Advocacy Activities

2023

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: Talk 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 TV Malta News about my new role as co-presenter with Brandon Terribile of the show Action! on Maltese TV, 4 days a week (October 2022). Apparently, I am the first presenter with Down Syndrome to do so in Malta. You can watch the interview on Facebook, https://fb.watch/gaOI1qbSIN/ The interview had lots of publicity on other Maltese news sites: OhMyMalta, LovinMalta, 89.7Bay, Skoperta.net, Gwida.mt, as well as on the Commonwealth Union news website.

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.

TV Malta’s Avaru show first season finished. You can see on Facebook a snippet of the interview I did , as part of the cast. Avaru is an inclusive sensory TV show for audiences with disabilities. I started off presenting some of the sensory boxes for the show, but was then invited to be a guest actor on 4 episodes! Looking forward to Season 2!

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

Took part in the mixed-ability show Is-Sigra tat-Tin (“The Fig Tree”) with Opening Doors, June 2022. TVM News, ‘Is-Siġra tat-Tin’ production – dreams and obstacles faced by persons with disability I was also on a panel that followed the first performance. This show was a re-run, the original show in autumn 2021 was Malta’s first mixed-ability show, featuring performers with and without disabilities.

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….”

Publicity for Dance with Me:

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

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.

I present some of the weekly sensory boxes for Avaru, the TV Malta inclusive sensory TV show for audiences with disabilities

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.

Played a lead role in Malta’s first mixed ability theatre show Is-Sigra tat-Tin (“The Fig Tree”) in 2021 with Opening Doors. You can see a review here.

Was part of Malta’s 2nd inclusive show called Automaniacs in 2021 with Opening Doors, a mixed-ability dance performance for ZiguZajg Festival, an International Arts Festival for children & young people.

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), which has had over 3K views. 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 1 (12 October 2020): No Assumption, Please!

Post 2 (09 November 2020): Thank you, my friends

Post 3 (15 December 2020): Let kids learn that we are not so different after all

Post 4 (12 January 2021): Anyone can be a disability advocate so let us all hold hands

Post 5 (17 February 2021): The End of a Journey

Post 6 (15 March 2021): WEAR YOUR CROWN FOR WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY 21.03.21

Post 7 (23 April): Let’s make inclusion happen!

Post 8 (19 May 2021): Leave no one behind in education

Post 9 (23 June 2021) Back home!

Post 10 (20 July 2021) Inclusivity in Dance

Post 11 (10 September 2021) Inclusive acting work-camp in Vienna