A Little To Close To Home?

When I was told I was working with a special school for Moving tides I had a range of ideas and concerns about my abilities to teach disabled students. This was mainly because from the age of 12 - 16 I myself was placed in a special needs school that focused on physical disabilities, Learning difficulties and Emotional and mental disabilities; a fact that after leaving school and continuing onto college I hadn't discussed with many of people. I remember when I first joined my school at the age of 12 I found if very difficult to communicate with the other students in the school, mainly because of my lack of knowledge and confidence around disabled people. I had a strong fear that this lack of confidence around communicating with disabled students would again come through into my teaching, so I felt it would be beneficial getting in touch with my old Art teacher who has been teaching disabled students for around 8 year, my old school friends reconnect with some of our own school memories; as well as starting to work with the breathe together society to build my confidence in being around disabled people again.

On contacting my old art teacher her main advice she told me was the key is to be confident in what your teaching, if you know your subject matter you can talk about for hours!

Talking to old friends from school I came across a lot of mixed reactions and opinions, some of them had decided when school was done it wouldn't really be spoke of, which looking at it now is rather upsetting as it was one of our favourite times and we were such a close unit. Other friends told me of how they felt they struggled through out their school years because of physical disabilities such as being confined to a wheelchair, facial dysmorphia, cerebral palsy. An old classmate told me how coming to school was an escape for her, she spent so much time in hospitals and getting looks in the street that to be in a place special to her needs she was able to be comfortable in herself. She also went on to talk about when we would do shows and workshops she appreciated the fact that she was always being pushed to try go that extra mile, when asked why she responded with "it isn't my disabilities defining me, I could do just as much as you could (if not more)" . This is something I think I will have to remember and keep reminding myself, these kids may be disabled however a lot of them are all still looking for acceptance in everything they do so treating them any different will be under minding their abilities

When first being assigned to Westfield I was playing with the idea of asking to be relocated, thinking I had made a mistake ticking the box that said Special Needs School as I wouldn't be able to deliver confident workshops - however now after talking to people and rediscovering that confidence I had developed by the end of my school years I feel I will be able to use this as a greater advantage and will be able to connect with the children and teachers at Westfield more than I would in any other main stream school.

My School Prom-  A little reminder to never forget the lessons learnt in all aspects of school