Opening phase; initial exploration of concepts
(15 min.)

• A
• D
• PO

Preparation

• The teacher has set up a projector for a video (M1).
• The teacher has made a sufficient number of copies of M2 and M3.
• Internet facilities are available for small-group research.

Execution

• Step 1 As an initial introduction to the topic, the teacher shows the video ‘Inclusion of people with disabilities’ by the ACT Alliance (M1). The video is in English, but automatic subtitling is available in various languages.
• Step 2 The teacher hands out a transcript of the video as an aid to understanding it.
• Step 3 The pupils summarise the video’s content.
• Step 4 The teacher asks pupils for their views on what inclusion means and what we can all do to make it work. The aim here is for pupils to recognise that inclusion is a task for all members of society working together and requires change in established structures. The teacher notes key ideas and issues on the board.
• Step 5 The teacher asks the pupils to think about anything they have seen in their day-to-day lives and in the world around them which they would consider to be ‘inclusion’, and to identify any experiences they have had in relation to the topic.

Transition to the work phase
(5 min.)

• D

• Transitioning to the next phase of the lesson, the teacher asks the pupils to think of examples of famous people who have disabilities.
• Learning expectations: Teacher should include pupils’ views and ensure the discussion remains engaged with their lifeworlds.
• The next phase involves biographical work on well-known people with disabilities, whose lives present examples of the issues around inclusion.

Work phase
(25 min.)

• GW

• Step 1 The teacher hands out the worksheet on famous personalities (M3) and divides the pupils into small groups.
• Step 2 After reading through the personalities suggested in the worksheet, each group chooses one, or alternatively makes their own suggestion.
• Step 3 The teacher ensures each group is working on a different person.
• Step 4 The groups do internet research on their chosen personality and prepare a two-minute presentation to tell the others who the person is and what they have learned from finding out about their life – particularly any things that surprised them. If the pupils need more time, they can finish work on their presentation at the start of the next lesson.
• Step 5 The presentations take place in the next lesson.

Work phase
(10 min.)

• GW

Preparation

• A blackboard or whiteboard is available for making whole-class notes.

Execution

• The groups are given a little time to finalise their presentations.

Pupil’s presentations
(15 min.)

• PP

• Each group gives a brief presentation on the personality they have chosen.

Note

• The teacher may wish to explain to the pupils that disabilities come in various different forms, including physical, motor, social and emotional, sensory, cognitive and psychological difficulties.

Reinforcement of learnings
(20 min.)

• D
• PO

• Step 1 The teacher asks pupils to compare the various personalities they have heard about.
• Step 2 Discussion starters:
  • Is there anything particular you notice when you compare these people? Are there any factors that all their stories have in common?
  • Do you think these examples represent successful inclusion? If so, why? If not, why not? What do you think ‘successful inclusion’ would look like?
• Step 3 The teacher notes down key points and issues on the board.

Work phase
(10 min.)

• TP

Preparation

• The teacher has made a sufficient number of copies of M4.

Execution

• Step 1 The teacher explains that the lesson is going to revolve around particular terms used casually as insults in day-to-day life and how people feel when they experience these terms as directed against them.
• Step 2 The teacher hands out copies of the interview with Raul Krauthausen (M4) and asks pupils to read the first part of the interview quietly for themselves.

Discussion and initial exploration of new concepts
(20 min.)

• D
• PO

• The teacher should make sure that the pupils do not read the whole interview. When all pupils have finished reading the interview’s first part, the teacher initiates a whole-group discussion.
• Discussion starters:
  • Tell us what you think about this quotation from the interview: ‘If we use words like ‘retard’ [in the original video: behindert] […] then we don’t always understand that language can be incredibly powerful, and just by using these words all the time and minimising what they mean, I think we hurt more people than we intend to.’ (Raul Krauthausen)
  • What do you think? Do you use words like that?
  • Can you think of any other words that people might feel are discriminatory (an example might be ‘spastic’)?¹
• Learning expectations
  • Many of the terms which the pupils will volunteer have an insulting, hurtful and discriminatory effect on the people they target. The teacher’s job here is to make the group aware of the power of words and encourage them to reflect critically on their use of language.

Second discussion phase; Reinforcement of learnings
(15 min.)

• TP
• D
• PO

• Step 1 The teacher chooses pupils to read out the second excerpt from the interview, or reads it out herself/himself.
• Step 2 The teacher reflects on the excerpt together with the pupils.

