Help Teach

Help Teach: Episode 17 - One Year Recap
Mihai Covaser: [00:00:00] Welcome, learners and learned alike, to Help Teach.

Mihai Covaser: [00:00:09] Hello and welcome to our community audio project. I am your host, editor, producer, and project co-lead: Mihai Covaser. I am also a youth living with a physical disability. My most formative experiences living with a disability have come in the Canadian public education system. Many students like me, with physical, emotional, or mental challenges, go through their years of schooling lacking the supports and accommodations they need to partake of the same opportunities offered to their peers. The vision of this project is to provide educators in Canadian classrooms, students with disabilities, and members of the general public, with the tools and knowledge that they need to make our institutions more accessible and inclusive for all. Join me and a diverse cast of guests as we explore perspectives on disabilities and education in this podcast series. One last message for you teachers tuning in: Listen in each episode for our key takeaway that you can implement in your classroom today to help us further this vision.

Mihai Covaser: [00:01:13] Welcome back to Help Teach! Today, as of the audience members hearing it, it’s been about a week, but as of recording, it is just four days since our one-year anniversary here on the show. I will express many gratitudes many times over as the episode goes on, but before we get into all of that, I do want to introduce our cohosts and co-leads that are on the show again today to do a bit of a recap. It’s a pleasure to have Élise Doucet, Payton Given, and Maggie Manning back on the show. Wow! One year… It’s kinda crazy to think that this project’s been going on that long, it’s super exciting; of course, I could not have done it without all of you helping me to kick it off and get it off the ground. Unfortunately, Alexis couldn’t be with us today to record, but I’m sure she’s here in spirit and I will have her on again to talk sometime soon. We’ll get into everything about how the show is doing, you know, letting the audience know what’s going on, but first and foremost, I do want to turn it to all of you to say hi to the audience again and maybe take a couple of minutes just to tell us how have things been, what have you been working on in the past little while since you’ve been on the show, so I’ll throw it to Maggie first to get us started.

Maggie Manning: [00:02:38] Yeah, hi, everybody! I’m super excited to be back! I’ve met you on a couple previous episodes, but just to give a little update on what’s new in my life, I’ve been really involved in para sport, continuing to compete at a high level in both para ice hockey or sledge hockey, and wheelchair basketball. Also, in addition to my own sports endeavors, I’m always working on improving access and inclusion for people with disabilities to para sport. I think the really big exciting thing in my life most recently is I got back from Peru, where I traveled throughout with my university respiratory therapy program, and we delivered workshops on various medical topics, donated medical equipment, and even got to visit some local hospitals, so things are really busy in my life, but I’m happy to be here.

Mihai Covaser: [00:03:23] Awesome. Peru! That’s really great. I had a friend who traveled there back in high school, and he said it was such an amazing time; like culturally, it’s so rich and diverse. I’m sure you had a great time. Also, though, I don’t know if this was mentioned in the previous episode that you were on, I think this happened afterwards, but do you wanna let the audience know about your little media escapade that you did recently?

Maggie Manning: [00:03:49] Yeah, of course. So I guess it was kind of under wraps when we first started doing this, but last summer, I filmed a TV show, and it was all about para sport, which was super exciting because it’s kind of the first of its kind, and so I was able to showcase a whole bunch of different para sports, competing with fellow athletes from across the world, really from the US, Canada, and the UK, and so it was a really cool opportunity and we’ve had great feedback and just raising awareness that sports can be done with or without a disability.

Mihai Covaser: [00:04:20] So where can the audience find that?

Maggie Manning: [00:04:22] In Canada, it can be found on YouTube; you Google All-Round Champion, season five, which is the para athletes season, and then in the US, it can be found on BYUtv.

Mihai Covaser: [00:04:35] Awesome. I will link that in the show description. Thank you so much, Maggie. Okay, turning it now to Payton! Payton, glad to have you back; it’s been a while since I’ve gotten the chance to have you on the show, so it’s really nice to see you again. Tell us about what’s going on!

