than “sharing” amongst others
- Controling how RO is promoted. You decide whether it’s vandalism stickering you want to do or organising speechs at schools etc
Non-Isolated YA
- Access to more activities
- Access to a wide range of marketing opportunities
- More people in the area to work with
It seems people on both sides miss the negatives though. Whilst an isolated YA has more power over what they do, big movements require more than one person, and Sydney/Melbourne YAs who have access to more speeches/presentations/etc have more competition, meaning that people frequently miss out.
Under the new youth participation system, the current issues can swing two ways. It is either going to be solved, with more people from “isolated areas” becoming participants, meaning that people near eachother can band together to work as a team and create events (kind of like what the WAYAs group is doing) or it could see more issues occuring, more distain and less interest in participating in the program.
I’m sure there is more to be added to this, so when I think about the stuff, I’ll either edit the post or throw it in the comments section, but I’m desperate to hear from others (and alledgely so are staff, and this is an informal means of venting frustrations) about their experience, their views or potential solutions. So just comment away. As usual, if you haven’t commented before, I have to validate, so don’t stress if your post doesn’t appear straight away. The next (in theory) post will be about trying to address issues and trying to help find ways to get over the ‘isolated’ feel that people are reporting.
