Educators value the success of all students. Educators care for students and act in their best interests.
August 7th, 2022
In 2007, fresh out of the SETA (special education teacher assistant) program, I worked at the high school I graduated from. My placement was in a segregated room, and I worked with three students with various needs. The “education,” if you could even call it that, consisted of the same routine every day, and if the students were in the classroom/gym with their peers, they were off to the side and were not included in activities. I was appalled at the treatment of the students, and I inquired and questioned the teacher about the curriculum and inclusion of the students. Unfortunately, she was not open to anything, and we continued with Groundhog Day until I quit after the school year ended. This experience led to a break from education as there was injustice and a lack of collaboration. I remember telling myself that year that eventually, I would run that program and change everything.
Dreams were delayed with a family, and my mindset shifted. Still, Shelly Moores, One Without the Other: Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion reminded me of those dreams 15 years ago with this quote. “I also realized that if we can now extend inclusive education to include every diverse learner, we can also start to view inclusion as not something we do; instead, it becomes something that is. We cannot escape or avoid the diversity in our world by attempting to homogenize and standardize our classrooms and learners.” (Moore, S, 2016) Moore explains that students are still segregated, and I know it is still happening in the Terrace school district, separate rooms for individuals with different needs. This all makes me wonder when educators will move toward each student, “inclusion means everyone – but actually everyone, even our students who need the most support in our classrooms, schools and communities.” (Moore, S, 2016). How do we combat this? Partly is understanding the term ableism, which I had never come across until this course. Ableism “is the superiority of able-bodied, able-minded people, over people with bodies and minds that fall outside of the definition that we consider normal…” (Seale, A, 2021). In Canada, 15% of people have disabilities, and our education system is outdated and struggles to accommodate diverse individuals.
Moore explained that education was first structured like the industrial revolution and was geared toward “green” individuals. Green is considered average, homogenous, and standardized students. (Moore, S, 2019) This set up the school system for a specific group of students, and those who didn’t fit that box either were segregated or put into institutions. Institutions started over a hundred years ago and only ended in 1996. (Inclusion BC, 2021) During the various videos and readings, I was reminded of the horrific mistreatment of people with disabilities. This includes institutions like woodlands, where individuals were physically, mentally, and sexually abused, a place that was supposed to be a haven. This disgusts me, but like the need for reconciliation with our first peoples, we need to move towards reconciliation with students/people who have special needs. How do we do this in such a broken education system? Shelly Moore challenges us to ask ourselves, “Where are you now, and what is your next step?” It is beautiful when we can turn a shaming question into a question that obtains growth and focuses on a positive life outlook.
References
Seale, Alyson. 2021. Purposeful Steps Away from Ableism.
Moore, Shelly. 2016. One Without the Other. Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion.
Inclusion, BC. 2021. The History of Institutionalization.
Shelly Moore, 2019. Don’t Should on Me: It’s not easy being NOT green