Payton Given: [00:04:50] Yes. I’m so happy to be back on the show. It’s been a little while. I just started high school last fall, I guess, and I encountered some accessibility boundaries and a not very accessible school, so I’m working with the school to help improve that for not just me, but many others. People in wheelchairs, people that have all disabilities. I have done advocacy work with the Rick Hansen Foundation and I’m just really focusing on how to make my school accessible and how I can better educate people in my school, because my school is a very old school, so it’s not that accessible, so I worked with the school to put a ramp in this year, not just for me but it helps so many other people, too. Thank you for having me back on the show, Mihai.

Mihai Covaser: [00:06:11] Of course, Payton. That’s really great to hear. I know school has been tough in your area of the world recently. For audience members that aren’t aware of this or that are not Canadian, there’s been some–a series of strikes and negotiations going on in public school out in the Canadian East, in particular the Maritime Provinces and Ontario, so yeah. I know that it’s been–you haven’t really been able to go to school for the last little while, so I’m sorry to hear that, but you were telling me that maybe that might resolve soon, so hopefully it does.

Payton Given: [00:06:44] Yes. It should resolve soon and I support the EPAs and what they do. Their jobs are very valued, and the government should value that, too. So yes.

Mihai Covaser: [00:07:03] Awesome. Alright, then, turning it, last but certainly not least, to Élise Doucet. Élise, good to see you again.

Élise Doucet: [00:07:11] Yeah, good to be here again. I don’t know what I’ve done. What have I been doing? I’m trying to convince–I’ve kind of done this before, but I’m sort of doing it again, because Kamloops, they started a Kamloops Accessibility Committee, and so I’m essentially trying to convince them to put captions on city council meetings and that kind of thing, so that I can have access and understand what’s happening municipally in Kamloops. So that’s what I’m trying to do. Nothing’s happened; it’s just what I’m trying to do.

Mihai Covaser: [00:07:51] Well, that is really important work, and you know, at least, maybe if it’s going through an accessibility committee, maybe it’ll be more likely to change in that respect, I hope.

Élise Doucet: [00:08:02] Hopefully.

Mihai Covaser: [00:08:03] Yeah, yeah. Fingers crossed. Right! I suppose, since we’re on the topic, maybe I’ll offer an update or two, as well. I was mentioning to my cohosts here that maybe that’s something I don’t do as much as often as I’m interviewing other folks, but the University of British Columbia has also recently started an accessibility committee, which is really great to hear. So it’s totally new, it’s sort of being built from the ground up, so it’s really gonna be up to the members of the committee how to run it and what to do, what projects to pursue, so I won’t get into too much detail on that because it is new and there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of setting things up, but I am very fortunate to have been selected to be on this committee, and so I’m very excited to represent UBC as a student and as a person with a disability and to really try and get some positive change, in terms of the school community and the school environment, so that’s very exciting. Yeah, I mean, it’s been a crazy year. So much has happened and Help Teach has only gotten bigger. We have just crossed the 300 download mark, so thank you so much for all that support. Over these last now-17 episodes, we have listeners from all over the world; we have listeners from ten countries worldwide now, which is incredible, so that international support is so appreciated and all of you audience members that are continuously listening: that’s what makes the show be what it is and continue to put out these stories and the advice that I think people need to hear. So thank you, all of you, for listening, and thank you again to the three of you and to Alexis, as well, if she catches this episode, for helping me get it off the ground. Speaking of which, seeing as we’re coming up on a year, and, you know, the show has changed and evolved over the last year, I want to just turn it to you folks and ask you: what’s your impression right now, after a year of this show going on? Is it where you expected it would be? Are there sort of ideas that you really want audience members to know about or focus on, like maybe favorite episodes or something like that? Yeah, what’s the impression? I mean, I’m just kind of flabbergasted, but you’ve all put a lot of work into helping this get off the ground, so what do you think?

Maggie Manning: [00:10:37] You know, I think that it’s really something that’s grown bigger than I ever thought it would get. Going into it, I wasn’t sure– I was like, “Well, maybe some people from Canada,” and now we see the statistics and we can see that it’s gone like worldwide. I think that’s incredible, just because it’s that many more people that are equipped with some resources from people with disabilities, understanding the lived experience, and so I’m really just shocked and so excited that it’s gone so far and excited to see where it continues to go.

Mihai Covaser: [00:11:10] Mmhm.

