The Magic of Inclusion

I am proud to say I grew up going to inclusion schools. My elementary school included two smaller "satellite" schools within it. One for physical and learning disabilities and one the Deaf. It was normal for our teachers to wear an FM transmitter when teaching, in order to help those with hearing aids. It was also normal to have children in wheelchairs and using adapted desks. One of the first things I got to learn in Kindergarten was how to lock and unlock the leg braces of one of my disabled friends and get him back into his chair in the case of a fire alarm. I was his "buddy" and it was my job to push him out of the building during fire drills. (Of course, I was not alone, the physiotherapist also came in right away to help, but I took my responsibility very seriously and with great pride :)

Inclusion word cloud in shape of a butterfly

In high school, the school integrated into ours was for those with learning and behaviour disabilities. Wherever possible, these students took classes with us. Art, music, gym - we were all together.

For whatever reason, even as a child and not knowing I was disabled myself, I always gravitated towards those who were different, disabled or outcast. My mom always told me I rooted "for the underdog." Maybe I felt an affinity. Maybe those were the only people who would accept my own differences. I don't know, but I am grateful for those who were brave enough to be friends with a "weirdo" like me.

So in this way, inclusion saved me because it allowed me to have friends. While we're more aware as a society these days, and more children are getting better diagnosed and earlier, I'm sure some are still falling through the cracks. Despite that, even as a child, we still know we're different. Others know we're different also and tend to shun or bully us. But when you have inclusion, there is more of a likelihood these children will have friends. It's also a higher likelihood that those who are not disabled will be better aware of disability, less likely to bully, and more compassionate. Kids who go to inclusive schools are not going to be the adults of tomorrow staring at disabled people and making snide comments.

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I recently read about the Assertive Community Treatment model recently. A small town in Belgium integrates adults with mental illnesses into foster home-like long term living arrangements. It improves the health of those with special needs by making them feel like members of a family. They get a private room in a house and are less lonely, as a result.

As a mom, I wish we had a model like that here. After my husband and I are gone, I want the comfort of knowing my son will still have a "family" who cares about him. People he can lean on for support. Inclusion benefits all of society, whether you are disabled or not.

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You can read more articles about the town of Geel, Beligum here and here.

You can read a chapter of a new book about how children benefit from inclusion here. 

Rachel At Risk

I went to see a play called Rachel At Risk Tuesday night. Here's the description of the play from their site:

Writer/Director Jesse Heffring worked with over fifty students, listening to their opinions, ideas and perspective on life, to create this eye opening play, "Rachel at Risk." It is a through-the-looking-glass journey into the world of youth, living with disability, in a world that does not understand them.

It was heavier than I expected and it's based on a true story. The play follows the lives of Rachel, who has an intellectual disability, and her Asperger's brother, Michael, who has cancer. They are stuck in the foster system and bounce around from home to home because of Rachel's anger management issues. She is very protective of her brother and the two of them stick together. The foster mother they get is not prepared to deal with a cancer-striken boy and wants to turn away this emergency placement. The reality of the shortage of foster homes available hits home and it demonstrates the incredible pressure social workers are under.

Together, the siblings end up at a special needs school and we get to learn about all the different classmates and their perspective on living with disability. They talk about whether they will earn high school diplomas, if they will work or collect welfare, and what's the point of even trying when society doesn't accept them. They even touched on the difficulties of living with parents who don't accept them as they are.

Rachel gets upset and runs away from the foster home. She ends up in a dangerous drug house and is exposed to a man who tries to use her naivity to turn her into a prostitute.

I don't want to give all the details of the story away, but this is just an example of the very heavy and mature subject matter these teens are dealing with.

Suffice to say, there wasn't a dry eye in the house after this performance. The kids did an amazing job! I'm also really impressed with the school.

As a bit of background, Summit School serves children/teens with intellectual, learning and behavioral disabilities from ages 4-21. They also have "satellite" schools, which means little mini-schools operate inside other mainstream schools. I went to a high school that had a Summit class within it, so these students were partially integrated. I was actually on an integration committee to help create a "buddy" system. I would say for the most part, that failed as a whole, but I know I at least enjoyed spending time with them. I went skiing with them and I remember one boy remarking, "you actually speak to me like I'm normal." Sad, but true.

If anything, seeing this play makes me want to send my son there for high school, because I see how much they really do believe in the kids reaching their full potential.

I'm not sure how long it's playing for, but if you're in Montreal, I recommend checking it out.