In this workshop, we’ll explore the ways in which we as kaiako speak about disability as possessing immense power to support, or conversely constrain, the active participation and learning of disabled tamariki in our early childhood settings. We’ll work through real-life examples drawn from everyday teaching and learning practice as we learn more about:

The histories of the medical, social and social relational models of disability, and what impact these have had on the understanding and practice of inclusive early childhood education,
Why it’s important to grow our professional understandings of identity first language as a mode of identity increasingly preferred in the disability community, and why we as kaiako need to challenge and disrupt our preference for person first language,
Why avoiding the use of ‘special-ese’ language is critical,
Recognising and respecting the rights, and affirming and enhancing the mana of disabled tamariki through encouraging a discourse of disability as something positive to embrace and take great pride in,
What professional expectations Te Whāriki, the New Zealand Disability Strategy, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities place on our practice with regard to language use that centres the rights and mana of disabled tamariki.

The workshop will better enable kaiako to more expansively understand and embed disability-affirming language as a critical pedagogical tool in sustaining inclusive practice.

Facilitator: Kate McAnelly

This workshop will be recorded and registrants will receive a copy of the presentation slides.