ELYSIA SYRIAC
Giving Voice
A Transformative Mentorship Experience for Teens with Disabilities
Exposure
The teens were exposed to graphic design careers as potential future path
Empathy
Designers practiced empathy and understanding to voice the teen's perspective
Pride
Seeing their ideas come to life was an outstanding source of pride for teens
Celebration
The gallery show gave families a place to see the collaboration and honor the work
CHALLENGE
Create a way to for teens with disablities to learn about career opportunities
RESULTS
A mentorship program between Access Gallery's summer students and AIGA Colorado, the professional assocaiation for design. This program, Giving Voice, is designed to empower teens living with disabilities to give voice to a social cause that’s important to them and gain exposure to the career path of graphic design. The teens pair up with a professional graphic designer and they collaborate on a poster project. The teen art directs and selects the poster topic. The topic should express something that is significant to the teen that they would like to express about their life experiences.
I founded the program and developed the process to recruit volunteers and facilitate the interactions for the mentorship relationship. After three sessions of collaboration, the program culminated with a gallery show displaying the posters the pairs created. It was a celebration where the students shared their work with their families, take pride in their work, and introduce their design partner to their peers.
The best outcome of the event was the lasting friendships that developed and the opportunities that have arisen from the designers. Of the 20 pairings in the first year, 11 are still in contact after 12 months and 5 have made contact or gotten together at least once per month. Three students were placed in formal internships as well.