Help Teach

Help Teach: Episode 21 - Holiday Special: 2023 Recap

 Mihai Covaser [00:00:00]: Welcome, learners and learned alike, to Help Teach!

 Mihai Covaser [00:00:08]: Hello, and welcome to our community audio project. I am your host, editor, producer, and project co-lead,  Mihai Covaser. I'm 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 in 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 [00:01:08]: Hello and welcome back to Help Teach! First of all, before I get started with anything, I want to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone listening here today.

 Mihai Covaser [00:01:20]: I really hope that you have had the time to take a little bit of time off, spend some time with family, friends. I hope that you're all happy, safe, healthy, and enjoying the holiday season before we kick things back up in the New Year. I know that I've had a great time here with some family myself, have some family over. Some family that's moved to town recently that I've had the chance to visit, so it's been a really, it's been a really nice experience for me—take a bit of time off. That's actually part of the reason that this episode is coming out a little bit later than anticipated, but yeah, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday Season, and all the best to you and yours.

 Mihai Covaser [00:02:02]: Now, perhaps, uh, this is gonna come as a bit of a surprise for those of you that follow me. on LinkedIn that saw any of the advertising for this episode, but I am by myself on the mic today. This is not going to be quite the episode that I have advertised or promised. Now, I know that advertised may be a bit of a generous term for someone that's running a digital audio show and a media show, I'm not really on much media myself.

 Mihai Covaser [00:02:33]: I am on LinkedIn as I mentioned, so a little plug there if you want to follow me and get updates on Help Teach. That's mainly where I do that. I'm not personally on Instagram or anything like that. Any other forms of social media really. That being said, there may be a Help Teach page coming soon. Maybe an Instagram page, stuff that I've been juggling around. So, look out for that! But today’s episode won't actually be the open mailbox episode that I have advertised. I will be transparent and say that that's because the engagement that I received just wasn't substantial enough to really make a full episode out of it, unfortunately.

 Mihai Covaser [00:03:21]: It's also of course difficult to plan recording with other folks during the holiday season. But, I want to take the time today to instead reflect from my personal perspective on the progress of the show. Maybe to tell you a bit about me, for especially my new listeners! And to spark some conversation and, you know, make myself better known to, like I said, some of my new audience members.

 Mihai Covaser [00:03:47]: Maybe to people that already have been listening for a while and know me. Maybe you'll learn something new! Who knows? So that's going to be a bit of the roadmap for the episode today. And I want to talk about why Help Teach, and where I see this show going in the future as well.

 Mihai Covaser [00:04:05]: So, starting off with a little bit about me.As I've mentioned many a time on the show, I have spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy. Now, CP is one of those conditions that I think occupies a unique place in the public consciousness as far as disability. Part of the reason is that CP manifests itself in so many different ways for different people. For me, with what's called spastic diplegia, it's just my legs that are affected. And it means that the muscles in my legs are basically strung tight all the time, when they shouldn't be, and they should be able to relax more than they do. But, as far as anything from the waist up, it's an invisible disability. Basically until the point where I stand up. So, I am verbal, my motions in my upper body—my hands, my arms, my head—everything is unaffected. But my legs are affected.

 Mihai Covaser [00:05:06]: I recently ran into a comedian that some of you may have heard of, he made waves a little while ago on America's Got Talent, Ahren Belisle. He is a non-verbal comedian with CP who uses text-to-speech technology to actually do his bits. He is hilarious, and he actually does a little bit about CP where he says CP is unlike other disabilities in that with no other disability, you have people walk up to you and say, “Oh, you have CP? I know someone else with CP, you must know them!” Or “you'd get along really well with them,” or something like that. Which is just funny because, of course, it's a disability that's so varied, like I mentioned, that two people with CP can have vastly different experiences of the world and of their lives. But also because it's like saying that if I'm from Romania, “oh I have a Romanian friend, you must know them.”

 Mihai Covaser [00:05:59]: So, no I don't, but thanks for asking? Anyways, due to the way it manifests itself for me, I've always called it a mild mobility impairment. So, I've always kind of skirted that line between “normal”, and chronically disabled. I've talked a bit about this in previous episodes, but that's never quite sat right with me as a distinction in the first place.

