Disability = Strength

Maybe people in the Australian education system can stand on their heads and view this new paradigm.
Where a gorgeous 5 year-old boy who can’t talk or walk provides the strength and succour his little friends need on their very first Kindy orientation day at big school.
http://inkyed.wordpress.com/
I like the way our kids are changing the world.

Yes we can

Well done Americans.
To an Australian watching from the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the thing that struck me most was the mindset attributed to Barack Obama.  Because he was an outsider, not a part of the culture of oppressed Afro-Americans, it didn’t occur to him that he could not make change happen.
And the same [...]

How can I help my son get into trouble at school?

Yes you read that correctly.
Those of you who know us will wonder if there is anything else I can do to annoy the school further. Just asking them to obey the law and provide inclusion supports is proving too hard for too many.
The thing is, the cool boys get into trouble. That’s why they’re cool. [...]

Speak up for people-first language

It’s coming up to Cerebral Palsy Awareness week in Australia.
Time to grab a brief media opportunity to educate people about what CP is and means to people who have it.
Most families of kids with CP look to government and privately funded CP organisations to spearhead public education campaigns.
We want these organisations to publicly reflect what [...]

What’s wrong with him?

If I had a dollar for every time we’ve heard that question from a complete stranger …

Unfortunately it’s so often the first words – after some serious staring – when people see a child in a wheelchair or using a walking frame.
I’m pleased to say many people – like rollercoasterparenting – give the “correct” response:
“Nothing”
Some [...]

How many sticks to build a footpath?

Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 17 July 2008, one of the first western nations to ratify the convention.
Good. Now comes the hard part – getting various levels of Australian governments, government agencies and people in general to make inclusion policy reality. Time for [...]

Where the rubber hits the road

So education senior managements gets it. They’ve funded the learning technology and teacher training. But where the rubber hits the road – the school – well that’s a different story.

Hope crosses the political divide

On 17 March 2008 at around 8:30pm the Australian Federal Parliament secured bipartisan support from members of the two major political parties (Australian Labor Party and Australian Liberal Party) to support a motion by the Member for Gilmore, Mrs Joanna Gash, to improve the services, support and care for Australians with disabilities and their families/carers.
[...]

School gets in the way of education

The link below is a newspaper report that a teenager with cerebral palsy is suing the Queensland State Government for discrimination after allegedly being told to avoid certain subjects at a Brisbane government high school due to his disability.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23307111-3102,00.html
The newspaper reports that the student’s mother was allegedly told that her son’s English was only at [...]

An instinct for inclusion

Many families hold high hopes that today’s symbolic gesture of an apology by the Australian Parliament to the “Stolen Generation” of Aboriginal people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities will ignite an instinct for inclusion, not segregation, which will spill over to other marginalized groups in Australia. Like people with disabilities.

The [...]