Two weeks down and I’m still alive.

It’s probably the best way I can sum up the first few weeks as an English teacher at Onehunga High School. Ask anyone who is – or has been – a high school teacher, and they’ll tell you the first year is a really tough slog. Learning ~150 new names, school systems and procedures, having students ask “Why should I?” when you ask them to complete homework, and a form class of Year 9 students who look to you for the answers to all their questions are just some of the hurdles I’ve had to overcome in my first few weeks.

That said, it’s been an absolute blast. I have a Year 9 form class, and four English classes, ranging from Year 9 (Form 3) to Year 13 (Form 7), each of which bring their individual challenges and delights. The students at Onehunga High School are real characters, and bring a full dose of personality to each class. This is great for group work and class discussions, but it can also lead to periods of borderline anarchy when it’s last period on a Friday!

The school itself is built on a steep hill, and as such isn’t the most naturally accessible environment. However, the Ministry of Education have really come to the party and funded ramps, an adapted bathroom, and potentially a lift at some point down the track. It’s great to see that using a wheelchair is no barrier to employment in the education sector.

You might be wondering how the students have reacted to my use of a wheelchair in the classroom. Quite honestly, they seem completely non-plussed. None have been rude or disrespectful, and as far as I can tell they don’t treat me any differently to any other teacher. In many ways this is great news, and proves that attitudes towards disability are changing rapidly amongst members of the next generation!

As for anyone who thinks teachers have it easy, you’re welcome to join me in my classroom and give it a go. It won’t be long before you change your mind, trust me!

PS – If you’d like to know more about what it’s like to teach in a high school as a wheelchair user, or if you’re considering a career in education yourself, please feel free to contact me.

What a joke. Lazy, apathetic, despicable attitude from the NZQA.

Story from stuff.co.nz:

A blind Christchurch schoolboy is frustrated he has to miss out on NCEA credits because exam organisers say they cannot accommodate his disability.

Hagley Community College year 13 pupil Dylan Neale cannot sit Tuesday’s level-three National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA) drama exam because it requires watching and analysing a DVD.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority has said it does not know how to enable that to happen for Dylan, 18. The authority has ruled out providing a reader/writer or speaker.

“If I could just do the exam like everyone else, it’d be good, as I’d get more credits and it sounds like an interesting exam.”

With dreams of being a comedian, Dylan said he enjoyed the freedom drama provided. Being unable to sit the drama exam “loaded a lot of extra pressure on the major production we had to do, which was worth five credits, as it meant I really had to get it right and it was stressful”.

The exam is worth four credits and Dylan needs 42 to reach his University Entrance (UE) goal. He still expects to gain UE, but does not want other sight-impaired pupils disadvantaged in a similar way.

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Such a compelling read! I’m excited by the thought of one day having my own kids and shovelling them off to school, but questions do arise!

• How will I tie their shoelaces?
• Will other kids give them stick about my wheelchair?
• What will the teacher’s reaction be?

Well, in this article from BBC’s fantastic Ouch! site, self-confessed “sexy, sassy” mother-of-two Isabella Devani tells us about her experience in this exact situation.

My wheelchair was too big for the small classroom, but Kirit was desperate to show Mummy his new coat peg and the like. That meant traversing the mass of under-five’s playing in my path. Resourceful as ever I decided not to risk mowing down the children and parents. Instead, I handed my digital camera to the classroom assistant who went with my son to photograph everything that would be important to him in his first days there. It wasn’t ideal but we both left happy.

Hi everyone,

I’m so pleased the issue of wheelchair users having to pay more than everyone else for U2 tickets has caught the attention of the mainstream media, sometimes there’s nothing more powerful than the voice of a reporter on your side when you’re trying to affect change! I just wanted to point out a couple of things:

• We’ve succeeded in changing the minds of the promoters! They’ve decided to make some of the wheelchair seats available in the cheaper price categories, so to my fellow wheelchair users, I hope you can make it to the show by taking up this offer!
• For what it’s worth, not once have I contacted the media myself, all coverage of this has been initiated by reporters calling me, and I’m so grateful for their support of this cause

Last week I was down in Wellington for a youth forum on the ratification of UN Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (link to document in PDF format) where I met Mike Gourlay, who runs the ‘One in Five‘ show on National Radio. The show runs at 7pm on Sunday nights, and addresses a range of issues facing New Zealanders with disabilities – it really is worth a listen. If you can’t make it to a radio, the

Some things really baffle me. One of those things is when a teenager with Down’s Syndrome is prevented from participating in a mainstream schooling environment because he isn’t allocated sufficient support funding, and, by mere virtue of the fact that he’s disabled, is seen as “a potential danger to themselves and others”. I’ve just been reading about Wellington 16-year-old Edward Watkins, who is only attends 14 out of his 25 weekly classes in a mainstream environment – the other time

I shake my head in bewilderment… Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son’s kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class. After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn’t like about Barton’s 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher said they were going to take a vote, Barton said. By a 14 to 2 margin, the class voted him out of the class. Barton said her son is in the process

Okay, so James is a 4-year-old boy who has Down’s Syndrome, and is currently funded 10 hours of one-on-one care per week, equivalent to two hours a day at his local Kindergarten. While other kids attend for 17 hours a week, James can only go for 10, because that’s all his support allocation allows. His mother is upset because this entitlement has just been cut from a previous two and a half hours a day, down to just the two.

“Don’t worry, we won’t be removing your support, it’ll just take 3 weeks for you to get your notes from your notetakers from now on.” That’s the message that disabled students are getting from the Manukau Institute of Technology, as they look to make budget cuts. As it is, the disability support office has had one of its three staff culled, and while students are assured they’ll still receive support, it will “operate under a more constrained budget”, MIT’s PR

Well in case you were worried that we were still living in a country where disabled people weren’t expected to go to Uni until they were 21, you can now rest easy again. Thanks to a hasty Cabinet meeting to correct an archaic funding anomaly which prevented Ryan Leitch going to Uni, Ryan can now get funding for the support he needs, and start his Geography degree. Good stuff, I reckon, but wow – not before time!