Help Teach

In this episode, we discuss the value of musical education in practicing self-expression and how social justice, music, and education can all intersect in the lives of young learners. Join Mihai and renowned concert violinist and accessibility advocate Adrian Anantawan as they discuss the benefits of musical education for students with disabilities. They describe three key components of inclusive...

In this episode, we celebrate one year of Help Teach! Enjoy this long-form recap and universal takeaway from all of our co-leads. Thank you all for your incredible support so far! Join Mihai, Maggie, Élise, and Payton as they summarize the progression of Help Teach over the past year. They discuss what they have been up to over the past few months, where the show is heading next, and how audience...

In this episode, we showcase a new inclusive initiative for school-age children in the Okanagan Valley and discuss some of the elements that make advocacy successful. Join Mihai and Melissa Grassmick as they discuss Julia's Junction, a new accessible playground initiative for the city of West Kelowna. They dive into what made this project so successful and what helped Melissa and her daughter Juli...

In this episode, we discuss the intersection between disability advocacy and environmental activism and how students can be better supported as they seek to participate in their areas of passion. Join Mihai, Isabel Huang, and Élise Doucet as they discuss their journies in disability advocacy and environmental activism. They discuss what it means to support many causes at once, where barriers can a...

In this episode, we discuss the academic concerns surrounding non-verbal students, advocacy on behalf of someone else, and a specific challenge in the built environment: washrooms. Join Mihai and Lucy Diaz as they explain the physical and academic challenges that come with navigating the school system as a person with severe cerebral palsy and a lack of verbal communication capacity. They elaborat...

In this episode, we discuss para-sport, the Paralympics, and how young athletes can participate in sports in their communities regardless of their disabilities. Join Mihai and Dr. Jaimie Borisoff as they continue their chat by answering a fan question about para-sport and the Paralympics. They explain how the Paralympics rank their athletes, how to differentiate between the Special Olympics and th...

In this episode, we discuss the challenges unique to parenting with a disability and how schools can be more welcoming not only to their students but to the parents of those students, as well. Join Mihai and Dr. Jaimie Borisoff as they chat about what it's like to be a parent and a wheelchair user in Canada, including the struggle of dealing with an inaccessible school and a reluctant school board...

Join Mihai Covaser and James Kwinecki as they discuss blindness and vision impairment and the various challenges that these pose, historically and in the modern day. They explain technology for blindness, its progress over time, and how it can be implemented in the classroom, as well as the pros and cons of entering the world of disability at a later age in life, rather than having a disability fr...

Join Mihai Covaser and Maggie Manning as they give their perspectives on the importance of exposure to different forms of disability advocacy for those looking to become allies to the cause of accessibility and inclusion. They share some personal stories, dig into the frustration that people often feel when faced with the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to accessibility in the world today, and...

Join Mihai Covaser and Amarinder Mehta as they discuss what it means to be at once an educator, a parent, and a person with disabilities and how those varied experiences translate into the classroom setting. They break apart the role of the teacher into three key components - the teacher as an advocate/activist, the teacher as a caretaker, and the teacher as a learner - and provide resources for e...

Join Mihai Covaser and Tybie Elenko as they discuss the obstacles faced by students with challenges that extend beyond the mobile, visual, and auditory. They illuminate the often misunderstood case of the gifted learner, describe their experiences with forced conformity, and provide a key takeaway so that teachers can support all students as they work together to maximize student potential. SAGE B...

Join Mihai Covaser and Élise Doucet as they discuss the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and its implications for disabled youths in the classroom. They discuss articles pertaining to discrimination, disability rights, and education to encourage students to advocate for quality schooling and educators to help their students do so. UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child (U...

Join Mihai Covaser and Alexis Holmgren as they discuss the benefits of invitations to communicate in the classroom. They discuss the experience of missing opportunities for learning and travel due to discrimination against their disabilities and how teachers and students can encourage an environment of mutual growth through simple, regular check-ins in the classroom. Moodle.org Information on Goog...

Join Mihai Covaser, Maggie Manning, Élise Doucet, Payton Given, and Alexis Holmgren as they tie off the opening of this community audio project with a collaborative episode. They discuss the experience of being forced to miss school due to a lack of accommodations, cover how the media tends to portray living with a disability, and drive home the message that the story of each individual is unique...

Join Mihai Covaser and Stephanie Spies as they discuss teaching in high-needs environments, collaboration in the classroom, and the pressure under which educators are placed to provide for all of their students. Mihai and Stephanie cover human and material resources, teamwork, and communication as key factors in the fight for accessible Canadian classrooms.

Join Mihai Covaser and Alexis Holmgren as they discuss what it's like to live with rare diseases and disabilities, the enforcement of accommodations in education (or the lack thereof), and attitudinal barriers in place for youths with disabilities in education. Mihai and Alexis explain how public and online schooling treat disabilities differently and muddy the waters of Individual Education Plans...

Join Mihai Covaser and Élise Doucet as they discuss Deaf culture, service dogs (did you know that not only those who are blind use them?), and the history of D/deaf education in North America. Mihai and Élise give the Reader's Digest synopsis of how D/deaf individuals and those who are hard of hearing came to be treated the way they are in the current educational model and how Universal Design Pri...

Join Mihai Covaser and Maggie Manning as they discuss disability as a life journey, building community, and physical education for youths with physical or mobility-related impairments. Mihai and Maggie have a laugh over their experiences with the monstrous gym class bench, talk about how advocacy can come out of living with particular obstacles, and share a key takeaway that PE teachers can implem...

Join Mihai Covaser and Payton Given as they discuss navigating the Canadian public education system with a physical disability, the value of disability education in the classroom, and the use of proper language and etiquette in approaching those with disabilities. Mihai and Payton share lived experiences to show how far a supportive classroom can go towards supporting youths and give teachers a ke...