What the Family Studies?
What the Family Studies?
Creating an Inclusive Classroom: Accessibility and Allyship in Education
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Unlock the keys to creating a more accessible world for individuals with disabilities with guests Jessica Kruger and Charlene VanderGriendt. Imagine a school environment where physical barriers are no longer an obstacle, and inclusive education is the norm. We promise you'll gain insights into how the Rick Hansen Foundation is promoting and supporting accessibility in schools and communities. Jessica shares her personal journey of resilience after becoming a quadriplegic, highlighting the creative strategies educators use to include students with disabilities in all activities. Charlene outlines the Foundation's impactful School Program, which provides invaluable resources and professional development to foster a culture of accessibility and allyship.
Our conversation doesn't stop there. We address the significance of direct communication with high school students about their unique needs and how this practice can transform their educational experience. Discover the essential considerations for accommodating students in wheelchairs in hands-on classes like food and fashion labs, emphasizing the necessity of accessible spaces and adaptive tools. Explore strategies to foster empathy and inclusivity, while avoiding an "othering" approach. Learn how the Rick Hansen Foundation supports educators by offering ambassador speakers with lived experiences, enriching the creation of truly inclusive classroom environments.
For more information about the Rick Hansen Foundation and their great classroom and teacher PD resources check out their website at https://www.rickhansen.com/schools-communities.
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Hi everyone and welcome to this episode of the what the Family Studies podcast. I'm your host tonight, catherine Murphy. In 1985, rick Hansen set out on the man in Motion world tour and I remember it vividly. It was a 26-month, 34-country, 40,000-kilometer wheelchair marathon. It raised $26 million and changed the way people with disabilities were perceived. The Rick Hansen Foundation, established in 1988, is part of its legacy. For over three decades, the Rick Hansen Foundation has raised awareness, changed attitudes and funded spinal cord injury research and care. Today, roughly one in four Canadians identify as having a disability and that number is growing as our population ages. The Rick Hansen Foundation is working on breaking down one of the most fundamental barriers that people with disabilities still face physical barriers in the places where we live, work, learn and play.
Speaker 2And, of course, we have some learning goals for this episode. The first is to understand the mission and work of the Rick Hansen Foundation, with a particular focus on its contributions to schools and communities. Second, we want to recognize barriers in education for students with disabilities. Third, reflect on best practices for inclusive education. Fourth, gain specific strategies and tips for accommodating and supporting students with disabilities in hands-on family studies classes such as food and fashion labs. And fifth, discover how the Rick Hansen Foundation's programs and resources can support the journey towards inclusive classrooms and schools.
Speaker 1Tonight we have two guests joining us. First, jessica Kruger, who, as an active teenager, played basketball and softball until one summer day when she fell off a ladder, leaving her with quadriplegia. It didn't take long for Jessica to realize that people in wheelchairs could do all the same things as anyone else, just in a different way. Hi Jessica, Thanks for joining us tonight. Hi Catherine, thanks for having me. And our second guest tonight is Charlene VanderGreet, who spent many years of her professional life in marketing communications. Her dedication to support accessibility was ignited after her son, paul, was tragically injured, leaving him with no movement in his hands and legs. Today Charlene works with the Rick Hansen Foundation Schools Program team as a Projects and Partnerships Specialist. Hi, charlene.
Speaker 3Hello and thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1We really appreciate you guys joining us tonight, for sure, and the learning that you are going to bring to us. So, Charlene, my first question for you tonight is can you tell us a bit more about the Rick Hansen Foundation and the kind of work it does in schools and the community?
Speaker 3Yes, to talk about the foundation overall, it started when Rick Hansen came back from the tour that you just talked about and he realized that, yes, he'd raised a lot of awareness, but it couldn't stop there. It needed to continue and needed to be a catalyst to make a world where everyone could go everywhere. So we started the foundation, and a big piece of the foundation is the school's program, and the school's program provides resources, presentations for students, lesson plans, activities, lesson plans, activities. We do professional development for educators and do difference maker awards for students and the projects they do. There's a lot of pieces of the school program but really pleased that we can help educators and staff not only support students with disabilities but create allies so that we all can create a world where everyone can go everywhere.
Speaker 1I think that's absolutely wonderful. Charlene and I, you know, we look forward tonight to learning a little bit more about some of those programs too, because as teachers, we think it's a really important job to be reaching all of our students, so anything that can help us out with that is really important to us. So, jessica, in your experiences, if you can tell me, you know some of the challenges that you faced at school and how some educators might have worked to remove some of those barriers for you at school and how some educators might have worked to remove some of those barriers for you.
