A 16-year-old wants to show that there are no limits to what neurodiverse people can achieve after being selected as a UK Youth Ambassador for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE).

Erin Rhodes, from Redditch, joins a cohort of just 35 DofE Award holders aged 16-24 from all over the UK, who will advocate for young people by sharing their expertise on key issues impacting them. Together, they will make young people’s voices heard by speaking at events, meeting key decision-makers in Parliament and beyond, and feeding into decisions to shape the direction of the DofE charity’s work.

Erin, a Silver DofE Award holder, was unsure that she would be able to achieve her Award due to her neurodiversity.

However, she soon realised her personal experience helped better connect her to the young people she was supporting. For her Volunteering section, she helped out at her local Rainbows and Brownies groups – her anxiety made this hard at first, but the regular structure helped her settle in quickly. She soon found that her anxiety helped her support the children who were also struggling, as she could relate to them.

Erin said: “My anxiety in daily life can be quite debilitating, even just going to school is really hard, but my DofE has shown me that I’m a lot stronger than I thought I was, and it has given me so much confidence. In the future, I’d like to work in childcare – something I might not have thought about without doing my DofE Volunteering.”

Having never been particularly outdoorsy, Erin was nervous about doing her DofE Expedition. Her dad had done it in his school days, so encouraged her to give it a go. 

Erin added: “I really struggled with my Silver Expedition – the practice was one of the most mentally and physically challenging things I’ve ever done. Not everyone in my group was very motivated, the weather was terrible and we got lost a lot – we were the last group to make it back to camp! For our real Expedition, we were able to talk about what had gone wrong, did a lot more practicing with map reading, and ended up having a great time". 

Funded by The Gosling Foundation, the Youth Ambassador programme puts young people front and centre as future leaders, involving them in shaping the DofE’s work to benefit other young people.

DofE Youth Ambassadors have met Ministers and MPs, spoken at high-profile events such as party conferences and DofE Gold Award celebrations in Buckingham Palace Gardens, represented the DofE at international forums and played a pivotal role feeding into key decisions across the charity.

Ashley Williams, UK Youth Engagement Manager at The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, said: “Erin is one of many young people who has achieved incredible things through their DofE.

"As a charity, we’re determined to put young people at the heart of everything we do and to give them as many opportunities as we can to make a positive impact on the issues they care about – I am excited to see the positive impact our new cohort of Youth Ambassadors make this year".