Dedicated exhibit area for disabled students back by popular demand
A dedicated exhibit area for disabled students which was a huge first-year success at last year’s Christchurch Careers Expo will return in an expanded format, including the addition of a workshop and seminar programme.
The disabled student exhibit area is aimed at providing information to students with disabilities and their families about what options are available as they make the transition from school to post-school life.
Colin Gladstone, a Christchurch teacher who is also working for the Ministry of Education on new national guidelines for the transition of disabled students, explains what prompted the initiative, and the impact it has had for both disabled and mainstream students, families and service providers.
“Recent research suggests that disabled students and their parents lacked information about the process of transition and they found it difficult to understand what the options were,” says Gladstone. “The whole premise for a dedicated area at Careers Expo was to make it easy to access the right information at the right time, and we think it has been very effective in doing just that,” says Gladstone.
Some really exciting things came out of the partnership with Careers Expo in its first year, including some unexpected ones.
“Our primary objective was to showcase opportunities about future careers and training programs that are relevant to the disabled community in an environment that is inspiring and supportive.”
“However, it was also fantastic to see the degree of interaction amongst the exhibitors within the disabled student area. They were sharing information with one another about their respective services and learning more themselves about what was happening in the sector.”
“Another pleasant surprise was seeing the number of mainstream students who circulated through the exhibits and enquired about career opportunities in the disability sector as well as volunteer roles. That was brilliant!”
Gladstone believes the dedicated disabled student transition area puts disabled youngsters and their families on an equal platform with mainstream peers, while still catering to their unique needs.
“For example, the Community Law, Welfare Guardianship office and WINZ will have an exhibit set up in the mainstream Careers Expo area, but they will also have an exhibit in the dedicated transition area hosted by their Disability Support Service team,” says Gladstone.
“This year, along with providing useful resources for educators and other people who support disabled students through the exhibits, there will now be seminars and workshops for parents and families to gain specific information relevant to their needs.”
“In addition to providing more transition information to disabled students The Careers Expo provides a platform for changing perceptions about disabled students, which is something everyone in this sector is extremely passionate about.”
For more information on transitions for disabled students, contact Colin Gladstone at schoolstransition@allenvale.school.nz or 03 351 6742. For exhibitor information at The Careers Expo, contact Blair Graham at blair@blare.co.nz or 021 828 044.
