40 or so Ideas to Blog About

There are many possible subjects for blog types – long or short, light or serious. See whether this list gives you any ideas.

The facts :

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Frequently Asked Questions are fantastic posts because it is likely that blog readers have already googled these terms in hopes of an answer. What do you wish you had the answer to? Or what do you know now, that you didn’t know when you needed to? That would make a great FAQ. Check out our FAQs & Additional Resources for inspiration – what’s been answered already? – does something need to be added to/expanded on?

Should Ask Questions (SAQ)

The “Should Ask Questions” (SAQs) are a slightly different angle on FAQs. Where FAQs are questions that site visitors are usually asking, SAQs are the questions that you might not even know you need to ask.

Some examples might be: what are the questions you should ask about

• a diagnosis?
• a course of therapy?
• a proposed school placement?
• a new school?
• a recreational choice?

Myth vs. Fact

What are commonly held beliefs about inclusion that aren’t really true?
A Myth vs Fact post might be inspired by a FAQ – does a FAQ have a commonly held myth associated with it?

Glossary post

There are a lot of specialized terms and acronyms in inclusion, disability and inclusive education – think how confusing it is, even if you’re not new to it. What are some terms that needed to be added to our glossary? Check out the glossary.

People :

Profiles

You can write a profile post about anybody. You can write a profile post about a thought leader, a IAO member, an ally, an academic or teacher.

The profile post should give some biographical information about the person and links where users can find more about them. Why is this person important or interesting to you? Why should others be interested?

Inspirational stories

Write about some good news (big or small) from

• a member?
• an ally?
• a family member?

Interviews

Who is doing something interesting, inspirational, noteworthy? Interview someone in disability, inclusion, education, or family life.

The format could be video, audio, or written. If it’s written, it might be notes from a live interview or email responses to a set of questions. The topic could be (somewhat) free ranging, or a pre-arranged set of questions.

How do you pick the topics? It might be sparked by an upcoming event, or a past event – like – a guest at the AGM – do we want to know more? What about someone you’ve worked with? Someone whose book/podcast/youtube channel you like? Someone who is doing an upcoming webinar?

Personal Journey

Do you have a story, big or small to tell about change and growth for you or people close to you?

• changing attitudes /mindset?
• changing routines?
• personal growth
• accomplishments?

What influenced the change? What helped you along the way? What’s next? Do you want to share your story?

Family routines or adaptations

How does your family organize things to make your life run smoother?

• morning? evening?
• accomodating different needs and paces?
• working with support staff?
• organizing for medical appointments?
• growing independence?

One very small example: I want to make it easy for my son to serve himself drinks, so my routine is that I only buy beverages (milk) in one quart size because he is more easily able to lift and pour it. Milk is stored in the fridge door and I make sure that the door shelf isn’t too crowded so it is easy to get the milk carton in and out of the the shelf. Small changes turn him into a guy that can serve himself a drink when he wants one instead of needing help.

What works for us

These will be very personal – depending on your personal situation, disabilities, stage in life, size of your family, where you live. But some of what works for you might work for others, or at least start an idea.

What choices has your family made to accommodate everyone’s needs

• schedules?
• activities you do/don’t do?
• school choices??
• therapy you do/don’t do ??
• managing anxiety around medical appointments?
• managing family vacations ?

Advice from the Experts

This one is similar to interviews, but it’s a combination of lists and interviews. Message multiple experts with a question (via email, twitter, or another social network). Since it’s a single question, it’s a lot easier for people to answer. Then you can compile all of the advice into one post.

Here are few tips to consider when trying these types of posts:

• Do your research up front to figure out the right people to ask.
• Ask a specific question. Make sure the question is easy to understand – will everyone you ask interpret it the same way?
• Be flexible but give a deadline upfront – to help people prioritize.
• Outline your expectations – How much detail are you looking for in people’s answers? Or anything else people need to know? People don’t want to waste time providing too much or too little information.

Resources :

Share Who is Important to Follow

Who is important/interesting/useful in the Inclusion space?
Who’s who with twitter handles, websites, etc.
Why are these people interesting/worth following?

Case studies

People love hearing success stories and learning about what goes on behind the scenes.

• Case studies from members – success or partial success stories with

• school inclusion
• social inclusion.
• What about case studies from other sources – what should we cite that could may be useful in building support for inclusive education with a school board?

Resources

Sometimes people just want to find out the best way to do something quickly and effectively. A resource post is a perfect opportunity to do this.
A resouce could be about :

• Books
• Videos
• Toolsets
• Websites
• Social influencers
• And many more.

Don’t just post a bunch of links. Explain why you should check out this book, visit that website or use that tool. Have you used it in the past? What was your experience? Explain why you’re recommending it.

Recommended resources can be added to IAO resource pages over time.

Top Take-Aways From a book, a course, a video, Whatever

Have you recently finished a book? Maybe you’ve taken an online course? An in-person course? Write a post about your top 10 takeaways from that resource.

This is like a review, but will be a lot shorter and probably in a list format. Try to make your take-aways easily readable and shareable.

Product reviews

People generally look to product reviews before making online purchases, to be sure they’re getting a good deal and that the item lives up to expectations. So reviewing a product or service that relates to your area of interest can work well for an audience already interested in it.

Products that might be of interest

• Augmented communication products?
• Software?
• Educational materials?
• School boards in Ontario? (helpful if someone is considering moving).
• Many others.

Curate or Summarize Someone Else’s Work

What resources have you found useful? Research, compile the information and make a new post. If you use someone else’s work, then be sure to give your sources at the bottom of your post.
Try to include different media types in your post to make things interesting – like a collection of images, links, descriptions, social embeds and quotes.

Answer “Why?”

