We came across this article on Huffington Post and instantly felt compelled to share it with you. Let's remember that being inclusive means we need to include ALL children - even the kids who we have to work a little bit harder to understand, and the kids whose disability doesn't look the way we'd expect it or want it to look. Please take this article to heart.
Read MoreEven those of us who think we have inclusion down pat can still find ourselves having huge light bulb moments.
Take for instance the instant frustration that rose up in me when I saw that my local children's museum was starting and "inclusion hour". The plan is for the museum to open an hour earlier, at a discounted rate, one Saturday a month, specifically for kids with special needs.
My first reaction was to yell out at the top of my lungs "HOW IN THE WORLD IS THAT INCLUSION??? YOU'RE LITERALLY SEPARATING THE CHILDREN!" And then I went on this rant about how companies continue to miss the mark when it comes to inclusion, thinking that just because they set aside time for kids with special needs that THAT makes them inclusive, and blah blah blah. My husband, in his annoying (read LOVING) wisdom, reminded me that not all kids have just physical disabilities. Some kids have sensory issues or auditory issues and being in the museum at the same time all the other kids are there might be too much for them. So in this way, the museum actually IS being inclusive.
Oh.
Well didn't I feel foolish...
Here I am, mama of {E}, President of RocketChair Productions, screaming my face off about inclusion to anyone who will listen, and I'm being EXclusive and ableist. Insert facepalm emoji here. OF COURSE this was inclusive! It's a children's museum and ALL children should be able to enjoy it, not just the typically developing kids. Duh, Adiba! But how many of us do this? Think of our kids first, and how OUR kids are affected? That's kind of the opposite of inclusive behavior, isn't it? It's almost like being exclusive is ingrained in us (kind of why Meet Clarabelle Blue is so important for the babies). Now, is this to say that all of my gripes with the Children's Museum are over? NO. I still long for the day when all of the exhibits can be interacted with by a child in a wheelchair or walker, or a child who has low muscle tone and therefore cannot sit on the police motorcycle unattended. Or a child with underdeveloped fine motor skills can't grasp an edge to turn a gear, so they grasp the crank handle to interact with the exhibit instead (and the list goes on and on).
However, this is a start. This is a huge start. And now that I've had my light bulb moment, I am so here for it, and can't wait to take Miss {E} for "MY TIMe" at our local Children's Museum! Do you have a children's museum in your town? Are they killing it in the game of inclusion? Tell us about them in the comments, and we'll give them a social media shout-out!
I remember when I was 13, a friend asked me what I was going to do when I grew up. I looked him square in the eye and said: "change the world, or die trying". I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I knew that whatever I did would be in that vain.
Fast forward 26 years and it's not me that will change the world, but kids. Lucky me though, I get to show them how!
So I'm starting this new series on the RocketChair blog called KIDS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD (or KCCtW for short). Once a month we will post activities for you to do with the littles in your life that can lead to a more inclusive world. Some of these activities will come straight from our tried and true experiences, and some will come from moms and dads, sharing with us what they've witnessed in their homes with their littles. We're not so much interested in where the activities come from, so much as they help us change the world.
Without further ado, our first activity is one of our favorite things to do - ROLLER SKATING!
So, those hairy legs are not mine - they belong to my hubby. But that kid in the middle, the one in the wheelchair, she's all mine. And the two cutie pies on either side of her are her bff's. This picture was taken at my daughter's 7th birthday party. It was our first time going rollerskating, and we weren't sure how we were going to make it work, but we were going to try.
What you see is my husband pushing her wheelchair from behind, and her pals holding onto her chair, skating alongside her. What we didn't get pictures of was the conga line of kids that formed behind my hubby shortly after this pic was taken, and her friends holding onto/pushing her walker as they all skated along.
It never once occurred to them that my kiddo would not be able to skate with them - they just figured out how to make it work. And that's a big part of what inclusion is - figuring out a way to make something work for EVERYONE. This is just one example of how our kids can change the world. We will be sharing more examples once a month, but we want to hear from you too!
Have a story of inclusion to share with us? Were your kids included, or did your kid figure out how to include a differently abled pal? Tell us about it! Leave a note in the comments - let's celebrate those little world changers of ours!