Payton Given: [00:11:12] I agree with Maggie; I–When I did the pilot episode, I did not think that we were going to reach ten countries. I’m so excited and so happy that it’s reached everyone that it has reached, because I try to remember that if I only reach one person and change their thinking a little bit and help them understand disabilities and how to make classrooms more accessible, that’s what really matters, so I just wanna thank everybody that’s been continually watching the show. I hope that you can learn something from it and I want to just say that I appreciate it, and it’s amazing to see what the show has become and what it’s going to become in the future, and I’m excited to see what it’s gonna go into.

Mihai Covaser: [00:12:19] Mmhm, mmhm.

Élise Doucet: [00:12:21] Yeah, no, I think it’s fantastic, how many people we’ve reached. And yeah, it’s grown like so big, in a sense, and I just don’t know, Mihai, where you find the time to do all of this, like I want your time management skills, because it’s just… Yeah. I need to take a peek at your calendar, like what do you–

Mihai Covaser: [00:12:45] Oh, man, no, you don’t! If you have any epileptic conditions or anything like that, there is a lot of colors and it is crazy.

Maggie Manning: [00:12:58] Do you ever sleep?

Mihai Covaser: [00:13:02] Not enough, usually, but I try. I definitely try to, because I’m–

Payton Given: [00:13:12] Really, though, Mihai, I don’t know–Like I need a little bit of your time managing skills. Like I don’t–Literally, I don’t know how you do it, like with school and like this and the other endeavors that you’re doing, like I don’t know how you do it.

Mihai Covaser: [00:13:32] Hey, I mean, you know, part of it is having such great guests that are flexible with their timing and that are willing to meet with me and do the planning sessions before; that makes recording go so much more smoothly. And you know, I mean, it’s one of those things, right, where, like, if you love to do it and you sort of gradually just practice and get better skills at it, it just becomes easier and easier over time, and I certainly do love it, so… You know, it doesn’t feel like work, that’s for sure.

Élise Doucet: [00:14:04] Very humble answer. You’re too nice.

Mihai Covaser: [00:14:09] I mean, what am I gonna say? “Aw, I’m just so good at podcasting and it’s like my calling and–”

Élise Doucet: [00:14:16] You can brag a little bit– You can brag a little bit, right?

Mihai Covaser: [00:14:23] Uh, Élise, I appreciate you always encouraging me to stay realistic and not be over-humble. No, I mean–Yeah, it has been a lot of work, it’s been also a lot of fun; I mean, editing episodes… Honestly, it comes down, often, to like how good is the mic that the person I’m interviewing is using? That changes so much of how the editing process goes afterwards, but yeah, it’s been a lot of work, it’s also been a lot of fun, and I’m just super proud of where it’s come, and as you all said, I’m excited to see where it goes. As a matter of fact, that’s a good transition here into that, because I think our audience would like to know where we’re going with this. Is there a plan or end date? Are there extra projects or things coming down the line? So I’ll give a brief summary of what we talked about, and then, you know, as I sort of alight on each of the points that you made earlier, your ideas that you told me about, feel free to jump in and add details or suggestions. But basically, where Help Teach is going is as long as I find guests that are willing to share their stories and to talk about these subjects, and as long as there are subjects to talk about and obstacles to overcome, I think– I don’t see myself stopping any time soon. I think part of this will certainly be to expand into, if possible, research or advisory or anything that can really double down on the impact we’ve been having. I know, Maggie, you gave me some fantastic information about some people that might be interested in my show, that would–family members and things like that, so where we’re going with this is, as you said, Payton, as much impact as we can have and as many people as we can touch in the future with this information and with these stories. You know, as long as there’s people to talk to and people to listen, there’s episodes to be made, so… But yeah, I do want to sort of pass it on and for you to sort of summarize where you think you would like the show to go, as well; the stuff you’ve told me before, just so our audience knows what to expect. Élise, did you wanna kick that off?

Élise Doucet: [00:16:43] Sure. Okay. Way to put me on the spot! I think anything we could do, like beyond just individual episodes; I don’t know exactly what that would look like, but kind of beyond episodes or like more audience interaction.

Mihai Covaser: [00:17:00] Yeah.

Élise Doucet: [00:17:01] I think would be really awesome to do; I feel like we’ve put out these episodes and you get the numbers back of like people listening to it and, you know, ten countries and that kind of thing, but we don’t really know what people are thinking, you know. Are people hate-watching? Like what exactly is going on on the other end? So yeah, kind of more audience participation, I think, would be something that would be interesting in the future.

