“Normal is just a setting on the washing machine” is just one of the conclusions that students came to after a thought provoking discussion of Spinclusion. Grade 8 students at King Edward public school in Toronto played the game during National Inclusive Education Week.
For the 2nd year Community Living Toronto celebrated National Inclusive Education week by taking Spinclusion to schools across Toronto. This year participating schools included the Metropolitan Toronto School for the Deaf, Paul Penna Downtown Jewish Day School as well as various schools throughout the TDSB, TCDSB.
At the end of the week over 1,000 students in 49 classes had an opportunity to spin the wheel and give some thought to how to include all people regardless of their differences and abilities. It was a huge success.
At Essex-Hawthorne school, children in the primary grades with varying abilities were having fun together and participating with enthusiasm. At the end of the game, one little girl approached the facilitator and declared maturely “Thank you very much. I had a wonderful time.”
When asked “Why would someone with a disability want to come to your school” the grade 4’s at St. Ambrose catholic school were able to provide a long list, including “At our school, we are taught to respect all people”. They were also able to identify some of the school’s challenges, including being a 2 storey building without an elevator that makes the 2nd floor inaccessible to people with physical disabilities.
Spinclusion gave the children an opportunity to think about how their actions can affect people’s feelings as well as come up with the solutions to various issues including physical adversities, intellectual disabilities and bullying.
Spinclusion is an interactive board game which promotes acceptance and respect for people with different needs and abilities. It will soon be added to the Toronto District School Board’s ASPIRE database, which means that all teachers will be able to access the game to help teach inclusion and diversity in classrooms all over the city.
For further information about Spinclusion please contact:
Mia McGowan at 416-225-7166 ext 226
www.communitylivingtoronto.ca click on “youth”
