Health and Physical Education: Who has the RIGHT to play

As a health and physical education teacher,  I believe in the importance of physical activity for all students because of the benefits it can bring to an individual physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally. Some of the benefits that physical activity can bring to an individual are displayed within the image below.

Retrieved from:http://activegrand.ca/healthy-living/bene/

Since physical activity promotes all of these things, I believe it is important for students to take Health and Physical Education (HPE) throughout each year of their schooling. In order to promote HPE students must encounter positive relationships to physical activity at a young age and within their HPE classes in elementary schools. Students who generally do not take HPE are those who excel strongly within the maths, sciences, arts, and those who have mental, physical and or emotional disabilities. In high school I was considered part of the "athletes" and therefore felt extremely comfortable within the gym and while taking HPE. Part of the reason I wanted to become an HPE teacher was to change the beliefs behind HPE from being an athlete focused course to an  inclusive and positive learning space for the "non-athletic" students too. This is why I believe the subject of ableism is so important to me and my beliefs behind HPE.

Retrieved from: http://www.skepticalob.com/2015/
03/are-natural-childbirth-and-lactivism-ableist.html

According to Storey (2007) "Rauscher and McClintock (1996) described ableism as a pervasive system of discrimination and exclusion that oppresses people who have mental, emotional, and physical disabilities… Deeply rooted beliefs about health, productivity, beauty and the value of human life, perpetuated by th public and private media, combine to create an environment that is often hostile to those whose physical, mental, cognitive, and sensory abilities… fall out of the scope of what is currently defined as socially acceptable (p.198)" (p.56). There is a major importance to implementing disability content into the curriculum and school activities. There are some clubs for students with disabilities, like S.N.A.P, and Best Buddies however, this is just the beginning. These buddy programs promote a non disabled student to help a disabled student and therefore not promoting equity and equality. Disability content should be infused with school boards, textbook companies, into all aspects of each curriculum and more in order to promote equity and equality.

Within HPE there are many ways to create an equal and equitable classroom. Having students participate in sitting volleyball if there is a student with a physical disability allows all students to particapte equally. Other activities are wheel chair basketball, scooter soccer and by modifying regular games like volleyball to use a bright beach ball that moves slower and is easier to hit. Although I have a bunch of ideas for including everyone into HPE there is still information about ableism that I do not know and more information that I could learn in order to provide an even more inclusive HPE classroom for everyone. Therefore I will continue to learn about ableism and how I can help integrate students with disabilities better into the school and more specifically my HPE classroom.

References 

Storey, K. (2007) Combating Ableism in Schools. Heldref Publications. Retrieved from: https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/EDUC8P02D01FW2016LEC001/Week%2011%20-%20Ableism/combating%20ableism%20in%20schools%20_Storey_.pdf