Advocacy Activities
See also In the News
2025
January 2025: Presentation titled “From Dependency to Autonomy” to medical students and speech therapy students, staff and parents at the Ayati – National Centre for Children with Disabilities, Ragama, Sri Lanka. I also presented my dissertation research to them.
2024
December 2024: Presentation to Chiswick House School primary section, for celebration of Inclusion Week.
December 2024: Article in the Malta Down Syndrome Association magazine, News & Views, Issue 51. “Angela Bettoni – A success Story”, pp. 16-17.
November 2024: Presentation on “Self Advocacy” to MCAST students doing the course “Award in Vocational and Employability Skills”. Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology. Paola campus.
October 2024: Speaker, State of the Arts Symposium Malta, organized by Arts Council Malta. I presented my BA dissertation findings on “Representation for people with learning disabilities in the performing arts in Malta” during the Thematic Forum: Representation, Leadership and Dis/ability in the performing arts in Malta. The session was shared with my dissertation supervisor Dr Tyrone Grima, and with Prof. Jo Butterworth and Ilona Baldacchino from the Opening Doors Association.
September 2024: Advocacy talk at the Venere in Teatro Dance Festival, Venezia Mestre, Italy.
May 2024: Presentation on “My experiences in inclusive performing arts in Malta and abroad” to University of Malta students doing the Masters in Disability Studies.
April 2024: Presentation on “Navigating life and the stage with Down Syndrome” and live performance of my advocacy piece “Labels”, to about 85 guests at the XUNICEF event held in Malta. “XUNICEF is a world-wide association of retired UNICEF staff members who continue to be interested and active in the field of women and children’s rights. Every year, the XUNICEF committee selects a country in a different continent to host their annual reunion with the purpose of meeting and strengthening their ongoing interest in the rights of the child, while renewing ties with former colleagues and their families.”
April 2024: Presentation on “My journey with Opening Doors”, to students at the University of Malta Edward Debono Institute for Creative Thinking and Innovation.
March 2024: Presentation to students of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta, together with Opening Doors Association Artistic Director.
February 2024: Presentation on “My experiences in Inclusive Performing Arts”. University of Malta. Inclusive Education.
January 2024: Led an inclusive movement workshop with my friend Anagi Gunasekere, for children and young people who visit the Ayati – National Centre for Children with Disabilities, Ragama, Sri Lanka.
2023
December 2023: Presentation on “Abilities Unite” to MCAST Learning Pathways students for World Disability Day 2023.
September 2023: Presentation on “My journey as a young disability rights advocate with Down Syndrome” and leading an activity on Inclusion for “Summer on Campus: Envision 2023” programme by Equal Partners.
August 2023: Presentation on “My journey: navigating life and the stage with Down Syndrome”. Mihilaka Medura, BMICH, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
August 2023: Presentation on “My journey with Down Syndrome: empowerment through inclusion” to occupational and speech therapy students, staff and parents at the Ayati – National Centre for Children with Disabilities, Ragama, Sri Lanka.
May 2023: I was on the JD Dragon Disability Rights podcast. The series is presented by Josh Downey, an amazing young advocate with cerebral palsy.
April 2023: read about my internship experience with Stopgap Dance Company in Surrey, UK. It was towards the BA in Creative Arts I am currently doing at MCAST, Malta. “My placement with Stopgap: Angela’s reflections“.
For World Down Syndrome Day (21 March) I shared the short documentary video that Times of Malta did of me, called “A day in the life of Angela“. This year’s slogan and message is ‘With us not for us’, which means we should have the same opportunities as everyone else.
May 2023: Talk to Year 9 students at St Augustine school, Malta about my writing and advocacy.
March 2023: Talk at St Martin’s College to the whole upper school for World Down Syndrome Day 2023.
March 2023: Presentation “Empowerment through Inclusion” at St Benild, Sliema (Stella Maris College) Malta for World Down Syndrome Day 2023, to 6-7 year-old students.
March 2023: Talk at Rotary Club La Valette, Malta on “Empowerment through inclusion“.
February 2023: Launch of the JCI International audio-visual documentary “Shattering Stereotypes: Young, Active, and Disabled“. I am one of the 4 young disabled leaders featured in this documentary. It was also reported on the Malta Independent, “Shattering Stereotypes: JCI Malta’s new inclusivity documentary“.