Speaker 4I was 15 when I had my accident. It was the summer after grade nine, so I went to rehab through the summer and then was able to return to school for the second half of my grade 10 year, and so first thing that kind of set me up for success was being able to take classes while I was in rehab so that I didn't fall behind, which meant that I was coming back to be in the same group of friends that I had before I had my accident. So having that support system was definitely huge for me. But honestly, I feel like I was really lucky in terms of the teachers that I had at my school. They hadn't necessarily had a student with a disability or that used a wheelchair in the school before, but they were all really open-minded and looking for ways to sort of accommodate me and make sure that I didn't feel left out. I think the school was fortunately already set up for accessibility, so we had an elevator and accessible washrooms and things like that, which made it a lot easier, and I was assigned an EA to help me with taking notes.
Speaker 4I'm a quadriplegic, so I don't have great hand function. So again, another thing that kind of just helped me academically. I can remember I had an English class where the teacher had decided to do an activity where everybody had to lay on their backs and we were like passing each other over and when he suggested that this activity was going to happen I assumed I was going to be left out of that situation. But he actually was like no, no, you have to participate as well. And like helped me secure my legs and tip my chair backwards so that I could be a part of the activity. I feel like it might be underestimated how impactful that sort of situation can be, and it's the moments where teachers don't sort of think out of the box like that that are kind of the most harmful.
Speaker 4I would say I wasn't able to take PE in my high school years because they just didn't really know how to adapt it, I guess, at the time. So I think it would have been huge if you know they had taken that extra step to try and find ways to make PE more accessible to me. I played wheelchair rugby outside of school. I would have loved to have been able to share that with some of my fellow students Wheelchair basketball in BC comes out and does presentations. So you know those sort of programs exist. It's just taking the extra step of actually arranging it and making sure that students with disabilities have the opportunity to share with their fellow students, you know, things that are adapted to them and that maybe they do things a little bit differently and, yeah, how that can actually be kind of cool in its own way.
Speaker 1That's absolutely amazing, and you know what a memory for you to have. You know teachers who do that for you. I coach rugby at my school too, so we're going to have to have a conversation about that off air. That's awesome. So was there anything that you think your educators could have done differently, though, or better? Maybe? Most of our listeners are secondary family studies teachers, so you know what would you really like to share with them about what we can improve on?
Speaker 4I think probably the hardest thing for me was feeling like I wasn't always involved in the decision making, so having teachers go directly to my parents when discussing what my needs were. I think if there was one thing I would have hoped that they would have changed in my high school experience was coming directly to me and sort of asking me you know what I needed and how they might be able to help me sort of get those needs met. Maybe more negative experiences in my post-secondary schooling that I can share with you. I actually got a bachelor's degree at Simon Fraser University, which is an older school, so a little bit less accessible in some ways. Lots of add-on accessibility changes that have been done ramps that are too steep for people in wheelchairs to actually use independently, and auditoriums that force you to either sit in the very back or like the front with the instructor, so kind of exclusionary in that setup as well.
Speaker 4And then I also went to pastry school and as I was looking for pastry schools to go to, I was met with a school that I knew was fully accessible in terms of like the space was wheelchair friendly, but instructors and staff that weren't willing to have me there. They just said no, we're not willing to to accommodate you. And then another school that I applied to said that I could take the program but I would have to pay for two spots because I'd take up double the amount of room. Also really rough, wow, not a great look in 2019, right. Then the last school that I applied to was vcc, here in b, and I met with their disability coordinator and they said you know, we've never had somebody in the chair take this program before, but if you tell us what you need to succeed and think that you're going to be able to keep up, then yeah, why can't you be the first? So really positive in the start there they at the end, the only adaptation they made for me was having a height adjustable workstation.
Speaker 4And then, you know, I made my own little adaptations throughout the day. I had, like, a heating pad to put on my lap so I could carry trays to and from the oven. Little things like that Definitely battled a little bit of I don't know what the right word is, but maybe misunderstanding of what it means to have a disability and what I was capable of in terms of some of the instructors that I had. I felt like I was showing up to class, often needing to prove that I deserve to be there, which, honestly, is a feeling I have often in my life. I think in general, even with people's minds being more open to disability and you know what people with disabilities are capable of there's still a lot of room to expand people's understanding around that. And, yeah, I would say just the perception of how they often associate limitation with disability was probably one of the biggest challenges I faced there.
Speaker 1I think it's incredibly disappointing to hear that that was your experience at the post-secondary level. I really would have thought it was a lot better than that, but I do. I, you know, tend to agree and I resonate with what you say about as teachers speaking to our students and asking our students what their needs are, instead of always going to the parents. I find you know, in high school especially, you're old enough to speak your needs. You're old enough to let us know what you need. So you know, unless there's something else going on, that we need to contact parents for for sure.
Speaker 1I think our first order of business should be to talk to the students and see what they need. So I'm glad you at least had a better experience in high school then. I have taught students in wheelchair in a couple of occasions in the past, so there's a couple of things that can impact the way that we deliver those programs, and I'm thinking particularly about food and fashion labs. I've never had a student in a wheelchair in a food or fashion lab yet, especially in a food lab. If your background isn't working as pastry chef, any suggestions or tips that you can provide that can help us to support those students so that they're more successful in these hands-on type classes.