Mihai Covaser: [00:17:25] Yeah, and to that, I will remind our audience members at this time that you can get in touch with us anytime; helpteachpodcast@gmail.com is the address, so if you have thoughts on the show, if you have friends that have listened to an episode and have given you some thoughts, translate those into a message. Anyone does want to get in touch, the better, because, as you said, Élise, I think it would be really nice here to start to sort of frame our conversations around what people want to hear about and what people are listening for and subjects that maybe we’ve touched on that haven’t been explored as much, so definitely an open invitation to audience members to participate in that way and to get in touch with us, because I think that would be really great.

Payton Given: [00:18:11] Yes. I’m hoping people could email questions and maybe we could do like a Q&A-type podcast, because we are doing this podcast and I appreciate everyone that listens, but there are so many questions that are unanswered in the disability community that most people don’t know, because they don’t teach about disabilities that much in school. So I would like it to become a friendly spot that people can get their questions answered and we can start answering the uncomfortable questions, per se, or the questions that people don’t, like, ask in the classroom.

Mihai Covaser: [00:19:10] Absolutely. And I will also link again, in the episode notes today– There is a Discord server for the show, which I don’t often plug, but I have made a Discord server a little while ago for the show, so I will put the link in the description. Anyone that wants to join up, this is an open server for anyone, listeners, guests, so if you wanna come on, maybe if you’re not comfortable asking a question to get put on the show or you just wanna ask us some quick questions or you wanna get to know us, come join the Discord and, you know, chat with us, have a good time. And if, as you go and interact with us, you feel like you want to join up on the show or you want to ask a question, I would love to do, even like, sort of direct Q&As, you know, where we have some people come on with questions and ask them and have some people ready to answer, so yeah. I’ll put that in the description, too.

Maggie Manning: [00:20:01] You know, Mihai, something that I know we’ve talked about a bit, in terms of where the show’s true directory is going, is just like that networking piece that I think you’ve touched on: as long as there’s people to interview, you want to keep going with this project, and I think that’s really great, and so just like building on that network and looking for those people who are in the network that we want to target. So in the education system, and I know I had mentioned that a lot of my family’s in the education system, and so just like trying to find those connections and… Yeah, finding people for you to interview, because I think that this is some really great work and some really good things coming out of the podcast, and so just wanting to continue seeing that growth.

Mihai Covaser: [00:20:40] Yeah, for sure, for sure. I’m pursuing opportunities as much as possible. There’s actually–Again, I won’t share too many details because the event hasn’t happened yet, as of now, and I don’t want to sort of share anything undually, but there is an event that I’ll be attending some time soon, where there will be some members that do some really prominent work in the disability community; it’ll be sort of an online meet-and-greet thing, so I will attend and I will definitely spread the word, and, as you say, the more people we can get on the show the better. Yes, Maggie, I will share–I will share with you all definitely, as soon as I can.

Mihai Covaser: [00:21:27] I think that really does take us well into– This episode won’t have a key takeaway, just because it’s sort of for us to get back together to chat again and to bring back up some of these old conversations, but I think that idea of interaction between people who have lived experience and who do this kind of advocacy work, and people who don’t and people who don’t know as much and people who want to learn… I mean, we’ve talked about this a lot, I think, in different episodes, but that is so pivotal to our work getting out there and getting traction and making changes. For us, too! It’s not just asking you to come see us, but also for us to reach out to you and to try and to ask you, “What experience do you have? What do you know about this? Is there something you want to learn?” Inviting friends to play wheelchair basketball or para ice hockey that, you know, are maybe able-bodied and just want to try a new experience, or if it’s Élise teaching people ASL, which you still owe me some ASL lessons; I’m definitely looking forward to getting those. But funny enough, actually, my mum started learning ASL online with a website, and–

Élise Doucet: [00:22:39] Oh, cool!

Mihai Covaser: [00:22:40] Yeah, yeah. So she’s just on her own time, you know, when she’s busy, when she’s doing other work and that kind of thing, she’ll just watch some videos and start to do some signing. And she’ll walk up to me and she’ll sign at me, and I’ll be like, “Oh, no! I haven’t caught up yet, I don’t know what you’re saying, but that’s so cool!” So yeah. Yeah, that outreach and that interaction between people is so important to the work, and it’s so energizing! I don’t know about you guys, but I love talking to people and sharing ideas and sharing information.

