Making Connections: Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Different Positions

Remember from Grade 5

In Grade 5 you made text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections, and explained how texts address diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

In Grade 6 you'll analyze the messages these texts send and identify the different positions people hold, so you can understand an issue from many sides.

Hook: Who gets to play?

Think of a place where you play or hang out: a park, a rink, a library, a gym. Could everyone use it? Someone who uses a wheelchair? Someone who is Blind or has low vision? Someone who is new to Canada and still learning English? Keep your answers in mind as you read.

Two Sticks, One Team (a story written for this website)

Every Saturday, Marcus watched his cousins play shinny on the outdoor rink behind the community centre. He watched from the parking lot, because the only way onto the ice was down three steep wooden steps, and Marcus uses a wheelchair.

One January morning, his cousin Talia skated over, red-cheeked. "Why don't you come on?"

"Steps," Marcus said, nodding at them.

Talia looked at the steps like she had never seen them before. Then she looked at the shed where the rink volunteers kept their shovels. "Wait here."

Twenty minutes later, Talia, her dad and two rink volunteers had laid a wide wooden ramp over the snowbank and onto the ice. Another volunteer came back from the arena down the street with a borrowed para hockey sledge and two short sticks.

Marcus transferred into the sledge. The first push sent him sliding sideways into a snowbank. Everyone laughed, including Marcus. The second push sent him flying past Talia.

By noon, half the kids on the rink were taking turns in the sledge. "Can we get more of these?" someone asked.

That spring, the rink volunteers asked town council to build a permanent ramp.

Should Pine Hollow Make Its Outdoor Rink Accessible? (a news article written for this website)

Pine Hollow town council is deciding whether to spend $40,000 on an accessible ramp, a wider gate and an accessible change room at the outdoor rink. People have shared different positions.

• A rink volunteer: "Every kid should be able to get on the ice. The temporary ramp proved that people of all abilities will use it."
• A councillor: "I support accessibility, but this is a big cost. The arena down the street already has an accessible entrance. Should we spend the money on the outdoor rink or on fixing roads?"
• A parent who uses a wheelchair: "The arena costs money every time. The outdoor rink is free and it's where neighbours actually meet. Being sent somewhere else isn't the same as being included."
• A Grade 6 student: "We could raise part of the money with a skate-a-thon, so it doesn't all come from taxes."

Council will vote next month.

How texts address diversity, inclusion and accessibility

Ask these questions:

• Who is included, and who is shown as able to take part?
• Is the person with a disability shown as a full person with feelings, humour and choices (Marcus laughs at his fall and then flies past Talia), or only as someone to feel sorry for?
• What barriers are shown, and who removes them?
• What message does the text send?

In Two Sticks, One Team, the barrier is the steps, not Marcus. When the barrier is removed, he plays, and other kids want to try the sledge too. Message: Inclusion is about changing places, not changing people, and it makes things better for everyone.