Anna Carey meets a group of children helping to promote tolerance - winners of this year's I Can, You Can essay competition
People often say that children are intolerant of anyone who's even vaguely different, whether they have an unusual name, or they're using a wheelchair. But there are plenty of children who know that it's more important to celebrate connections than to reject differences. And 26 of them gathered in Dublin's Helix earlier this month to celebrate diversity and inclusiveness. They're the winners of "I Can, You Can", an essay competition organised by the Irish National Teachers Organisation on behalf of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which invited primary school students to write essays or poems about physical and mental disability in an effort to promote disability awareness.
The overall winner of the competition was 12-year-old Tonya Swayne from St Michael's Girls NS, Arklow, Co Wicklow. "My teacher knows I love writing and reading and asked if I'd like to enter it for the school," she says. She jumped at the chance, although, like many writers, she had trouble sticking to her 200-word limit. "On the first night I went up to my room to write it and after a while I'd written 400 words, because I'm a waffler," she says. "So I went to my mum and she helped me break it down. I'd like to thank her for that."
But Tonya wasn't only inspired by her love of writing. She had a personal reason for taking part, too. "My brother has autism, so I wrote about my own experiences," she says. "Autism has only really been noticed over the past couple of years, and before that children with autism were just thought of as troublesome, and didn't get any help. That's why I wanted to write about it - for people who don't know anyone with autism. So maybe if they see a child who is running around frantically, flapping his hands or holding his ears, they won't think 'he's spoilt, his parents have no control'."
Co Louth winner Sionainn Glenholmes wrote a story about a disabled boy who is bullied at school but rises above it, thanks to supportive friends. She, too, was inspired by real life. "I know this fellow with autism and his cousins don't see him the way his mam and his granny see him," she says. "They do play with him, but they don't understand that he can't really understand them sometimes." She wanted to write a positive story about a disabled character. "I wanted to show that disabled people aren't different from us; they're the same, maybe even better than us," Sionainn says.
The children all believe that people with mental and physical disabilities are discriminated against mostly because others don't understand their conditions. "If I didn't have a brother with autism and I saw a child who was constantly shrieking, I think would have an open mind - I'd notice that he wasn't back-answering his mother or anything, so he must have a bit of a problem," Tonya says. "But I wouldn't understand what it was."
A little education is the key. "We go swimming at Sandycove and we used to see a boy who ran around in the water, shrieking," says Dublin winner Ben Naughton. "I knew he wasn't just being a brat, and when I asked my dad he explained about autism." The children also agree that many people fear what they don't understand. "They think [disabled people are] contagious," Tonya says.
While many of the children's essays deal with issues of physical disability, Tonya particularly hopes that events like "I Can, You Can" will increase public awareness of mental disabilities and illnesses. "If a person breaks their arm, or has a bug, they have an illness - we don't treat them any differently," she says. "But we shouldn't treat people differently because they have a mental disease. It's just not right." But she's also aware of the prejudices faced by the physically disabled. "People can be quite narrow-minded about things like that," she says. "And I don't want to scare anyone, but you could be in a car crash tomorrow and end up in a wheelchair yourself."
As more mainstream schools welcome disabled children, the children hope that the segregation of disabled and able children will be a thing of the past. They believe passionately that discrimination of all kinds is wrong, and this the message of their stories and poems. "I want people to try and understand never to look down on other people because they seem different," says Sionainn. "Because we're all the same, even if we look different, no matter what colour we are, what culture we come from. We're all the same."
I Can, You Can is available in booklet form from the INTO
Tonya Swayne's winning entry
I feel the urge to grab him, shake him, stop him! His piercing shriek, he won't stop, he can't stop. I calm my mind, relax, breathe in, glare across my thirteenth birthday cake and smile patiently. I tolerate my cute, adorable seven year old Ben.
Someone, please explain! Why can't Ben speak to me? Why is Ben running naked, jumping, flapping his hands frantically, constantly? His energy is overwhelming. Ben desires routine. I must keep my music soft. Ben can't contemplate noisy situations. Ben hears and he clenches his ears.
I want to indulge myself, purchase that red flamboyant coat. No! I can't torture Ben's strange mind with that scary red colour he despises.
Then I'm told . . . autistic spectrum disorder. I'm relieved. Perhaps people can understand now and not scold Ben for being unsociable, impulsive and demanding constant supervision.
How do I enter Ben's peculiar world? I need eye contact. I resent holding his head. I sit, spin plates with him.
He looks at me. " I "
He looks away. We spin plates again.
He stops.
"I love you," he says.
I'm nervous! I'm astounded! I'm entering Ben's unknown world! I see my shocked, excited expression in Ben's lonely eyes.