Help Teach

In this episode, we showcase a new inclusive initiative for school-age children in the Okanagan Valley and discuss some of the elements that make advocacy successful.

Join Mihai and Melissa Grassmick as they discuss Julia's Junction, a new accessible playground initiative for the city of West Kelowna. They dive into what made this project so successful and what helped Melissa and her daughter Julia navigate elementary school so far, ensuring Julia's inclusion despite the obstacles in their path.

Julia's Junction

In this episode, we discuss the intersection between disability advocacy and environmental activism and how students can be better supported as they seek to participate in their areas of passion.

Join Mihai, Isabel Huang, and Élise Doucet as they discuss their journies in disability advocacy and environmental activism. They discuss what it means to support many causes at once, where barriers can arise, and how teachers can best empower students to become holistic individuals and invested community members, starting in the classroom.

Participate in Isabel's anonymous survey
Learn more about the FBC Youth Program
West Coast Climate Action Network for additional resources and information
Per Espen Stoknes TED Talk - How to transform apocalypse fatigue into action on global warming

In this episode, we discuss the academic concerns surrounding non-verbal students, advocacy on behalf of someone else, and a specific challenge in the built environment: washrooms.

Join Mihai and Lucy Diaz as they explain the physical and academic challenges that come with navigating the school system as a person with severe cerebral palsy and a lack of verbal communication capacity. They elaborate on what advocacy can mean in different contexts, such as for people without lived experience, and illustrate the importance of fully accessible built environments.

Difference Maker of the Year Awards by RHF

In this episode, we discuss para-sport, the Paralympics, and how young athletes can participate in sports in their communities regardless of their disabilities.

Join Mihai and Dr. Jaimie Borisoff as they continue their chat by answering a fan question about para-sport and the Paralympics. They explain how the Paralympics rank their athletes, how to differentiate between the Special Olympics and the Paralympics, and how an aspiring athlete might end up participating in para-sport at different levels, with or without a disability.

BC Athletics - Para Athletics
Paralympic Sports - Canadian Paralympic Committee
International Paralympic Committee
Special Olympics

In this episode, we discuss the challenges unique to parenting with a disability and how schools can be more welcoming not only to their students but to the parents of those students, as well.

Join Mihai and Dr. Jaimie Borisoff as they chat about what it's like to be a parent and a wheelchair user in Canada, including the struggle of dealing with an inaccessible school and a reluctant school board. They touch on playgrounds, restaurants, and more as they explore the attitudes surrounding disabled parenting and what can still be done to improve the experience, especially in education. Join us soon for Part 2, where we answer a fan question about para-sport and the Paralympics! 

Join Mihai Covaser and James Kwinecki as they discuss blindness and vision impairment and the various challenges that these pose, historically and in the modern day. They explain technology for blindness, its progress over time, and how it can be implemented in the classroom, as well as the pros and cons of entering the world of disability at a later age in life, rather than having a disability from birth or school age.

VoiceOver by Apple

Join Mihai Covaser and Maggie Manning as they give their perspectives on the importance of exposure to different forms of disability advocacy for those looking to become allies to the cause of accessibility and inclusion. They share some personal stories, dig into the frustration that people often feel when faced with the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to accessibility in the world today, and tackle a divisive question: what does take to be part of the disability community?

English IDPwD Webinar with ASL
French IDPwD Webinar with ASL

Join Mihai Covaser and Amarinder Mehta as they discuss what it means to be at once an educator, a parent, and a person with disabilities and how those varied experiences translate into the classroom setting. They break apart the role of the teacher into three key components - the teacher as an advocate/activist, the teacher as a caretaker, and the teacher as a learner - and provide resources for educators to familiarize themselves with the idea of lifelong learning.

Bias Assessment Tool

Learning Needs Tests:
The VARK Questionnaire
Arden University - What type of learner are you?
ThoughtCo Learning Style Quiz
Matrix Education Quiz: What is your learning style?

Join Mihai Covaser and Tybie Elenko as they discuss the obstacles faced by students with challenges that extend beyond the mobile, visual, and auditory. They illuminate the often misunderstood case of the gifted learner, describe their experiences with forced conformity, and provide a key takeaway so that teachers can support all students as they work together to maximize student potential.

SAGE BC
Rick Hansen Resource Library
Rick Hansen - Create an Inclusive School Year
Rick Hansen Supplementary Resources

Join Mihai Covaser and Élise Doucet as they discuss the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and its implications for disabled youths in the classroom. They discuss articles pertaining to discrimination, disability rights, and education to encourage students to advocate for quality schooling and educators to help their students do so.

UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Landing Page
UNCRC Full Text
UNCRC Child-Friendly Text
Resources and Research on the UNCRC
UNESCO: What you need to know about the right to education