February 2023: Times of Malta article by Sarah Carabott, “Watch: ‘I’m not an angel’ – how a woman is debunking myths about Down Syndrome“ and documentary video.
February 2023: Presentation for delegation from Azerbaijan on “Empowerment through inclusion”, organized by the University of Malta Department of Disability Studies, together with the Opening Doors Artistic Director.
January 2023: Talk at St Martin’s College Malta to Form 1 students during their “Inclusion Week” – two presentations on “Empowerment through the Arts”, followed by a Q&A
January 2023: Talk to whole student body (over 1500 students ages 8-18 years!) at my mother’s old school, Ladies’ College Colombo, Sri Lanka on “Empowerment through inclusion“. The previous day, I spoke to all the staff.
2022
December 2022 at MCAST Paola Pathway to Independent Living Programme: presentation
“Empowerment through the Arts” and co-leading a movement workshop with the Opening Doors
Artistic Director.
JCI Malta (Junior Chamber International) Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) Award in
December 2022 – Contribution to World Peace and/or Human Rights for my advocacy work on
inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.
Host/presenter for “Music Speaks” concert by Alessia Bonici, a young Maltese pianist on the autism
spectrum. 08 October 2022, Palazzo De La Salle, Malta Society of Arts, Valletta.
Interview with “Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo“, Sri Lanka, August 2022 (I come in at the 8:00 minute mark). I visited my Sri Lankan grandparents after nearly three years, and was very happy to be invited to be part of this programme! The written version of the interview (with the transcript, to which I added more details) was published on The Morning newspaper, “A warrior for inclusion“.
Interview with OhMyMalta Have a Chat (available on Facebook) May 2022, or Youtube.
Co-moderator for the Girls2Leaders webinar on “Inclusion“, July 2022. The Girls2Leaders Campaign is a collaboration between Business and Professional Women (Valletta) Malta and the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society using as a roadmap BPW’s Charter of the Girls’ Rights. The campaign is being produced by members of the Children & Young Persons’ Council within the MFWS and the Young BPW Europe.
Malta Independent opinion piece, ‘I was lucky enough to see true inclusion happening…’ July 2022
For World Down Syndrome Day, 21 March, 2022, I did an advocacy video Dance with Me, a collaborative piece with Banjo Rancho and Julienne Schembri. The video shows me dancing to a monologue I wrote, accompanied by Banjo Rancho on a hand drum, with movement direction by Julienne Schembri. The message of the video is that disabilities do not limit who we are as people. We are born to stand out, and all we need is for people to see us for who we truly are. “When I see the words ‘Down’s Syndrome’ I see a label. Yes, I was born with it but it’s not my weakness, it’s my strength. It’s what makes me unique….All I really want is for you to take my hand and see the person who I am, to see my heart. To see the person who can smile, laugh, and love….”
Live TV interview on TVAM for World Down Syndrome Day, together with the Malta Down Syndrome Association Press Officer
Featured on MaltArti TVM programme on World Down Syndrome Day
Times of Malta, March 2022: I’m not my disability, so no assumptions please: performer with Down Syndrome
OhMyMalta, March 2022: 20-year-old Angela Bettoni launches the ‘Dance with Me’ Project
NewsBook Malta, March 2022: Watch: 20-year old Angela dances with friends to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day
LovinMalta, March 2022: Watch: Performer With Down Syndrome Uses Poetry And Dance To Spread Message Of Inclusion In Malta
Gozo News, March 2022: Dance with me – Celebrate with Angela on World Down Syndrome Day
2021
Arts Council Malta ACMHangouts Disability and the Arts, December 2021. hear me speak from 31:19 – 32:12.
Featured on MaltArti TVM programme for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 03 Dec 2021
One of 4 recipients of the Artivisti Award for activism through the arts from Arts Council Malta and Aġenzija Żgħażagħ (Malta’s National Youth Agency). I received a mentorship from Maltese Children’s Author Clare Aazzopardi, and a €4000 grant towards my project called “Changing Perceptions”. My Artivisti vision: “To break down society’s assumptions about what we think is normal and what we think is different.” My project involved working on my Young Adult novel called “Inner Demons”, which is an “own voices” novel, with a protagonist with Down Syndrome.
