Students with disability are taking on a Paralympic game
Students with a disability say there are limited opportunities for them to compete in sports. But one primary school in Queensland is hoping to change that with about 200 students with and without disability taking on a paralympic game.
Transcript
00:00 Being a parent of a student with a disability myself, I know that a multi-class sporting
00:07 pathway enables our students to have that sense of belonging and achievement and it
00:13 allows them, especially with boccia, to be able to compete with their friends with all
00:19 abilities being able to put their efforts forward and be seen and shine.
00:25 And so tell us about this game boccia.
00:27 Boccia, yes, it's a little bit like bowls.
00:32 So we have blue and red leather balls with our white ball, which is the jack.
00:37 We modify it slightly so that we can enable as many players as possible to have a go.
00:43 And you'll see some of our students utilizing a modified ramp, which is just a bit of PVC
00:49 pipe at the moment to be able to roll the ball down and direct it and to get as close
00:55 to the jack as possible.
00:56 Good bit of improvisation there from MacGregor State School with the PVC pipe.
01:00 Yeah, a little bit of ingenious creativity there as ramps are quite expensive.
01:08 We're still trying to do a bit of fundraising to be able to buy those to supply to our students
01:13 that are in wheelchairs.
01:15 Good stuff.
01:16 And how many kids have you got involved in this now?
01:19 So we experimented with this this year with our intraschool sports rounds.
01:25 So up to about 200 students have been rotated through Boccia over the year with the assistance
01:31 of our PE teacher, Mr. Austin and Mrs. Leanne Harvey, to be able to give all of our students
01:38 both with disabilities and without disabilities that stay back from intraschool sport an opportunity
01:44 to compete against one another.
01:46 And you're seeing benefits for both for kids with and without disability getting involved
01:50 in this?
01:51 Oh, definitely.
01:52 A lot of the comments coming from the children is around I love the fact that I can play
01:58 with my friends.
01:59 It doesn't matter if they're in a wheelchair or if they're neurodiverse or, you know, whatever
02:04 disability they have, hearing impaired, we all play together and we all have fun and
02:09 we can actually get a little bit competitive, which is interesting to see.
02:15 There's a bit of a discussion at the moment in terms of kids with disabilities in in schools
02:21 and how that's going to evolve over the coming decades.
02:27 How is McGregor an example of how this can work effectively?
02:33 Look, we like to lead through equity and excellence to try and provide our students ample opportunities
02:41 with multiple pathways, not only in sport, but through performing arts and other avenues
02:47 in order for them to be included.
02:49 I think it's just having that opportunity to with minor adjustments and reasonable adjustments
02:55 to be able to participate along with everyone else.
02:58 It's providing students with that sense of belonging and worth and opportunities for
03:03 them to shine in everyone in their own way.
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