What is BCEdAccess?
It is an organization run entirely by volunteers striving for equitable access to education for complex learners and students with disabilities. The organization is run across all of BC. They have evolved from a small Facebook group that began in 2014 and now consists of over 4000 members who strive for a shared goal of equitable access to education for their children.
“We champion and support children and youth who have disabilities and who are complex learners to reach their full potential in BC education, and in all aspects of their lives. This is achieved through supporting families, sharing information, providing education to families, allies, professionals and students, providing community engagement and awareness, and other activities to promote equitable access to education and inclusion for all
bcedaccess.com
GUEST SPEAKER
In class, our guest speaker was Chantelle Morvay-Adams, who is a strong advocate for inclusive education. Chantelle discusses a few of the difficulties that parents face when advocating for their students within the education system. She explained that the implementation of technology for students is beneficial but does not come without difficulties. Some of them included the fact that tech is outdated, getting access to tech is difficult, and there is a lack of knowledge on how to use/supports using the devices within school. These difficulties instil challenges for students who would benefit from enhanced technology implementation. Furthermore, Chantelle explained the difficulties surrounding advocacy. For parents, advocacy may be difficult as it is complex to navigate the school systems and it takes time to do so. For teachers, the difficulty stems from navigating and following the schools’ code of conduct appropriately. This is important for both the teacher and the parent as they can work together to ensure equitable education for the student(s). In the end, tech is not the answer for all, as all students learn in different ways, but it is important to normalize the use of tech within the classroom and to remove the stigma around it.
WORD OF THE DAY
ABLEISM
Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities. This stems from believing people with typical abilities are superior. Ableism is rooted in the assumption that people with disabilities require ‘fixing’ and goes on to define people by their disability.