 Mihai Covaser [00:06:29]: I mean, obviously using a label like normal is a bit of a funny thing, because I don't really know what that means, especially in a physical sense for the human species. There's some vague idea that it doesn't involve not being able to walk properly, but, you know, that doesn't really seem like a compelling distinction to me as far as our society today.

 Mihai Covaser [00:06:52]: But I also never quite understood why there had to be these boxes and these forms and formalities for me when I was obviously capable of participating in many cases. And in the majority of the remaining cases, all that I needed was, what I thought at least, was a simple adjustment in order to be able to fully participate!

 Mihai Covaser: [00:07:14] I'm talking, of course, about my childhood experience, about my experience in school in particular, which is, of course, what this show is focused on. Now, not that bureaucracy and logic always go together, of course, but, you know, you might notice about me from previous episodes and from discussions on this show that I don't love bureaucracy and unnecessary administrative categorization of people into boxes for the sake of, well, for whatever purpose.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:07:42] Now, of course, I have a better understanding now of exactly what that means and why that is, you know, liabilities and all that, but as a younger person, I never really understood why I had to be a liability when I was clearly more independent and more capable than I was being given credit for at any particular time!

 Mihai Covaser: [00:08:06] In particular, what struck me early on about my experience was that those simple changes that I alluded to could often be supplied by teachers and staff that just took a moment to ask me what I needed and were willing to bend the rules ever so slightly to make things work for me. I won't try to hide that it does sometimes take breaking the rules to achieve a certain outcome in a system as rigid as the school system! Of course you want to protect children, you want people are not capable of participating and taking care of themselves in the same way to still have a good education, to be able to participate with their peers, to enjoy themselves, and you don't want to endanger people unnecessarily, and I will give the system credit for that, but that does raise the question of whether it's me, my teachers, or the rules themselves that need to change.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:09:06] Clearly I have an opinion on that, which is why I'm doing my best to sort of supply suggestions on how you can bend rules in ways that are not really working counter to the system, but that fill in some of those gaps that are created by the education system itself.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:09:30] So, why Help Teach? Well, I've told this story before about my fourth grade gym class. For those of you that haven't heard it, or that haven't heard it in a while, the Reader's Digest version is that there was a karate instructor invited into my gym class in the fourth grade to do a demonstration and a bit of a demo class for students to try karate.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:09:56] I was super interested, I thought that seemed really cool, but a lot of it was stances, so particular ways to hold your feet and your balance point, kicks, and then some hand motions and things. And I couldn't really participate in a lot of that. A lot of those stances, the kicks, it was just a different way of moving for me, as it was for everyone in that room I think, that I wasn't used to. But of course as a fourth grader I don't think I can really be expected to have the patience and tenacity to participate in that in the way that I have since and to try and figure out a way around it. And neither could that instructor have been expected to work with me specifically to try and, you know, get me involved. That wasn't part of the job description, most likely.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:10:43] But I still don't think that excused the experience that I did have, where I was sat aside and watched that entire class. And that was devastating for me and that experience. Since then I've been interested in changing education for the better for students like me so that experiences like that don't happen again as much as possible or as much as they are avoidable. And as discussed I've really taken a liking to the idea of a “top-down” approach, if you will, changing systematically the ways in which educators are trained and the tools at their disposal so that the baseline for accessibility in the classroom right out of school as an educator is higher.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:11:35] While I am aiming at that, a lot of the work that I've done up until this point is what you might call “bottom-up.” This show is kind of that as well. It's changing little things, one classroom at a time, one school at a time, one fundraiser at a time, and I wouldn't give up that experience for anything. I think it's taught me a lot, and I think it's valuable for people to engage in that in order to bring about the change they want to see.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:11:59] You know I did start that debate with Amarinder in the episode where she joined me, Amarinder Mehta joined me in episode 10, Students of Life, which you can go and listen to anywhere you get your podcasts, anywhere you're listening to this right now! And, I would be more than happy for anyone to write in if you want to hear a continuation or a longer form discussion of that debate between “top-down” and “bottom-up” working.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:12:27] Maybe it's not the right way to label things, maybe there's advantages and disadvantages on either side, certainly there are. But, I would be more than happy to broach that subject again. But, Help Teach didn't just come about because I live in the age and generation of finding any excuse to podcast, good or otherwise.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:12:48] Ultimately, this project is meant to be an archive of those “simple changes” that I believe exist, but that go unnoticed, forgotten, ignored, or stifled by systems that refuse to change! So, that's a little bit about me, where I come from, why I want to take on this experience. Of course, that's just one side of me. You can take this any number of ways, from my love of speech, and engaging with people, having conversations that I think are meaningful, you know. I've always had a good relationship with teachers and, and I've loved teaching myself and tutoring and being that source of knowledge, but also a source of a different perspective for people.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:13:42] I think that's something that you don't really realize until you get into teaching is that it's not just about the information you're giving people, but it's about the new perspective that you're helping them embody, or the new way you're teaching them to look at a problem, which I think is what I want to do with the show, and I think that's really why Help Teach came about.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:14:04] So, what is Help Teach up until this point, and where is it going? Talk about the past, let's talk about the present and the future of the show a little bit. So, right now, at the moment of recording, we are at 426 all time downloads. My most popular episode is the pilot, perhaps understandably, or perhaps predictably, as people tune into the show and want to listen to the first ever episode. But it is followed by Episode 9 “Maximizing Potential More than Words,” with my guest Tybie Elenko, maybe Tybie is due for another invite with the popularity that that episode has reached. And then Episode 17, which was our one year recap, back in June, one year of the show.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:14:54] We also have listeners from 10 countries worldwide tuning into the show. So thank you for all of that support and thank you for engaging with these messages and this archive and whether it helps you now or you find it 10 years from now, and it helps you think about your classroom in a different way. I think that's what matters to me is leaving behind something that people can use, something that teachers can use, that they can listen to any episode, get some context, some information, and then just take that key takeaway and say “what can I do with this, this nugget of information, this concrete item, action item?” What can I do with my classroom to make it a better place for all of the students that I may have the fortune of teaching in the future?” That's where we are now. In my own life, I still work as an ambassador for the Rick Hansen Foundation, as the initial intro and as my initial guests, the first four guests for the show, as that all suggests, RHF was a huge component and a huge support in making this show happen!