We often get told “what” to do, but not why – whether it’s therapy, or working with medical staff, or government systems.

Why is … important?
Why do you/does your family member do the things you/they do?
Why does a program work the way it works? (ODSP, applying for LHIN Support, Passport, etc. etc.)? It’s usually easier to get things done if you understand the whys of the bureaucracy.

Tutorials and How-to Guides

Find a topic you know something about and provide step by step instructions how to do it.

The most important thing when it comes to how-to guides is to break down your tutorial into the smallest steps and into the simplest terms. Including step-by-step screenshots further aids in this, especially for visual learners. Tutorials can also be video tutorials!

Think about your work you’ve done recently to support your family member or to advocate or organize. and you can probably find some great ideas for you to write a tutorial on.

Some ideas:

• How to blog on our site.
• Teaching a family member to use social media.
• Visual schedules.
• How to apply for /submit expenses for Passport funding (or SSAH?)

Beginner guides

Everyone is a beginner at many points in their life.

Start off by thinking about what our members need to know. What did you need to know? What advice do you wish you had when you didn’t know what the first step was?

Problems and solutions

Another kind of “how to” that will catch people’s eye. What’s a problem you/others have had? What was the solution? Any other solutions?

Events :

Conference Posts

Whenever you attend a conference, consider posting about the major speeches, seminars, etc as they happen. Usually, there will be keynote speakers. So write about those people. Give summaries of their speeches and highlight the main points or the questions that were left in your mind after they spoke.

Other people may tweet about the conference, so you can even embed any relevant tweets that you mind find while researching and writing.

Event Summaries

Along the same lines as giving updates while at a conference, you can write a post that is a concise summary of the conference.

What were the major takeaways? What did you think about the conference overall? What would you change? Will you attend again next year? Who would you recommend this event for?

Participatory :

Contests

Make a Contest! It doesn’t have to be a big contest.

• what’s the goal?
• what’s the prize?

Surveys and Polls

Polls and surveys are quick ways to get the opinions of the blog readers and the answers you receive can be put to good use in future blog posts, or deciding on future webinars and programs.

Quizzes

Quizzes are fun – and could be a way of finding out more about the blog readers.

Advocacy

Disability and Education News

What is new or changing in legislation on Inclusion and Inclusive education? How can we support positive changes?

Open letters

IAO position letter. Open letters can controversial, so any open letters should be endorsed by the board.

About IAO :

Preview Posts

Preview posts can be about

• Upcoming events – for example a webinar? the AGM?
• Upcoming changes in IAO – what plans do we have for example:
• When we hired Canada Summer Jobs students.
• Future hiring plans?
• Upcoming web page changes.
• Campaign to get more SEAC members etc.
• Something we are fundraising for.
• Something we are going to spend major amounts of focus on (a campaign, collaborating with other organizations, etc).

IAO updates

What are we working on right now ?

• An initiative, workshops, a grant application?

What about milestones?

• New members?
• New chapters?
• etc.

Chapter Updates

What’s happening with IAO chapters

• Any new ones forming?
• Any chapter sponsored activities happening?
• Are chapters looking for new members?
• Is there anything of note happening with your school board? SEAC?.

Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) Updates

What’s happening at Special Education Advisory Committees (SEAC) or Provincial Parent Associations Advisory Committee on Special Education Advisory Committees (PAAC on SEAC)?

• At a specific SEAC?
• At our IAO regular SEAC members meetings?
• Where are we working to add representatives to a local SEAC? How is it going?

IAO or inclusive Education history

Tell stories about the history of Inclusive education or the Inclusion movement. How far have we come? What is still an issue.

• Particularly people that have a connection to IAO
• Particularly in Ontario (but not exclusively).

Grab Bag

Thankful Posts

Showing gratitude is a simple way to write a blog post. Be specific of who you are thankful for. But also be specific on what you’re thankful for.

Lists

Everybody loves a list. They’re easy to read quickly, have digestible information and they’re popular for social media sharing.
You can create lists on almost any subject. It could be your favourite resources, or a list of top bloggers to follow. Anything related to inclusion and a good life in community.

Checklists

A checklist is one of the simplest types of content you can write. They’re short, easy to digest and allow the ability to cross items off as you complete them. Post your checklist with some supporting information.

.What are some example of checklists?

• school enrolment?
• getting ready for – IEP meeting? new school year? DSO intake ?

Video blogs (vlogs)

Short, personal videos – any topic related to inclusion or living in community. Could be something you have posted elsewhere.

Infographics

Infographics are effective way to provide valuable information while encouraging people to share something visually appealing. They could be charts, statistics, step-by-step instructions and even fun facts.

Transcript Posts

Have you able to speak at a conference? Have you spoken on a podcast recently? If so, you can share your meeting notes as a blog post.

What’s even better is that you can use some transcribing software to take an audio recording (from your speech or podcast), and have it make your post for you. Just be sure to read through it after it is transcribed to make sure everything translated correctly.

Cheatsheets

We need cheatsheets for life! So write one! This is a bit different than a checklist, – it isn’t meant to be exhaustive but a post about knowing the main things or the easily overlooked things.

Possible ideas:

• acronyms related to a specific area?
• terms that are likely to come up in your IEP, an IPRC meeting etc.
• preparing for an appointment?
• applying for something?

When all else fails

Recycle old content

People need the same information at regular intervals (think the beginning of each school year), so it’s ok to repeat themes and information, or change up the format a bit.

You could turn a list post into an infographic, a podcast into a written post and a blog series into a newsletter series.

See which posts have been the most successful. Next, see if there is any way to update it. Maybe there are better resources available, new stats, better images, etc.

Interested?

If you are interest in writing a blog for IAO, fill out the form below