Selected to be on the Executive Committee of the “Commonwealth Children and Youth Disability Network (CCYDN)” 2021-2022, and looking forward to working with the CCYDN.
Invited by Malta’s Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) to be one of 10 members on the newly launched Young People’s Disability Rights Forum (2021-2022)
Panel member on an event on 03 December 2021 for World Disability Day which focused on Inclusion and Diversity in the Performing Arts in Malta.
Selected for the World Literacy Foundation Ambassador Program for 2021. From May 2021 – November 2021 I received online training on leadership and advocacy skills. See the crowd funding I did for the WLF and for a charity in Sierra Leone at: Every child deserves to read and write! | Charity & Nonprofit Crowdfunding with GoGetFunding
Appeared in the advocacy video “Girls with disabilities have an equal right to education | UNGEI“. In this video, girls and young women with disabilities, and inclusion advocates from around the world share their recommendations to world leaders. The video was produced by the UN Girls’ Education Initiative, Leonard Cheshire, the Commonwealth Children and Youth Disability Network and others. The video accompanies an advocacy brief, Leave No Girls With Disabilities Behind, which also contains some of my contributions.
For World Down Syndrome Day 2021, I did an advocacy video “6 Teens, 3 Extra Chromosomes, 1 Message“. I wanted to do something different, as most advocacy videos are done by parents or DS organizations and they only show those who have Down’s Syndrome. I used the song “Wear your crown” from the Promo movie to do a YouTube cover, having a mix of friends with and without Down’s Syndrome. I particularly liked the line “Your DNA is perfectly made” in the song – World Down Syndrome Day falls on 21 March because of the 3 copies of chromosome 21 in Down’s Syndrome.
For the World Down Syndrome Congress held in Dubai, I made a presentation (virtually) called “Achievements and Challenges of a young writer with Down’s Syndrome”. I have now shared it on my Youtube site.
2020
For Down’s Syndrome Awareness Month, 2020: Interview webcast on FaceBook by the National Youth Agency of Malta (Agenzija Zghazagh). Now available also on my YouTube channel.
For 2020 World Disability Day: As part of the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, Children and Young Persons’ Council, I volunteered with two others to record a video message on our abilities.
For 2020 World Disability Day: Panellist for an event organised by Malta’s Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), University of Malta and Opening Doors Association on “The Friendships of Young People with Disabilities”
2019
For 2019 World Disability Day: I was part of a panel on inclusion in the performing arts, and with a theatre group for adults with disabilities that I am part of with the Opening Doors Association, Malta. We also did a school outreach on the rights of people with disabilities to work. You can see me here.
My “No Assumptions, Please” Blog on Opening Doors Association’s website:
Post 21 (05 December 2024) An experience of true inclusion in the performing arts
Post 20 (21 August 2023) My Erasmus experience in Hydra, Greece
Post 19 (07 February 2023) School outreaches to spread inclusion
Post 18 (14 November 2022) Being part of a mixed-ability dance performance for the ŻiguŻajg Festival
Post 17 (22 October 2022) My inclusive summer in Performing Arts!
Post 16 (07 July 2022) More mixed-ability performances in Malta, please!
Post 15 (05 May 2022) Mixed ability on stage and on screen in Malta
Post 14 (15 March 2022) Introducing ‘Dance with me’
Post 13 (30 November 2021) Mixed-ability Automaniacs dance show
Post 12 (11 October 2021) Our performance Is-Siġra tat-Tin
Post 11 (10 September 2021) Inclusive acting work-camp in Vienna
Post 10 (20 July 2021) Inclusivity in Dance
Post 9 (23 June 2021) Back home!
Post 8 (19 May 2021): Leave no one behind in education
Post 7 (23 April): Let’s make inclusion happen!
Post 6 (15 March 2021): WEAR YOUR CROWN FOR WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY 21.03.21
Post 5 (17 February 2021): The End of a Journey
Post 4 (12 January 2021): Anyone can be a disability advocate so let us all hold hands
Post 3 (15 December 2020): Let kids learn that we are not so different after all
Post 2 (09 November 2020): Thank you, my friends
Post 1 (12 October 2020): No Assumption, Please!