Learning expectations

• It should become evident to the pupils at this point that people with disabilities differ from one another, just like anyone else – they are not a homogeneous mass. They can, and need to, make use of a range of options for full participation in the life of society. People without disabilities have a particular role to play in helping dismantle barriers for people with disabilities so they can access their participatory rights. Everyone can and should consider the language they use, and be aware of, and avoid using words and phrases that could hurt, offend or degrade others.
• The teacher should re-emphasise at this point that ‘disability’ comes into being when someone is discriminated against and disadvantaged by those around them and by their society; before this happens, the person simply has a difficulty or a limitation in a particular area or areas. Inclusiveness is not the sole responsibility of the person with a ‘disability’; instead, it is a matter for the whole of society. Achieving an inclusive world, however, requires the dismantling of barriers – both physical ones (in the architecture of buildings, for example) and processes of exclusion that begin with us excluding others in our thinking. The attainment of rights alone cannot create an inclusive society; the media, employers, schools, and so on all have their part to play – as does each one of us.

Introductory phase
(5 min.)

• TP

Preparation

• The teacher has made sufficient numbers of copies of M5-M8 for the group work. She or he has prepared by reading the materials, in order to be able to answer any questions the pupils have.
• Internet facilities are available for the groups to carry out online searches.

Execution

• Step 1 The teacher explains that the lesson will revolve around critical reflection on recent representations and narratives relating to people with disabilities. The pupils split up into four groups, each of which looks at a different representation (book, film, TV series). Pupils may also make suggestions for analysis.
• Step 2 The teacher provides a brief overview of the protagonists discussed in each of the worksheets (M5-M8).

Note

• It is advisable not to mention anything at this stage about the particular format of the narrative (TV series, film, book), as this information may unduly influence the pupils’ choice of topic.

Learning expectations

• The intent of the exercise is to support pupils’ critical judgement and media literacy skills.

Work phase
(40 min.)

• GW

• Step 1 The teacher gives the titles of the worksheets the pupils will now consider, without mentioning what kind of representation each one is (book, film etc.). Each group gives their first and second topic preference and the teacher assigns the materials accordingly.
• Step 2 The groups work on the tasks assigned and prepare a short presentation.

Pupil’s presentations; Reinforcement of learnings
(30 min.)

• PP

Preparation

• The teacher has organised the technical equipment/facilities that will be necessary for the various groups to give their presentations.
• The teacher has made a sufficient number of copies of M9.
• In preparation for the lesson, the teacher has read the background information about the video in M9 here.
• Prepare a computer with internet access and projector for videos

• Step 1 Each group of pupils gives a short presentation (max. 5 minutes) on the tasks they had worked on in the previous lesson.
• Step 2 The teacher makes notes on the board about significant shared factors and differences among the narratives and representations. Issues the teacher might choose to discuss could include the apparent narrative similarity between the films Me Before You and The Intouchables, which on closer examination gives way to a contrast between the messages each film transmits and the circumstances of their making.
• Step 3 The learnings which emerge from the exercise should include the following points:
  • Even in our day, people with disabilities seldom feature prominently in cultural productions, and the way these productions depict them is subject to wide variation.
  • The messages transmitted in these cultural productions likewise vary markedly, ranging from the portrayal of realistic lifeworlds to depictions centring suffering and other negative connotations of disability.
  • As a general principle, the degree to which people with a disability were involved with producing the depiction is proportional to the degree of its authenticity.
  • Cultural productions as well as every day conversations and actions should avoid ‘talking about’ people with disabilities in an unquestioned and unconsidered manner, instead ensuring they are ‘talking with’ (in both senses of the phrase – being in dialogue with and being alongside, in support of) people with disabilities.

Closing phase
(20 min.)

• TP
• D
• PP

• Step 1 The teacher now transitions to the closing phase of the lesson, which looks at an example with a political point of reference in order to facilitate critical engagement with the current concept of inclusion and with existing images of people with disabilities in present-day societies. This part of the lesson uses Meryl Streep’s speech at the 2017 Golden Globes, specifically her reference to a controversial incident involving Donald Trump. As background reading, we recommend this article.
• Step 2 The teacher shows the video featuring the speech (M10).
• Step 3 The pupils then have the opportunity to discuss it.
• Step 4 Discussion starters:
  • Do you think well-known (non-political) personalities should express political opinions?
  • What is the current state of inclusion of people with disabilities in your country? How effective/successful do you think processes of inclusion in your country have been to date?
  • Have you noticed any images of people with disabilities in the media or other cultural productions? What were they like?
  • Is there a difference between ‘having a disability’ and ‘being disabled’ (it may be necessary here to draw pupils’ attention to the passive form of ‘being disabled’, which can be read as implying that someone or something is ‘disabling’ the person)?

