VisAbility has created ‘How I Learn’ – a free tool to help young people with disabilities to advocate for their learning needs. It will empower them to have greater control over how they’re taught.
The How I Learn (link opens in new window) website means students with disabilities can document their learning and accessibility needs in one place. The new initiative’s being officially launched at Curtin University.
Students embrace ‘How I Learn’
The school years are supposed to be the best of your life, but for people with disabilities it can bring about a myriad of challenges and emotions.
One youngster who’s been trialling out the ‘How I Learn’ website is Emily Prior. Emily is 12 and has cerebral palsy.
“It has given me more control of the way I like to be taught and lets the school know they are doing the right things to support me,” she explains.
Her mum Jenny says as a parent it gives her reassurance that the school is doing all it can to make Emily’s educational journey easier.
“Emily has a physical disability, so the school need to know about her accessibility needs as she uses a wheelchair. She also prefers multiple choice type questions rather than writing down long answers. The ‘How I Learn’ initiative means the school knows about these requests and can accommodate them,” says Jenny.
“It’s also teaching Emily to advocate for herself, I can step back and give her the freedom to become more independent, so she has a voice.”
Setting up students for success
The ‘How I Learn’ project, which will be officially launched on Monday 9th September at Curtin University, will empower students to play an active role in their learning journey.
VisAbility CEO Elizabeth Barnes says being able to assertively advocate for your own learning and accessibility requirements will set students up for success as they move onto life outside of school.
“The best people to know about their learning needs are the individuals themselves. The ‘How I Learn’ initiative will be a real asset for young people with disabilities as they transition through high school.”
‘How I Learn’ was made possible through grant funding by the Non-Government Centre Support For Non-School Organisations and was developed by VisAbility speech pathologist Monique Ziegelaar. The How I Learn website is available here: www.howilearn.com.au (link opens in new window)