Élise Doucet: [00:23:10] That’s how we know that you’re an extrovert.

Mihai Covaser: [00:23:15] Nah, you think?

Payton Given: [00:23:20] I love talking to people and people asking me questions, because in my personal life, I like when people ask questions, rather than assume, or like earlier on today, there was a lady– I was in Wal-Mart, actually. There was a lady who was staring, and I just said hi, and I knew that she wanted to say something, but she was too scared. I feel like there’s a stigma between asking people with disabilities, because I would rather people ask me than assume or tell– Like kids are very curious, so when they want to come up to people or when they come up to me, and their parents tell them, “Oh, don’t bother her,” or something like that, I would rather them ask a question, because the sooner children know, the better, because the next generation of people that we are bringing up, I would love for them to know the more about disabilities. The more, the better.

Mihai Covaser: [00:24:47] Mmhm.

Payton Given: [00:24:49] In my opinion.

Mihai Covaser: [00:24:50] Yeah. That’s really well said. And, you know, that “in my opinion” part, I think, is just nice to clarify for audiences that, like– Of course, it’s not like you can lump all of us into necessarily one group or put us into one umbrella, and there will be differing opinions, so there are people with disabilities that don’t necessarily always love to be asked, or, you know, if you’re having a bad day, someone coming up and asking you about something that, you know, maybe is the source of your discomfort that day, maybe it’s not great. But you know, most people with disabilities and most people in general are pretty decent, I would say, as a sort of baseline, and so we’d be happy to let you know, like, “Hey, maybe not right now,” or politely say that I’m not really feeling like explaining this right now, but I think most of the time, you’ll get some kind of an answer that’s polite and that teaches you something. So definitely not to be afraid of it, and I think– It’s so cute. I think i told this story on the show once before, so audience members may be getting a repeat here, but I was up on the ski hill, right, doing my para skiing, my sit-skiing, and I was ready to go down a run–this is at Big White Ski Resort in B.C.–and I was ready to go down a run, and this girl and her mum sort of come up to me. I sort of felt, like Spidey-sense, I sort of felt them hanging behind and sort of wanting to ask, and so she came up. The little girl was snowboarding, and she just sat down, she just plopped on the snowboard beside me, and just started asking me, like, “How do you steer? How do you brake? How do you–?” All of that. And it was the cutest thing, she was adorable, and I’m glad that she got the chance to ask those questions. Maggie, I saw that you did have a reaction there. You wanna share?

Maggie Manning: [00:26:33] Yeah, I just–I think that this is a really interesting conversation, because if you’ve been here throughout, I think on the very first episode, I was talking about how I identify with my disability and I am very similar to Payton, in that I would prefer somebody come up and ask me, rather than, you know, stare and wonder, because I’m the one who’s gonna have the answer and usually almost always willing to give that answer and wanna educate, just because like it’s been brought up, not everybody has kind of this awareness and the only way we can educate is to share. And so, for me, that’s something I’ve always been really passionate about, but I was actually listening to this podcast and it was about how disability is kind of like our story and not everybody wants to share that, and I think that was like a very valid point that I’ve never really looked at that side, whereas maybe they’re not feeling like they want to share that day or maybe it’s just like something they don’t identify as or with, and so I think that it’s a really interesting conversation to have, because a lot of advocates are like, “Oh, just ask me,” right, but that, of course, doesn’t go for everybody, but it’s also a really good way to just understand, you know, we’re all different. We all have different ways we want to share that, and it’s also not our job to have to share that. That’s one of the things they brought, that like your curiosity and wanting to know more about my disability isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we also don’t have to fulfill that if we don’t want to, you know. And I think that that was a really interesting conversation, because like, I’ve always been in the mindset where I’m like, “Just ask me, I’ll share,” you know, and I’ve always told people that, but then I was like, “Well, there are people who I’ve met and who I’m friends with who prefer not to share,” and that’s totally okay, too. And so I think it’s a really interesting conversation that I’ve become more passionate about, just because there is this other side, and also something that isn’t often talked about is, like, you can be an advocate without having to share your lived experience, without having to share really specific details. And so I think that’s a very interesting conversation.

