 The Access4Success team invite you to celebrate International Day of People with Disabilities.
On December 3, across the world, individuals and organisations are focusing on the impact that Covid-19 has had on people with disabilities and on inclusiveness and accessibility. It is a time to promote understanding of issues, the rights and wellbeing of disabled people in our communities. The theme this year is ‘Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-Covid 19 world’ During this time of Covid, it is critical to be aware of the many invisible disabilities and to increase awareness of the benefits of inclusion of disabled people in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. In the recent Diversity & Inclusion survey, out of 536 responses, 36.9% of staff identified as having a disability or impairment. Not all of these staff believe Unitec is a safe environment to disclose disability. This needs to change. We make this change by talking about disability and working together to create a diverse and inclusive community. Let’s begin by celebrating and learning from our staff who have lived experience of disability, by sharing their stories. David’s Story My children are the fourth generation of our family to have what I might call differently abled minds. My grandfather did not learn to read until he was over 10 and went on to become a doctor. My school reports typically said some variation of ‘seems very intelligent verbally but needs to try harder with written work and be more organised’. Looking back, I could see connections and patterns that were almost impossible to put down in the linear formats required by typical education for children. I left school with relief at 15. Having access to a speechwriter programme (Dragon Nuance) has proved an immense blessing. I no longer break keyboards by thumping the keys too hard and using a speechwriter has given me the gift of designing sentences in my head before I speak them aloud. I use the term differently abled minds at the beginning of this piece deliberately. What has become very clear to me is that the ways of thinking and being in the world that disabled me as a child have enabled me as an adult, particularly in postgraduate education. I see connections and synergies and have learnt the arduous trick of writing in ways that make these visible to others. I have successfully completed a Master’s and am in the final stages of finishing a PhD. I suspect if I had set of diagnostic tests when I was a child I would have been diagnosed with some forms of dyslexia, possibly with a dash of ADHD thrown in. As an educator I frequently encounter people with brilliant minds, whose capacity to put the genius of their ideas into tidy little sentences is limited. I try and share the strategies I’ve learnt. Final thoughts on the matter: formal education for children leaves many clever people feeling diminished and made to feel stupid. It is important to remember that the stories your schools told about you do not reflect the reality of your intelligence and that the world desperately needs differently abled minds! Dave’s StoryIn April of 2018 while riding to Unitec on my bicycle I was hit by a car. I had severe injuries including a deep gash to my forehead and severe concussion. My road to recovery was slow and impacted my ability to function in my lecturing role. This included my ability to sustain focus, extreme tiredness, irritability and frustration, severe migraines, and the loss of confidence in myself. Some examples of how this played out were; a slow reply to emails and communications at work, the inability to focus when there was background noise, bright lights causing headaches, exhaustion, having to lie down after teaching for an hour and a subtle confusion following conversations in the workplace. It is important to share this story because there are colleagues, students and whanau who have been injured and/or function with a disability that is invisible. I felt supported and understood it was easier to get through it. The major feelings that impacted me was a feeling of frustration and failure. Failure that I wasn’t living up to ‘typical’ expectations, regulations and processes and frustration that I couldn’t do anything about it but wait. I am also a father of a teenager who has been diagnosed as being on the Autistic Spectrum, the feelings I have regarding raising him are frustration that he does not hit expected levels of achievement like ‘typical’ learners, frustration that things that ‘typical’ people can do without thinking require explicit instruction for him, frustration that the education system disables his expressive and receptive communication as it continues to roll out-dated and marginalising benchmarks and assessments fit for one type of learner. It is not at all a negative experience, raising someone who is neuro-diverse brings joy and a newfound sense of wonder into my world, but I am sure any parent of a disabled child would often feel like they have failed them. So again, why is this important to share? As I have said there are staff, colleagues, students, and whanau in our midst who are facing invisible challenges and we (as a society) are not in the practice of accommodating these needs. There are many pedagogical, bureaucratic, infrastructural, personal, and inter-personal challenges to be met to promote real change, but I feel that visibility and encouraging a culture where we can share these things without fear of being labelled and treated in a negative manner is the first step. I’m sharing this with you now and encourage you to do the same. https://youtu.be/OELGwOHmg_Q DESA – 5 Things you need to know about living with a disability in Covid-19 If you would like to learn more and hear from people with lived experience of disability please join us on December 3 from 12pm – 1.30pm using the Zoom link below.
Access4Success International Day of Persons with Disabilities Event, Join on Zoom: Meeting ID: 999 2583 6812
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Join the event on Friday 03 December
If you would like to learn more and hear from people with lived experience of disability please join us on December 3 from 12pm – 1.30pm using the Zoom link below. Access4Success International Day of Persons with Disabilities Meeting ID: 999 2583 6812
My mother always told me, “Hide your face people are looking at you”. I would reply, “It does not matter; I am also looking at them.
“Disability doesn’t make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does.” |