Fabricio is a 23-year-old from La Plata, Buenos Aires. Fabricio is studying speech therapy at the UNLP. He has been involved with Special Olympics since 2016, when he began participating in Unified Sports through another organization. Fabricio believes that spreading the message of inclusion will destigmatize people with disabilities. He is a proud member of the Unified Generation and wants all people with and without ID to be able to coexist with one another.
Fabricio and his mentor, Rodrigo, noticed a lack of awareness surrounding topics of disability and well-being within his community. They want to educate members of their community on both physical and mental health and well-being, all while spreading the message of inclusion.
Fabrico, with the help of his mentor, Rodrigo will work within the Framework of the Unified Leadership approach, to train Youth Leaders as Health and Wellness Messengers. These messengers will receive training that will allow them to act as agents of change and give them the tools and knowledge to train others. This training will involve a Unified Pair from each program in Argentina and will be run with the Families Program, to further emphasize collaborative work. Each leader that is trained will be responsible for educating others. Fabrico also plans to utilize social media to spread his message. Each trained member will be tasked with using TIK TOK to share health and well-being advice, while also spreading the Special Olympics message.
The Impact of the Lead to Transform was greater than Fabrico initially anticipated! Not only was Fabrico able to equip new Youth Leaders with knowledge about personal well-being and inclusion to spread across Argentina, Fabrico was also able to make this project sustainable by creating activities that include Youth Leaders with and without Intellectual Disabilities that are easily implemented in the community. Fabrico thought of each participant as inspiration! He was encouraged by the willingness and commitment made by everyone to get involved. Fabrico describes the event as “profound change,” a group of Young Leader uniting to make the idea of a more inclusive society a reality! He would like to highlight the great work of Special Olympic Argentina in Tucuman and the leadership of Ana Aloe, who brings out the best in everyone!
Fabrico, through this project, was able to develop and polish several skills include listening, public speaking, adaptability, patience, and problem solving. Some of the biggest Challenges Fabrico experienced were the large amount of logistics required to organize a national meeting and the number of participants that were involved. These challenges were overcome with prioritizations of decisions and the team's overall commitment to the cause. Fabrico is most proud of the turnout and establishing the brand of inclusion in so many new people and communities. Post implementation, Fabrico hopes that his post-project infinitives that he created will help continue to keep participants connected and continue to spread the message of inclusion in the future.