Mihai Covaser: [00:28:33] Yeah, it is, for sure, and I would love to hear other thoughts on this, Élise or Payton, if you want to respond to that. I agree; there’s definitely people I’ve met that don’t necessarily feel the same way, and I think that idea that like, it’s not an obligation and that, you know, people shouldn’t have to go through that process of educating and advocating if that’s not for them, I think I’ve said that fairly often, and I think I still stand by it. Everyone has their own skills and their own strengths and their own passions, right, and so we do a lot of that because that’s what we like to do, but it’s definitely not an obligation that everyone has. At the same time, I want to make sure that we foster an environment where if you do have curiosity, you can feel as if it’s not–you’re not ashamed to try and ask, and then if you get shut down, it happens, right, and that’s not a reflection on you; it’s just that person, you know, that’s not how they want to share, and then you can always find information through other channels like shows like ours or, you know, other podcasts out there, or anything like that.

Payton Given: [00:29:34] I also want to say it’s great when you search questions on Google app, but take it with a grain of salt, because they want people to read it, so they want to use dramatic text or something to hook you in, so use it with a grain of salt. It’s a great way to get your questions answered, yes, but sometimes, it’s not exactly how it seems or let me say, it’s not exactly how it is, but everybody that has a disability is different. We are all individuals at the end of the day, and I find that people group us all together, and that is not right. Everybody’s different, everybody that has a disability is different, no person with cerebral palsy is the same or like, that has a spinal cord injury, or is blind is– We’re all different at the end of the day. So I just wanted to say that.

Mihai Covaser: [00:30:56] Yeah. For sure. Élise, did you have thoughts there?

Élise Doucet: [00:31:02] Yeah, no. I think I agree with the overall sentiment of the other people, like just ask me. Just ask me if you have a question and like, try to be respectful when you do so, because there was this one experience that I had when I was volunteering at this event at the therapeutic riding association, where I used to ride and I used to volunteer as well. And I was volunteering at this event and I was talking with this new person, and we were working together, and then mentioned that, you know, I also took lessons. And she had this, like, mind, like, “what?” She was obviously shocked for a second, and then it took her like a couple minutes, and then she, like, she didn’t know how to word it, but basically, what she was trying to ask was, “You have lessons here at the therapeutic riding association, but like you look normal, what’s wrong with you?” That’s what she wanted to ask, was, “What’s wrong with you?” And it was like- At that point, I kind of just like, “You want to know what’s wrong with me,” and kind of just like, said it, and I didn’t really correct her and be like, “You know, maybe you shouldn’t say that to people.” Because I think it was clear that she was uncomfortable with saying it, but she didn’t know any other way of saying it. I think she could’ve thought about a little better and be like, “Oh, what disability do you have?” But that was just like– Yeah, it turned into a learning moment, but also if I was having a really bad day that day and someone comes up to me and is like, “What’s wrong with you?” It’s not like the most pleasant experience, and it’s also like, well it’s one I remember, but just like in general, sometimes people, like, they don’t have a ton of experience with disability and they have a very set idea of it, and then they’re confronted with something that’s different, and they’re kind of like, they don’t know what box to put you in, and they kind of want to know more, but they don’t really necessarily know how to do so without coming across as rude.

Mihai Covaser: [00:33:06] Yeah.

Élise Doucet: [00:33:07] Yeah, so think about your wording a little bit sometimes, when you ask questions, or at least acknowledge that you don’t know the right wording or something, like you’re kind of– You can just be like, “I’m not quite sure what to say here, but I’m curious about this and I’m not trying to be.” I think that’s better, because like yeah, it’s what we were talking about earlier; people aren’t taught this stuff.

Mihai Covaser: [00:33:31] Yeah.

Élise Doucet: [00:33:32] You know, they don’t think, like, I’m not horribly offended, just sort of uncomfortable to have that kind of comment directed at you.

Mihai Covaser: [00:33:40] Yeah, for sure.

