Earlier this month, IAO’s President, Paula Boutis, was a guest on the program Voice4Abilty Radio with host Sean Pickard. In this series of interviews with community partners, the aim according to Sean is to. “… explore the organizations, opportunities, and resources that look to make change in our daily lives”.
Paula discusses how she came to be involved with IAO through navigating the education system with her eldest daughter. She believes that inclusive education is the key to an inclusive life. She describes how her background in law, while her practice is in a different area, has helped her to make clear and interpret the law with respect to inclusive education, in particular with human rights law.
While IOA has plans to expand into areas concerning recreation and employment, Paula notes, “Our focus is on the families who want the help to keep their kids in with the general education space and the regular classroom, and to be properly supported there.” Her account of the history of the organization mentions that initially, when the organization was founded, there was no legal right for students with disabilities to attend school in Ontario. So, while we’ve come a ways since then, there are still many school boards who offer only segregated learning opportunities. There is much to be done with respect to inclusion.
Reflecting on the question of what is something she see’s happening to folks with disability repeatedly that shouldn’t be, she mentioned the assumption that medical and other professionals are seen as experts on giving accommodations rather than the person with the disability. The individual with a disability often knows how they can be best accommodated but that’s often not enough to get official workplace accommodations, for example. She also brought to light that, “There’s a lot of projection and a sense that people with disabilities are getting something special rather than being given an even and level playing field.”
Her aim is to one day work herself out of a job – to see inclusion flourish and be a welcomed and necessary part of our lives.
Listen to the full interview below:
