National Youth Disability Summit: Education Lightning Talks - Speech
I was speaking on the plenary session on "education lightning talks" for CYDA's National Youth Disability Summit. This was my speech about inclusive education.
To start I would like to say that I am honoured to be calling in from the lands of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and any First Nations folks watching today, acknowledging that the land was violently taken, sovereignty was never ceded, and that this always was and always will be Aboriginal land. There can be no justice without First Nations justice, and it is my responsibility as someone who benefits from colonialism to acknowledge this and fight against the continued oppression. I would like to emphasise my ongoing solidarity in the fight for true reconciliation. I think beginning with this when speaking about inclusion is especially important as intersectionality of justice is the first step in making real and sustainable change.
Hello! I am Issy and my pronouns are they/them.
I am a white gender diverse person with black hair, a blue fringe and I am wearing pink glasses. I am wearing pomegranate earrings and a red jumper with blue overalls
"Before we kick off, I want to offer a content warning because I will be talking very briefly about bullying and trauma. I will mention at the specific time when that will be and for how long so that you know when to turn off your screen if that is what you need If you need to. Something to note is that my speech today will broadly cover the theme of inaccessibility and un-inclusive education, so if that theme is not something you feel comfortable with listening, please put me on silent, take a moment or step away from the screen, whatever makes you feel comfortable."
So hi!
I am really honoured to get to speak with you all today about education and to get to share this space with the truly outstanding Chloe and Hayden, what good company! I thought I would start off with some context.
I am 17 years old, queer and disabled. I have a number of disabilities which include psychosocial disabilities, attention and processing disorders, a developmental disability, multiple chronic pain conditions and a blood disease.
I like to call this my Allen's (or Issy's) party mix of lollies, where my brain and body form a colourful, perhaps overpriced bag of sweets that are guaranteed to be at an australian kids birthday party, and that my genetics were all too keen to snack on.
I have been to a private primary school, a public high school and now am doing year 12 in an alternative VCE program at a TAFE. I have experienced a diversity of educational environments, and know that some are better than others at providing inclusive education, but that generally, across the board, the education system is not accessible or inclusive for disabled young people, especially not for those of us who have other intersecting identities that make it harder for society to provide for us
This is not good enough
Where did I find my greatest learnings in life? What was my unofficial education?
It shouldn't have to be the case that the greatest learnings in my life have come from discrimination, ableism and inaccessibility, but unfortunately that is the reality of the world we live in today.
Where the education system so inadequately provides for disabled young people to get equal access to the supports we deserve, at the same time refusing to educate all and in particular abled students, and even educators on disability, it means that we are forced to learn from adversity
I will be lightly mentioning instances of bullying and trauma now, it will be done in less than 30 seconds if you need to step away from your screen for this
I learnt the most about myself, who I am as a person, and what I am capable of when I have been forced to encounter what the world is actively doing to make it harder for me to exist and engage with society as everyone else
I have learnt how strong I am by how I survived trauma
I have learnt who my allies are by being turned against by bullies
I have learnt what matters most to me, by having no choice but to choose survival so I could do those things
While it is incredibly frustrating to live in a world where I am pushed to find the only silver linings in a dark and ongoing storm, I know that if it were not for these things, I wouldn't be the advocate I feel I am - In a world where we as disabled young people are taught we are worth all of the love and support and opportunities, I would 100% trade these heavy learnings in a heartbeat, but we are not there yet, so I will continue to work for better, so that what I have experienced and learnt from will make a difference for the other disabled young people I have the honour of sharing a community with
My unofficial education has come from that, but also the people who have been kind enough to share their stories, experiences and wisdom with me, the disabled people who I am so grateful to call peers and educators and friends
My unofficial education has come from my deep passion to defy expectations, to make abled people uncomfortable that I know more than them about things, and that I will never be unwilling to challenge them and call them out on ableism
What does inclusive education mean to me? How have my experiences shaped what I advocate for?
So what is inclusive education? It is easier to think what it isn't, because that is what my experiences seem to lean to, but I think there are a few things that define what truly inclusive education and its system could look like for me
I think it is an education system that doesn't decide what we are capable of and worth at any point, it would let us decide what we want from our education, and do everything in its power to achieve it
It would ask me, us, as disabled young people what it is doing wrong, it would listen to the answer, and it would act on what we told it
It would consider me the key stakeholder not only in my life, but in the education system overall
It would look like me being viewed as someone that people can learn from, and not only the considerate and supportive disabled young people who are already willing to listen, but inclusive education would mean that those who are not engaged with disability thinking know the power of disabled voices and are encouraged to listen to us
It would look like the social model of disability, where education providers would recognise their accountability and responsibility in not providing me with the support and education I deserve
Inclusive education would not be prescriptive
Inclusive education would have no preconceived idea of what success is or what it isn't
Inclusive education wouldn't value learners by our ability or inability to conform to the desires of the oppressive capitalist system we are forced to inhabit, and the ableist ideals around existence, worth and self that inform it
Inclusive education to me is not something that the creators of this society, the abled, cis, het, white, rich, settler men ever wanted to happen - which is why it needs to happen, which is why we need more than just funding increases and legislation amendments that shift mere words in inaccessible documents that decide what we do not deserve
Inclusive education is radical, something we can only begin to imagine if we restrict ourselves to any current ideas of what it means to access education, to learn, to be a person
How is our education system failing disabled young people? What needs to change? How can we start? How can we really shift things?
I don't think I will ever be able to encompass truly how failed we as disabled young people are by the education system
Currently, we learn to be told we have learnt, and not because we want to and truly are able to be empowered by our learning
The education system is intentionally modelled to deny disabled people the opportunity to recognise the fragile and malicious systems of power that oppress us, it doesn't want us to realise our power to bring down the already insecure system
My heart says that the answer to how we can really shift things is something on the lines of a revolution, my brain, carefully socially trained by ableds, tells me we need only ask for reform
I say, we ask for reform, whilst planning the revolution.
We ask for universal design, codesign, disabled representation and decision making, for flexible arrangements and understandings, but continue to draft the revolution that will topple the very systems of power that mean we even have to fight for inclusive education
I want to be able to learn just because I feel I want to, I don't want to be forced to learn from oppression, nor do I want to be denied the ability to learn from oppression. Thank you