Breaking barriers lesson 4: taking action

Main activity

Using the slogan Breaking Barriers as a starting point, ask pupils to create a resource promoting a campaign to raise awareness of the challenges facing Disabled users of public transport. Remind pupils of the things they identified in the map task, what they found out from their online research etc.

Ideally – and depending on ability – pupils could produce a range of resources including:

• posters and other visual stimuli (collage, photomontage, clip art, sign writing etc)
• social stories
• films or recordings of themselves making a brief statement about an aspect of their campaign
• interviews with each other about the campaign and why it is important
• short articles for the school newspaper.

Below are suggestions for issues that children could think about – select these or others depending on their interest and ability. Some develop themes from earlier lessons, others introduce new ideas.

• The physical barriers some Disabled people face on public transport – getting on and off safely, hearing or seeing announcements, overcrowding (eg not being able to board a bus because the wheelchair space is full), equipment that isn’t working (lifts, escalators etc).
• Things we can all do to improve access for Disabled people (eg allowing them to board first, standing up so that they can sit down, not standing in the entrance of buses and trains etc).
• Raising awareness about some of the things that can make neurodivergent people feel unsafe on public transport – see the examples above.
• The challenges of buying a ticket or finding other information if you can’t use – or afford – digital technology. For example, planning a route, finding out which stations are accessible etc.
• Some suggestions for better travel assistance include:
  • making sure assistance staff stand in visible spaces where they can be easily accessed
  • have a service that helps people who are digitally excluded (this could include older people as well as Disabled people)
  • make sure people who are digitally excluded don’t have to pay more to travel.
• Pupils’ efforts could form the basis of an exhibition, be shared online via social media, included in newsletters or displays around the school, shared in assemblies etc.

Remind pupils about the discussion from lesson 1 (or introduce it here), about how we sometimes think about people with disabilities. Do we think ‘they can’t do X’ – or do we think ‘they could do X if we made changes to how things work’?

Remind pupils about the social model of disability. See PowerPoint J - social model: as appropriate, show them Barbara Lisicki’s full quote or the simplified version. If using the full version, talk through it with pupils to ensure they understand what she is saying.

Ask – what does Barbara mean when she says that the social model “takes us away from ‘blaming’ the individual for their shortcoming”?

Barbara also says that we should “plan and organise society in a way that includes, rather than excludes disabled people”. Ask pupils to recall what changes have been made to improve public transport since Barbara began campaigning in the late 70s – and what still needs to be done.