International Day of Persons with Disabilities helps promote understanding
Dec. 3rd marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and in recognition, Surrey Schools is encouraging students, staff and the community to continue to develop a stronger understanding of the lived experiences and amazing contributions of those with disabilities.
Established by the United Nations in 1992, the day serves to promote awareness for persons with disabilities, both visible and invisible, with this year’s theme being Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future.
“The day is important in raising awareness of the number of folks with disabilities, and also celebrating the valuable contributions that they bring to all aspects of society,” said Colin Reid, District Principal with Student Support. “Within Surrey Schools, we use that as an opportunity to remind everyone of the increased importance of better understanding the lived experiences of people with disabilities, and working to make our community more inclusive and accessible.”
In September 2023, the district launched the Surrey Schools accessibility plan, a comprehensive document outlining our ongoing commitment to improving the experiences for students, staff, families and community members with disabilities, and to provide equitable access to opportunities. This work also saw the launch of two open public surveys in March to gather feedback on accessibility barriers in the district and the accessibility plan itself.
Reid said the feedback that the district has received has been invaluable and has both informed the direction of the plan’s advisory committee and working group, and coincided with their ideas.
“We sat down with our committee and working group to review every single response we received to really honour the voices of the people who took the time to submit them,” he said, noting some of the common themes have been attitudinal barriers and physical barriers in schools.
“One of the goals we’re working towards is a school site accessibility assessment in the coming year, and it was really great to see that request reflected in the feedback, that it’s aligned with our next steps. That gave us a reminder that there’s a lot of important work to do and that we’re on the right track and we should continue forward with the plan that we’ve created.”
Additionally, behind the scenes, the accessibility committee and working group have been hard at work on a series of four animated videos – to be released in the new year – that aim to universally define the terms “accessibility,” “inclusion,” “disability” and “barriers,” and create a unified understanding of them throughout the district.
“The committee determined it was important to create something that would help create the common understanding of those four terms,” said Reid. “They saw that as a priority, so that as we continue our efforts to make Surrey Schools more accessible and inclusive, we’re all pointed in the same direction.”
While the videos are still a few months away, Reid said other initiatives centred on accessibility are being explored as the district enters its second year with the plan and sets new goals improving accessibility in Surrey and White Rock.
“We’re really proud of the work that we’ve been doing,” said Reid. “It remains a top priority for us in the district and it truly is meaningful to see this work come to life.”
For more information on accessibility in the district, read the Surrey Schools accessibility plan. To provide feedback on the plan or highlight an accessibility barrier, please take the district’s accessibility plan survey or the accessibility barriers survey.
