Enable Me

Dear Diary....

Wed 10th Feb

Hazelwick Secondary school today with Enable Me. What a rollercoaster of emotions that was!  I was only meant to be observing as I haven’t finished my training yet, so as I woke this morning (two hours earlier than normal!) I was excited about having something other than, ‘have a cup of tea with Phil and Holly’, to do.  Shortly following that excitement was fear. My mother was driving me to Crawley, and I reckon that even now I’m blind I am still a better driver than she is!  

Once I got there (luckily in one piece!), the first class I sat in on was an exercise on a whole range of disabilities: Visual (the pupils were wearing glasses with a range of visual impairment), Hearing and the signer (one child had ear plugs in and the other child in the pair had to communicate with them), Sensory (they had to thread a needle wearing gloves) and Mobility (they had to use a wheelchair).  It was great to see the children really getting into it and trying so hard, but upsetting for me as it was a harsh reminder that my life is really that difficult now.  The children seemed to get loads out of it. 

The second class was using wheelchairs in the gym. Nik went through all the safety points when anyone uses a chair. As a part-time wheelchair user myself, it was embarrassing to find out that I didn’t know half of what I should do!  At the end of the exercise, as the only wheelchair user in the room, all the questions came flooding my way;  I didn’t mind that coz I love to talk!  The kids asked questions that most adults are too afraid to, like ‘how’s your social life now you are disabled?’,  ‘Is it contagious?’,  and ‘how much does a wheelchair cost?’

The next class was on disability and bullying. Hugh asked the class to call out negative words and names that they may have heard regarding disability.  Most of the names brought up were names I call myself on a regular basis!  ‘Cripple’, ‘lazy cow’, ‘freeloader’.  Is it possible to bully yourself??!

Daily evaluation:

Health: Too much tea and way too many biscuits but lunch was healthy so counteracts that - and everyone knows that there are no calories in digestives if they are offered by someone else!

Emotional Status: Dizzy from the rollercoaster of emotions gone through today but have landed with a smile on my face!

 Would I do this again?: You betcha! If they’ll let me loose on the kids!

I think the kids all learnt a lot today but to be honest I think I learned more...

Nina Bawden