On Friday April 27, eleven students from Huntsville High School (HHS), along with their adult allies, took part in an afternoon workshop to discuss ways to bring more inclusion to their school.
In a series of three workshops, the students will be working towards the goal of creating ways to help bring inclusivity for students with disabilities.
The workshop was led by two staff from Community Living Ontario, Emily Branje and Linda White, as well as two family support workers from Community Living Huntsville, Victoria Lamont and Gwen Jones.
Some students at the workshop were members of Reaction 4 Inclusion, a youth-led movement of young people and their allies that works to challenge negative perceptions of disability, while some were chosen by teachers and adult allies of HHS.
“The students we selected for the workshop come from all different social circles,” said HHS teacher Jen Cooper. “But they all have the common goal of wanting to bring positive change to Huntsville High.”
Throughout the afternoon a series of challenges and discussions were held in order to generate ideas and explore how research will be conducted.
“The goal of the workshops is to create awareness and make a plan of action,” said Linda White. “We want students to explore the culture of Huntsville High and discuss what works and what doesn’t work.”
Students and allies made up brainstorming charts of what Huntsville High School is, does, says, and does not do, thus highlighting both positive ways that HHS promotes and supports individuals with disabilities as well as what the school is lacking.
Emily Branje leading the workshop
As the student group was made up of students both with disabilities and without, the discussions throughout the workshop brought up many interesting and diverse points.
“Students who have a disability don’t have as many opportunities as other students. Our school has a lot of the resources in place but we just need to make everyone more aware of them,” said Sarah-Emily Waller.
Kelly Miller with her poster describing what HHS can feel like
Two more workshops are planned for the fall for students to refine their research questions further after this week’s brainstorming session.
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Very positive and worthwhile: Equitableness for the HHS student body is far more important than equitableness for the purchase of OSRA’s. I have read more than one article on “Doppler” regarding inclusion in the public schools; which I applaud, as early education is key in preventing/reducing all forms of prejudice. Huntsville Public School, as you know, is even collecting donations for an accessible playground.
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I was happy to see that some students without disabilities were also in attendance. Ideally, numbers permitting, a one-to-one “buddy system” could be instigated. As a PWD myself, I am aware of the damage caused by stigmatizing somebody out of ignorance; when that may disappear with proper education and awareness.