 Mihai Covaser: [00:16:12] There is even the potential for me to produce some new opportunities there, so I'll keep you all posted as those come about. Our youth leadership committee there is still going strong. We are inviting guest speakers month after month to come and talk to us and help us to realize our potential as leaders and as collaborators, as team members, and as people who want to see access change for the better.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:16:42] I had the opportunity at UBC as well, UBC Okanagan, where I go to school currently to pursue some opportunities in accessibility. I was invited, I had the honor of being a judge on the panel and then an MC and keynote speaker for the I Am Accessible Awards at UBC, as well as the Golden Apple Awards that are awarded simultaneously. That was a really great opportunity in which I got to speak to faculty members directly, acknowledge them for the efforts that they've already put in, and share a bit about my story and how they can continue to make that change, and I think the reception was really positive there, so I'm really honored to have had that opportunity with UBC.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:17:29] I, over the summer, traveled to Quebec to do a program called Explore, which was an opportunity for me to do a French exchange in Quebec, and study there, get some university credits in French, and immerse myself in the language and the culture and that experience. It was fantastic. And, at times, difficult, because I think the older the city in Canada, the less accessibility you tend to find, and I think that's just because of the cost of retrofitting, and the nature of some of the neighborhoods, and preserving the history of the place, which comes at the expense of, of course, preserving physical landmarks that aren't conducive to accessibility for everybody.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:18:24] Now, of course, I took it in mostly from my own perspective as someone with a mobility impairment, but there are other ways as well. Things like street crossing signals that make noise that we tend to take for granted. I think a lot of us in Canada and many of the big cities, but in some places in Quebec and other places that I've visited in Canada, they just don't exist. They only are visual. And the sidewalk, of course, doesn't have any kind of indicator that there is a way off the sidewalk, that is for people who are visually impaired.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:19:01] Perhaps not even the kind of ramp off the sidewalk that's needed for a wheelchair. So, it was interesting in those respects, but overall a very enjoyable experience for me. And most recently I have had the honor of being nominated as the co-chair of the UBC Accessibility Committee. This, as I've discussed before on the show, is a new committee as of this year, where staff, students, and faculty members of UBC are coming together to make UBC more accessible. It is based on the Accessibility Plan for Canada, and each provincial plan that were announced recently, and it's, it mandates Universities and other institutions to have an accessibility plan and have an actionable plan for their future and their development as an institution to include more accessibility and a proper EDI framework—that is equity, diversity and inclusion framework—that includes not just people with disabilities, but people of different identities, orientations, marginalized communities, all that kind of thing.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:20:14] So I have had the great honor of being elected as the co-chair of this committee, which allows me to conduct the research that we're going to do to really build this committee from the ground up. All the frameworks, everything is going to be built new, and I hope to really make some change within the institution in that role.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:20:35] So, all of this stuff will feature on the show, I'm sure, as we go on. Things that I learn, experiences that I have that I think translate not just to primary and secondary education, but to post-secondary education as well. So, through all these experiences, I think what this year has really taught me is that there are lots of ways to engage with the project of accessibility and increasing access for people with disabilities. Not only that, but there are many changes coming, and there are many more projects and changes out there than even I knew about at the start of this year. This year has really provided me with a number of great opportunities to hone my skills, to provide my feedback and my insight, and to really grab the bull by the horns, and steer accessibility in the direction that I want to see it go!

