What gives you hope?

Rebekah | Kirikiriroa

Rebekah shared how a staff member created a walking stick for her daughter to ensure she can participate and feel included in school activities.

“The things that I find hope in are what I would call ‘in the micro’. When I look at the micro interactions, when I look at the interactions we have with ordinary, everyday people, that where I find hope.

When I look at how, for example, at my daughter’s school, they have a gully and as part of tech, they go into the gully and they do a bunch of activities there. The nature of her disabilities means that she is unsteady on her feet, and one of the staff members spent the whole weekend making a special walking stick for her so that she could go down to the gully with the rest of the class and participate in the activities. And it was just so lovely and inclusive and thoughtful.

And that sort of micro thing that’ll probably never make the news, never be known outside of the classroom and us – that gives me hope that there are people out there who will spend a weekend being creative and thoughtful to make sure that all the kids in the class can participate in activity and feel included and feel like they belong, and that is important. And that is the sort of thing that gives me hope.”