Youth Challenge
Teaching human rights & responsibilities.

Unit 2: Disability Rights

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Script - 'But what about Doug's rights?'

Scene one - the accident

Doug has a lot of sporting talent, particularly on the basketball court. He is practising by himself out on the court. He slips and falls and suffers a head injury.

Scene two - after the accident

Doug's friends are very worried when they hear about his accident; he is a popular student, and academically and athletically talented. His friends are waiting to hear word of Doug's injury from his girlfriend, Sarah.

When Sarah arrives she is quite despondent, as she understands that Doug has a brain injury, but doesn't know what the full implications of the injury are yet, and she is frustrated by the questions from her friends, who want to know how badly Doug's injury will affect him as he is "top of English and Maths", and how long before he'll be back at school. Sarah says she doesn't know what will happen or when Doug will be back.

Scene three - back to school

Everyone seems pleased to see Doug back at school when he arrives. He is walking differently, though, and seems a bit vague and hesitant in his speech, and he is quite self conscious about the attention he gets on his first day.

He goes into class and the teacher asks that students "Don't all sit at the back, please". Doug does sit at the back with Sarah, where the teacher asks if he is alright and will he be able to see and hear. He says he's fine, and she asks again, and Doug again replies that he's fine.

After the lesson, Sarah goes to ask one of the other students about a problem she didn't understand in class. Doug notices this and seems a little bit distracted by it. Then one of his mates says, "Hey Doug, want to play basketball this afternoon?" Doug doesn't answer immediately because he's watching Sarah, but when his mate asks again, Doug reacts by shoving his mate and saying "No!"

The other students are surprised by Doug's reaction and put it down to his injury, making comments like "How can we be friends with someone like that?"; "Look at him, he can't even walk properly"; and "See, I told you he'd be different."

Scene four - two months later

The teacher is preparing the students for their final exams, and she notices that Doug hasn't arrived for class, so she asks where he is. One class member says "Probably taking his medication, miss", which makes the class laugh, and then someone else says "Or having his five minutes…again."

One of the girls complains that Doug's lateness and slowness are holding the rest of the class back, and that it's not fair. Another girl says "He's already wasted half the term, can we just get on with it?"

Doug arrives, eating an apple, and the teacher gets angry with him, asking him why he is late and why he is eating. He says "Sorry, I hadn't eaten my morning tea and I'm hungry". The teacher says he can't eat in her classroom, and he tries to argue that he is hungry. The teacher gets angry and raises her voice saying, "Give me the apple, Doug, I've told you a thousand times that you can't eat in my class, what did you do at morning tea time?" Doug says, "I played." And the teacher says "Well that's when everyone else has something to eat." She takes the apple from Doug.

Doug sits down, and the teacher returns to the revision lesson, and then shouts at Doug not to make snide comments in class.

The teacher is advising about the revision lesson and what will be the circumstances for the final exam. One student interrupts to ask how long the exam will be, and the teacher answers her. Then Doug starts to ask a question, and the teacher shouts at him, saying "Doug! Don't interrupt!" Doug tries to protest, and the teacher says, "Put your hand up if you want to ask a question." Doug says that the others didn't put their hands up. The teacher becomes very angry and starts shouting at Doug that he is disruptive and she takes up all her time trying to manage him when there are sixteen other students in the class she should be teaching. Doug is angry and frustrated and is shouting back repeatedly, "Why can't you answer my question, it's not fair!" As the teacher keeps shouting, Doug stands up, still repeating "Why can't you answer my question?" He picks up a chair and starts heading toward the front of the room toward the teacher with the chair held up over his head in a threatening manner.

Scene five - the teachers

Doug's teacher goes to the staff room and walks in saying, "That's it! I've had it! I've just had Doug Christiansen throwing a chair at me!"

Another teacher asks "Are you all right?" Doug's teacher says, "No, I'm not, I've absolutely had it!" Another teacher says, "That's not right", and someone asks, "Who can we go to?" One teacher says, "Well, the unions for a start." Doug's teacher says it's not right having to deal with students like this. She says, "There are these people who have had so many detentions they're just a waste of time."

Then one of the teachers asks what happened. Doug's teacher says Doug came in late, eating in the classroom, which is what always happens, and she got angry, then he got angry then they shouted at each other and then he threatened her with a chair. One of the other teachers asks, "Did you stop him, what did you say?" She says, "No, he realised what he was doing and stopped. But I didn't feel safe, no one in the class felt safe."

Another teacher says, "What about teacher's rights?" The teachers say it isn't right to be physically threatened and to do nothing about it. One teacher says "They should send him to another school." Another says, "Can we do that? Isn't it our problem?" And Doug's teacher says "There's a special school set up for people like Doug only about 10 km away from here." Someone else says, "We need to have our rights made clear to the students and the other staff."

Doug's teacher says one of her major issues is that the other students in Doug's class aren't getting enough of her time or enough time themselves. Another teacher then says, "The issue is that all students have the right to learn, and Doug's needs to be dealt with but there are procedures for that. First we need to bring his parents in, talk to the counsellor and that's the start of the process."

Scene six - the counsellor

Doug's mother, comes in to the school to meet with the school counsellor. Doug's mother says she blames the school for Doug's unhappiness since his return to school after his accident. She suggests that the teachers have commented on his inability to focus and have suggested that he has forgotten to take his medication in such a way that Doug is upset.

Doug's mother says he's fine and that his doctor says he's fine, but that the school needs to help him to catch up on missed work and consider the troubles he is having: his girlfriend has dropped him, he's picked on all the time, and he's frequently sent to the time-out room by teachers to calm down.

The counsellor tells Doug's mother that the teachers are concerned about Doug's behaviour and have taken up their case with the union. The school counsellor would like Doug's mother to consider moving Doug to another school, but Doug's mother is adamant that he stay at the school where he knows people. She says she has sought legal advice and that she has rights as a parent in the same way Doug has rights as an individual.

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