Élise Doucet: [00:33:42] Yeah. But that makes sense– I started rambling for a second–

Mihai Covaser: [00:33:46] No, no! Yeah, it was a really interesting story and I think it’s a good example of the fact that: Yes, you know, we want to be open with allowing questions and making sure that everyone learns and takes away from us the information that they need to continue to be accessible themselves, but there are better and not-so-great ways of asking those questions, so definitely “What’s wrong with you?” is not a great choice of words. And I think, Maggie, you and I were having this discussion a little while ago: how much or how little you identify with your disability, as part of your identity, and, you know, some people feel very strongly that their disability relates to their lives and that it’s a big part of their identity, and there are other people–I fall a little more on this side of the spectrum, I would say–where, like, I would identify less with it, I would think, if there were less obstacles to face, in the sense of, like, if the environments were built more accessibly, I wouldn’t be talking about it all the time or, like, I wouldn’t say, “I have CP, therefore this,” right? As long as I can participate fully, that’s all I really care about, but you know, people disagree on that, too, so yeah. Definitely there are better and worse ways to ask those questions.

Élise Doucet: [00:35:08] Well, it’s kind of like, you know, if glasses were really expensive–I mean, they are expensive–but if most people weren’t able to have glasses, you know, having any sort of eye issue, like most people–well, not most people, but a lot of people wear glasses. I mean, half of us here today are wearing glasses. I think we would consider nearsightedness and farsightedness disabilities so fast, if it wasn’t, like, relatively easy to get glasses. But because it is easy, it’s just sort of, “Okay, you wear glasses, things are accessible.”

Mihai Covaser: [00:35:42] Yeah, yeah.

Payton Given: [00:35:44] I have something to add there. So like I would say, I wouldn’t have to think about my disability as much if the world was more accessible around me; I agree with Mihai. But I run into an issue at school where people feel bad that I am in a wheelchair, which, for me, you shouldn’t feel bad, and I have an issue where people will just do things for me without asking. And that, for a lot of people that have disabilities, if you go up and push their wheelchair or go and– I don’t know, there’s many different scenarios– It could actually be dangerous to the person, so just when you ask questions, when you’re trying to help someone, be aware and ask first.

Mihai Covaser: [00:36:44] Yeah. Yeah, I know we talked about that, and I was gonna say: What a way to summarize a year and come full circle to episode one, Payton, where I think you and I discussed some of these things and we talked about the clear lines of communication and all of that. You know, as advocates, I think a lot of us, like we’ve expressed here today, want to have connections with people, want to teach people, want to do all of that, but there are definitely–I would almost call them etiquette things that you can learn and should learn, when it comes to asking people–And again, I think it stems, maybe, from that idea of putting us in a certain box or sort of having a preconceived notion about what disability means for someone’s identity. It’s pretty commonplace, for example, to walk up to someone who has a cast– Let’s say you kind of know them, they have a cast, you walk up to them, they’re a kid in your class or someone like that, right? And you go like, “Oh, you know, what happened? Are you okay? Do you want to tell me that story?” You don’t walk up to them and say, “You stupid idiot, what stairs did you trip down to break your arm?” You know what I mean? So on the one hand, it’s normal to ask and it’s normal to want to understand people’s situations; on the other hand, there are definitely good ways to do it and not-so-good ways to do it, right? I think that if people were to see it less as “This is a box and like, this enigmatic lump of people that I am approaching have weird rules that don’t apply to the rest of humanity, and I have to sort this out with a blindfold on.” It’s a very weird mental space, I think, to approach the issue, so…

Payton Given: [00:38:26] It is, yes.

Maggie Manning: [00:38:28] Get with it, Mihai!

Mihai Covaser: [00:38:30] Maggie, did you have something to add on any of that?

Maggie Manning: [00:38:36] No, I don’t really have anything specific; I just think, like, even in this conversation, looking at all the different points of view and now you just imagine multiplying that by all these people who have disabilities across the globe, you know; it’s just, there’s so many different ways to approach things and we’re all different and we all want something different, and so I think it’s just interesting, because there’s four of us here now and we all have a different take on it, you know?

Mihai Covaser: [00:38:59] Yeah, yeah. For sure.

Payton Given: [00:39:01] I would like to add something. Like I said previously, I feel like there’s a stigma on like, we are all the same. Like I said before, we are all different people, and you can’t, like, lump like a whole millions of people together in one box. And just be aware who you’re talking to or trying to help, before you actually go do something, because like I said before, it could actually be dangerous or make their day harder when you’re just trying to help.