 Mihai Covaser: [00:21:33] And working within the post-secondary education system while still focusing on primary and secondary education as the place of my greatest experience, just time wise, has been illuminating in a lot of ways. And I hope to bring some of that insight to the show and to my work in the future. And so, with all that said, what's next?

 Mihai Covaser: [00:21:59] What's next for Help Teach? What's next for me? Well, I love this show, I love this project, and I really would like to keep it going as long as I can. The first point I want to focus on here is about audience engagement and expanding episode types. So, first and foremost, I would love to have people write in, ask questions, engage with the show and with its content and allow me to curate the show to what people need to hear and what people are feeling they're missing in their experience personally in education or things they've heard, things they've seen.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:22:39] Maybe new episode types, like opening mail, like roundtable discussions. Maybe changing from these contextual and lived experience stories to more theoretical frameworks. I think I try to keep a balance of that, have tried to keep a balance of that over the course of the show's life so far, but I think there's more to be done in that respect, so that is the first point.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:23:02] Second of all, more guests, of course, will continue to come in. I have some folks lined up that I think would have really great insights into this experience and into the show that I would be more than happy to bring on, and you can look forward to hearing them in the new year.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:23:19] Thirdly, I will be taking the list of key takeaways, the archive that has currently been constructed, and bringing it to Pro D presentations in the new year, professional development days here in Canada, where teachers have the chance to sign up for workshops and expand their capacities and their knowledge and their capabilities as teachers. So I will apply to be a presenter with the information gathered with Help Teach so far and hopefully take that either in the direction of research so I can gather some empirical data to support the kinds of suggestions that I make here on the show, but also to just directly get in touch with teachers and say, “hey, here's what I do.”

 Mihai Covaser: [00:24:02] “Here's what you can do. Does this work? Can you implement this? How has it worked for you if you've done so already? What are your students saying?” I think it would really benefit the show and me as an advocate to have that kind of empirical data backing me up. So hopefully that is coming next as well as potentially research at the post-secondary level.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:24:29] And, last but not least, a third season of Help Teach, I think, is definitely underway. This may wrap up season two, it may not, we will see in the coming months what happens with the show and how many episodes, I think, are needed to wrap this up. But definitely a third season of Help Teach is coming. So, you can look forward to that, to all new stories, all new experiences, and to just a really great show experience overall.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:25:01] Well, that just about does it for my little reflection here today. I want to thank you all for listening. I want to wish you a Happy New Year coming up here in the next few days. And I just really look forward to hearing from you and to taking this show as far as it'll go. So thank you once again for tuning in to Help Teach and I'll see you next time.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:25:30] You've just heard another episode of the community audio project, Help Teach! I'd like 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.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:25:50] My name is Mihai Covaser, I am your host, editor, and producer for this podcast series! Thank you to Every Canadian Counts and their #RisingYouth initiative for funding this project and for allowing us to put out our vision for change into the community. You can find all transcripts, episode notes, and links to other resources on our base site, helpteach.transistor.fm or listen to us wherever you find your podcast. If you have any questions about the show or would like to get involved, now get in touch at helpteachpodcast@gmail.com. That's helpteachpodcast@gmail.com. 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.

 Mihai Covaser: [00:26:39] Thank you for listening, and I'll see you next time!