Note

• It is important for the teacher to re-emphasise here that it is the disadvantaging of people with disabilities at the hands of the individuals and societies around them that brings the status of ‘disabled’ into being as a state someone is put into by others. Inclusion is not a task for people with disabilities alone, but rather one for the whole of society. If it is to succeed, barriers of all types – ranging from physical ones in built environments to those in people’s minds – will need to be overcome. The simple enshrinement of rights in law cannot complete this task; the active involvement of our societal systems - employers, schools, the media, and so on – and of each one of us, with and without disabilities, is essential.

Rounding off the lesson
(10 min.)

• TP
• PO

• Step 1 The teacher concludes the lesson with a quotation from the journalist Jonas Karpa, which she or he writes on the board or whiteboard: „’A person’s disability is part of their identity. You can’t act identity.’
• Step 2 The teacher invites pupils to give their thoughts and views on the quotation.

Introduction
(5 min.)

• TP

Preparation

• The teacher has made a sufficient number of copies of M9.
• The teacher has organised the equipment required to play a video (M10).

Execution

• Step 1 The teacher tells the pupils that the lesson that follows will take a different emphasis from the previous exploration of discriminatory or hurtful language used by others about people with disabilities. At various points, the representations of people with disabilities that the pupils studied for their presentations referred to ‘labels’ for disabilities, to the way people with disabilities talk about themselves and to pride in an identity centred on a disability. The young Deaf people shown in Switched at Birth, for instance, are proud of belonging to the Deaf community and handle their hearing loss in an affirming way. When is labelling people – putting them into categories – OK? Is it ever OK? And is self-labelling – identifying as LGBTQIA+, for example, or as part of the disability community – different from being ‘othered’ by people from outside that community?

Note

• Labelling and othering create boundaries and processes of inclusion and – mostly – exclusion. With this in mind, the worksheet centres individuals’ reflections on self-labelling and self-identification in their own lives, including intersectional identities.
• The Pride concept goes back to the movement for civil rights among LGBTQ people in the US at the end of the 1960s. Today, Pride is about people affirming and celebrating their identities. The concept has now been adopted by people who identify as belonging to a range of groups; as well as LGBTQ Pride, there is Disability Pride and Deaf Pride.

Work phase; Reinforcement of learnings
(25 min.)

• IW

• Step 1 The teacher hands out copies of the worksheet (M9), which includes a section for the pupils to reflect on their own thoughts and views.
• Step 2

  The pupils work through the worksheet on their own.

  Note

  • It’s OK for some pupils to spend more time working on facts and information about the disability pride movement and its significance, while others focus more closely on their own identity. This means it’s not necessary for all pupils to answer all the questions.

Reinforcement of learnings
(10 min.)

• D
• PO
• TP

• Step 1 There follows a whole-class discussion of selected aspects of the questions/tasks in M9.
• Step 2 Discussion starters:
  • Did you find it easy to name the self-chosen identities (including multiple/intersectional ones) of the people in the worksheet? In other words, were you able to locate people (and yourselves) in dimensions of diversity?
  • Which dimensions of diversity are relevant to your life, and which are not?
  • Does it bother you that these aspects of diversity have an influence on your life?
  • What does disability pride mean, in your view?
  • Can you see any relationships or references to other pride movements and identities?
• Step 3

  The teacher ensures that the pupils engage respectfully in discussion and do not denigrate others.

  Note

  • During the discussion, the teacher should consistently remember and emphasise that pupils are free to choose whether and to what extent they engage, particularly when it comes to disclosing the thoughts arising from their self-reflection. She or he makes sure that pupils understand that self-labelling and identification with a particular group are not compulsory and not something anyone can do ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. There are plenty of reasons both for and against identifying with a particular group. It can, for example, help someone develop and affirm their identity; but it can also set limits on their self-realisation (this might happen, for example, with an LGBTQIA+ identity) or on their perceptions of others. Everyone has the right to decide these issues for themselves and nobody has to justify or explain themselves to anyone else in this regard.

Rounding off the lesson
(5 min.)

• TP

• Step 1 The teacher closes the lesson by reminding pupils that someone with a disability can take pride in that disability as a part of their own identity, even though it may cause them difficulties and problematic experiences from time to time. This is what ‘disability pride’ means.
• Step 2 The teacher shows the class the video ‘Pride’, which looks at self-acceptance, identity, and pride in that identity, and communicates an affirming, empowering message. (The subtitles to the video are available in various languages). In so doing, the teacher ends the unit on an emphatic, upbeat note.