Speaker 4I mean, I think the biggest impact on a successful experience is an accessible space. So obviously it depends on what you're working with. In a dream world, it's a kitchen that has a roll under sink and an oven that doesn't open outwards but rather has a door that opens sideways so you can wheel it right up to it. But if you don't have the ability to have those big modifications done, then it's just a table that's set up at the right height. If you're talking about somebody with some limited hand function, there's some special tools in terms of, like being able to grip things that are pretty easy to bring in, I would say. So small modifications like that would be huge as well, and, at the end of the day, every disability is different and every individual is going to need something slightly different. So just being open to talking to the person that you know is in your class and figuring out what they need and how you can best help them, I like what you said about VCC, where they asked you what do you need?
Speaker 1And I think that's really important discussion to have with students, right right.
Speaker 4I feel like sometimes people that are in power positions or you know teachers or administrators, might think they don't want to show that they don't know exactly what you might need, so they're afraid to even ask that question. So yeah, the first step is being willing to admit that you might not know everything about my disability that I've lived with for 18 years at this point.
Speaker 1You might know a little bit more about it than we do, right, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1Yeah yeah, part of our curriculum in family studies. So we teach courses like working with infants and children and working with school-age children and adolescents. So we talk about the topics of special needs and inclusion as part of the curriculum. It involves us not only teaching the content, but about different disabilities as well too, and then helping our students to empathize with the challenges that you know, children and families that might be a little bit different than their face. How would you say that we can help our students become allies for children who might be in their care in the future?
Speaker 4Honestly, I feel like the biggest thing is to just avoid the like othering approach that happens sometimes and kind of emphasizing that. You know I use a wheelchair like somebody else might use a pair of glasses. It doesn't make me different, it's just I have needs that require different pieces of equipment that allow me to live my day-to-day life. I think having speakers come in that might share experiences that are similar to the individual in the class that has a disability if that's the situation or just showing representation of all the different disabilities to normalize that there are one in four Canadians that have a disability this is something that you're going to see a lot throughout your life and at the end of the day, we're not any different from somebody that isn't living with a disability. It's just you know we've come up with different ways to do our our day to day. Then you might do yours, and that doesn't need to be made fun of or othered or, you know, made to be weird. It's just how we live our lives.
Speaker 1Yeah, you make a good point, I think the kid who forgets their glasses so they sit at the front of class for one day. You know we make those accommodations for our kids, no matter what they are. So, rick Hansen Foundation, who you work very, very closely. How can they help us, as family studies teachers, support our inclusion journey for our classrooms? Can you tell us a little bit about some of the programs that we can use in our classrooms and schools?
Speaker 4Yeah, I think Charlene is probably going to be the best to speak to that.
Speaker 3So I'll pass it back to her for that one. Okay, sounds great. Thanks, jessica. Yes, we really enjoy working with educators and providing the resources. We have a resource library on our Rick Hansen website and those resources you can filter by grade level, by subject area, you can filter by topic, and I think it's a great way to start the conversation because it's all about, like you said, jessica, which I really enjoy is just, we all have differences, right.
Speaker 3Some of us have glasses, some of us don't like one thing, some people like another thing to eat. It doesn't mean that it makes us someone outside the community, it's just bringing them in. In the past there's been some programs where we go okay, we'll blindfold the class and they'll, you know, experience what blindness is. But that's not experiencing blindness, right, that's a little classroom activity unless you live your life as a blind person, and that's where our ambassadors with lived experience are so awesome, like Jessica, can speak so eloquently about living life, and we all want to live our lives. So our ambassador speakers can go into classrooms, can be in person or virtual, depending on geographics. I also am part of the team that does professional development for educators. We also do workshops, virtual and in person, and we also have an online e-learning course that we're launching right now so that, at own pace, educators can learn for themselves, because some of us haven't had direct contact with someone with a disability, and once you do, then your eyes are open to a lot more that you didn't see before.
Speaker 1Thank you so much for sharing with us all those programs too, because I think as educators we live pretty busy lives and have pretty busy jobs. So anything that can make our lives a little bit easier and help us with our understanding of our students, we really appreciate that. So I just want to say thank you so much to both Jessica Kruger and Charlene Vandergreet. We really do appreciate the time that you take to help us improve our teaching practices and with all our students. So thanks so much for joining us tonight. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 3Yes, absolutely, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much, catherine.
Speaker 1To all our listeners. Thank you so much for joining us and for listening tonight. And please check out the Rick Hansen Foundation website at rickhansencom. Look under the schools and communities tabs and you'll find so much information there to help you out.
Speaker 5Also check out our show notes for more information, too, what the Family Studies is brought to you by the Ontario Family Studies Home Economics Educators Association. Special thanks to our producer, micheline Gallant, tech support and podcast editor Cassandra McEachern, and our co-hosts Catherine Murphy and Laura Hadier.