Mihai Covaser: [00:39:46] Yeah, and I think that’s part of the reason that I’m so excited that projects like the UBC Accessiblity Committee are coming about now, because they operate on that “nothing about us, without us–nothing about us, without us, is for us” kind of motto, and you know–Maggie’s giving me a thumbs-up–and I mean, that first of all, the fact that an institute for higher learning only has this committee in 2023 is a little bit ridiculous, but also, you know, again, the purpose of this project is not to put anyone down, and so while it seems as if that is–it’s kind of surprising that it’s only just happening–Like it’s been such a big and rapid change over the last five, ten years only, right, that a lot of these things have been coming to light and we’ve been talking a lot more about these issues, and I think it’s important to be excited that it’s happening, and even if you do recognize that it’s, you know, a little late coming or what have you, it’s really nice to see that people are understanding that there needs to be representation and information given by people that are actually stakeholders in whatever you’re trying to change, and like you said, Payton, you get to know people that you’re trying to help, you understand what would actually be helpful, and that’s how you go about doing things, not just sort of throwing–this is a kids-friendly show–throwing things at the wall and seeing if they stick, you know what I mean? Well, I think with that, that takes us really nicely into–I didn’t think we’d have a key takeaway for this episode, but it really seems like we do, and I think the common theme that came up today was about how to engage respectfully and appropriately with people with disabilities and what the importance of building those connections is. We’ve talked about it before, I think, on previous episodes, but just to sort of put it in a bit of a different light: There are ways that you should ask questions and ways that maybe aren’t so appreciated, things like instead of, “What’s wrong with you?”, you know, for example, like if you want to ask, “Would you tell me a little bit about your disability?” or, “Would you tell me a bit about why you use this device?” or, you know, “Can I help you with something?” These are open-ended ways to ask a question that don’t make a person feel like they have something wrong with them or like they’re immediately being put in some kind of box, and it opens the door for conversation, and I think that’s what we really want to do with this show and with all the projects that I do, personally; I think opening those lines of communication and making these teaching moments is really the way I like to do my advocacy and, I think, the way a number of us like to do it. And I once again extend that invitation to the audience: join our Discord, get in touch by email, ask us questions! Don’t feel as if you can’t, even if you feel like it’s a silly question or, you know, if you want to know something really specific about a story we’ve told or anything– As long as we have those conversations going, we have room to grow together and to build the environments that we all feel comfortable living in. Yeah, I wanna put that encouragement out to the audience one more time. Any final words from my lovely co-hosts here?

Payton Given: [00:43:13] I just wanna say thank you, everyone, again, for listening and for taking the time to listen to what disability means to us as individuals, like I said. And we like to have open conversations with people, and I appreciate that everybody is taking the time to listen to us to have a better understanding of disability at the end of the day. That’s what I think we are all trying to do, is make the world accessible for everyone, just not for one or two people.

Mihai Covaser: [00:44:04] Well, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Thank you very much for that, Payton. And thank you, everyone, for listening! To all of you: happy one year! Thanks so much for helping get this off the ground and I’m really excited to see what comes next! I’ll talk to you later, everyone.

Mihai Covaser: [00:44:24] You’ve just heard another episode of the community audio project, Help Teach. I’d love to give a huge thank you to my other co-leads on this project: Payton Given, Maggie Manning, Élise Doucet, and Alexis Holmgren, all youth leaders at the Rick Hansen Foundation, who I’d also like to thank for their continued support in this initiative and others. I’d like to give a huge shout-out to our community mentor for this project, Charl Coetzee. My name is Mihai Covaser. I am your host, editor, and producer for this podcast series. You can now find all our transcripts, episode notes, and links to other resources on Transistor.fm, or listen to us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you have any questions about the show, if you’d like to offer suggestions, or you would like to be connected as a guest, you can now get in touch at helpteachpodcast@gmail.com. That’s helpteachpodcast@gmail.com. Please send in any questions that you might have regarding our episodes, and we would love to address them in future ones. Tune in next time for more great conversations and key takeaways that you educators can implement in the classroom today, to make it a more accessible and inclusive place for all. Thank you for listening, and I’ll see you next time.