Is there any form of disability awareness taught in schools?

[charleypopspreviouslyntt]

just wondering

thanks

[charleypopspreviouslyntt]

I guess that's a "No"?

[geogteach]

Not sue in general but DS1 is deaf and his teacher of the deaf has done a lot of deaf awareness stuff with his class and with the rest of the school

[hulababy]

There wasn't anything formal taught when I was teaching (left 1.5 years ago; secondary). It is in the Citizenship course I would have though, but many schools just do that through pastoral lessons and it is not well done IME.

[rustybear]

At our junior school it's done in PSHCE lessons, but as we have an asd resource, they get a lot of 'hands on' experience if you see what I mean. I think it is very good for the mainstream children to have this kind of experience and we have been complimented many times (by OFSTED, Healthy Schools & Investors in People among others) about the outstanding pastoral care & the caring attitude of pupils and staff.
For schools where they don't have this kind of experience, I think awareness teaching is very important, but I agree with hulababy that in many cases it's not well done.

[charleypopspreviouslyntt]

Thanks for your replies.

I had a feeling it couldn't be generally a part of the curriculum. I think people could get such a lot from it. As a mum of a young child with disabilities I have over the past few months been privileged to witness first hand public interaction (or, rather dis-interaction) with disabled children and adults.

I feel so bad not only for my boy and myself, but also for adults and children who don't know how to react when they encounter someone with disabilities. When out shopping for instance, we have to deal with dozens of little (or not so little!) instances of embarrassment, uncomfortableness or plain ignorance. People stare, stumble over their words, or feel that they can make outrageously inappropriate comments.

Ignorance leads to fear which leads to rejection and the isolation of the people who need friendship and acceptance the most - this is almost universally documented by the other mums I know in this situation. The thought of kids being cruel to my little boy when he gets to school breaks my heart. Of course not all kids will be, but I know it's irresistible for most, it's just the way they are, but to accept this and not try to negate through education this day and age must be wrong?

It seems to me that if so much time is given to learning about other minority groups - ie in religious and cultural tuition, why isn't some sort of disability awareness taught? After all it's not such a small minority, and it affects Everyone. Wouldn't everyone benefit from knowing how to interact with a mum or a child or an adult with, or coming to terms with, disabilities/being different from "normal"? I think it would go a long way towards our society becoming more civilised and bring an extra opportunity for kids to develop a deeper and more compassionate understanding of the world they live in.

God, I can hear the groans now, I know it must be so boring reading stuff like this if you think disability doesn't touch you. I'm not a do-gooder or particularly pc ..........I'm rambling and probably haven't made myself clear because I don't have time to think let alone post on forums much anymore, but I'd be very interested to know what you all think.

[motherinferior]

I think this is a big part of the argument for inclusion (which is, I realise, a more complex debate, especially when it comes to children on the ASD spectrum). DD1's mainstream school has one of the largest numbers of statemented children in our borough, and also makes its physical accessibility very obvious - the minute you walk in you notice the ramps and the provision for people with hearing problems. I think that for her, having disabled kids in her everyday life has done a lot to make disability 'normal' for her.

[Saturn74]

Charley, I think you are absolutely right, especially considering the current educational trend for 'inclusion'. I can't remember an occasion where my children were taught any disability awareness at school. My friend's children have discussions at school about disability, but I think that only came about as there is a child in their school who was born with partial limbs. I don't think you come across as a do-gooder or as pc (although neither of those things are bad, anyway!) but as a mother who is concerned about helping her child integrate successfully into the society he lives in - I think that's what every mother wants for their children.

[charleypopspreviouslyntt]

Motherinferior - is there any taught disability awareness at your dd1's school? It's great of course having such a structurally welcoming school, but is there any opportunity within any taught lessons given to pupils to try to empathise and think about what it might really mean to live with a disability, or for kids with disabilities to understand how to interact with "fully able" people.

A lot of very important foundation building is done at school age - even preschool age. I think it would be fantastic to have lessons where kids were encouraged to imagine, discuss and write about what it would be like to not be able to, for instance, walk or see or understand things in a conventional sense. Maybe even to have a go in a wheelchair or do some role playing. There's loads of ways this subject could be approached. I can't understand why it's not done.

HumphreyCushion, those sort of discussions your friend's children have had at their school will almost certainly have a positive life-long affect for them and the people around them, even if it's tiny. Good for them.

[geogteach]

There is definately a need for this sort of stuff as I am becoming increasingly aware from my own situation. The girl fitting DS1's new school shoes yestaday mumbled ' do they feel ok' to his feet. He wears aids so it is fairly obvious he is deaf but in his case looking at his face would have been enough to make sure she was heard and understood. A couple of places we have visited this summer have also been very deaf unaware. I know ours is a very specific situation but a little awareness would go a very long way.

[Blandmum]

We have a disability avareness day for year 7 every year. It is also covered in PHSE, assembies etc. Individual deachers also address stuff and we are expected to be avare of issues and to take account of diability issues where appropiate in lessons.

[Jimjams2]

It's the embarrassment factor that does my head in charley- peoplpe say "oh they were pprbably embarrassed" like they're the victiim and you have to be terribly patient with them poor souls.

I much prefer the funny/inappropriate people who aren't embarrassed to ask questions. Like the last time we went to Sainsbury's (with my direct payments helper). The lady behind the till sussed out that there was something up and that my helper was a helper so asked her what was wring. My helper expalined that ds1 was severely autistic and then we had a round of "oh it's such a shame he has such a lovely face, he's a very good looking child isn't he, what a shame" which made me laugh as it sounded like it would have been ok if he;d been pig ugly.

Successful inclusion can come from special educations as well. My sons' special school has a lot of links with the local primary. The primary children come up to watch concerts, sometimes the older children put on plays to some of the primary classes. Some of the more able special school children eat in the primary school etc. Far more successful that our brush with mainstream which was 4 terms where ds1 wasn't included in a single lesson or out of lesson activity in his school. I don't think hiis presence there taught the other children anything. They used to laugh at him for doing wildy inappropriate things- like standing on tables-, but I don't think they ever had anything explained to them, he was in the main kept away from the other kids.

[julienetmum]

I have to be a bit careful with confidentiality here but we just had a girl with downs syndrome and autism at our summer school. She had a one to one carer with her.

I was immensly proud of our other kids how they were with her, coaxing her to join in when she was reluctant, making sure she was included. In return I feel she enriched their understanding too and it was a joy to watch her take part in the dance routine she had learnt.

We didn't specifically say anything to the eother kids, her mother gave us permission to (you have to be careful about confidentiality) but we didn;t need to, she was totally accepted.