Disability awareness? Ask a Brownie

1st March 2009

I was visiting a mate and her seven year old daughter recently. "Annie is going through a phase at the moment," she warned. "A particularly difficult phase." With the usual caring platitudes, I tried to reassure her that it was just a passing thing, she'd grow out of it and that it was likely not to be as awful as she was making out.

"How bad can it really be?" I asked. "Is Annie answering back? Is she refusing to tidy her room? Is she killing insects by dipping them in boiling water and then removing their legs with toothpicks?" My friend just lowered her head and answered: "It's worse than all of that, Liz - Annie has joined the Brownies."

I laughed. This was unexpected. I'd been a Brownie and it was fun ... ish. I was sure my friend was just being over dramatic.

I don't hide the fact that I'm not a huge fan of children, but normally if they stare, I smile. When they ask questions, I answer. When they touch the joystick of my electric wheelchair, I hardly even slap them. But when Annie returned home from her Brownie pack meeting that night, I realised my friend had been underplaying this 'difficult phase'.

As she came skipping in, chanting over and over again a promise to love her God and serve her Queen and country - I found myself uncharitably thinking that I could happily help Annie on her way by sending her to Iraq.

Liz's feet: one on the footplate and one hanging down, just how she likes it

She was annoyingly helpful. "Can I push your chair, Auntie Liz?" Of course I said no, but she pushed me around anyway. "Your right foot is dangling off the footplate, Auntie Liz; let me help you and put it on properly." Before I could explain my preference for a dangling foot, she had very helpfully taken hold of my leg and tried to manoeuvre my shoe back onto the plate. No doubt if we were at a roadside, she'd have ushered me and any local blind people across it before you could say Green Cross Code.

The cause of Annie's chronic case of altruism was twofold. Firstly, she had no choice but to obey the strict letter of the Brownie Law, which requires her to think of others before herself and do a good turn everyday. I was today's good turn. Secondly, Brownies are encouraged to work towards being awarded special interest badges for things like swimming, computing and crafts. It seems that helping me was also helping Annie to get her Disability Awareness Badge.

Disability Awareness Badge? It seems that times have changed since I was a Brownie. I had to go to Google straight away to research it.

Looking at the syllabus, I was hit by a wave of disappointment, but not because it was bad. In the name of comedy, I had hoped that to get the badge, little girls all over the country would be simulating disability in practical exercises designed to give empathy to the plight of the disabled. I imagined each Brownie would have to spend a day hopping around school to learn what it's like to have one leg. Or they'd have to play pin the tail on the donkey blindfold, in order to discover what it's like to have no sight. Instead they had to do things like create a game everyone can play, regardless of impairment. Sigh. Nothing remotely funny there then. In fact, it's actually rather clever and inclusive.

When I was a Brownie, I earned a badge for housework. I had to dust, make the bed and hoover before I could be awarded the triangular cloth patch with a broom on it. The wonderful irony is that I have an award for my housework skills and yet I now need personal assistants to do all of these things and more. Perhaps I should start awarding my PAs with their very own housework, bum wiping and tea making badges?

I was the only disabled Brownie in my pack. Each pack was split into groups called 'sixes' and each 'six' was named after magical creatures. I was a leprechaun. My best friend was a gnome. Dwarfism might've been part of it, I can't remember, but there was definitely no specific disability awareness badge back in those days.

I decided the best way to keep Annie quiet was to help her earn her badge. Together we devised some games so that, "Even Aunty Liz can play!". How many words can you make out of the letters in 'blue badge'? Find 101 uses for a Disability Living Allowance application form. The Gripper Stick challenge, where everyone has to try and pick up various objects from pencils, to pins to jelly. Finally, a classic adaption of a scouting classic - toilet-orienteering, where you're split into groups and given a map of accessible toilet locations, a compass and a Radar toilet key.

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Comments

1. At 3:20pm on 03 Mar 2009, Mhadaidh wrote:
so disappointing , I hope I don't get used for disability awareness practice by my two nieces when they join the brownies .
I dread the thought of them thinking of ways to make the church accessible for VI people , when I'd much rather be up a mountain or in the pub than go to a church .
And as for making games accessible , no thanks ....

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2. At 3:47pm on 03 Mar 2009, U13768808 wrote:
I was surprised that the Brownies had got it right when I read Disability Awareness but was prepared to trust your opinion on this, however on going to the Brownie home page, imagine my suprise when in the first few lines I read this:
"Take part in a game or activity with your unit wearing earplugs or headphones so you can’t hear clearly. Describe how you felt."
I can describe how I felt quite clearly but not approriately just now! yours in disapointment
Maggiemame

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3. At 3:48pm on 03 Mar 2009, U13768808 wrote:
I was surprised that the Brownies had got it right when I read Disability Awareness but was prepared to trust your opinion on this, however on going to the Brownie home page, imagine my suprise when in the first few lines I read this:
"Take part in a game or activity with your unit wearing earplugs or headphones so you can’t hear clearly. Describe how you felt."
I can describe how I felt quite clearly but not appropriately just now! yours in disapointment
Maggiemame

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4. At 4:08pm on 03 Mar 2009, Chris_Page wrote:
What next - Working Class Culture Appreciation badge?

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5. At 9:47pm on 03 Mar 2009, jemma-brown wrote:
I remember doing my 'sight awareness badge' back in my Brownie day's; wonderfully ironic considering my own visual impairment!

On a separate note The Guide Association (GGUK) has just produced a brand new resource aimed at including young woman with disabilities in GGUK activities. Even better I was part of the group that wrote it- not bad for a blogger!

And finally I must admit to being 'one of them' as I am now a Guide Leader!

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6. At 9:47pm on 03 Mar 2009, jemma-brown wrote:
I remember doing my 'sight awareness badge' back in my Brownie day's; wonderfully ironic considering my own visual impairment!

On a separate note The Guide Association (GGUK) has just produced a brand new resource aimed at including young woman with disabilities in GGUK activities. Even better I was part of the group that wrote it- not bad for a blogger!

And finally I must admit to being 'one of them' as I am now a Guide Leader.

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7. At 10:29am on 04 Mar 2009, gvandcrew wrote:
Out of the blue, quite suddenly one day, A very tactless fellow parent told me 'we have to decide when S is coming round to your house so she can look after your son'. Asked her why on earth she felt her 9 year old needed to come and 'look after' an extremely independant 12 year old who happened to be blind. apparently she needed her disability badge at brownies. talked to my son about it who 'agreed': S came for tea which was cooked for her by said 12 year old, he showed her his braille books, talking programme on the computer and took her outside to play football and cricket then helped her to braille her own name to take back to Brownies. He explained very carefullyand gently that he didn't need looking after. She was very happy, her tactless mother not very pleased as her daughter hadn't got to 'look after' the 'poor little blind boy'. Soon changed when badge was awarded. I think the brownies policy is dumbing down and angled wrong. All my sons friends have no problems with him being a very normal chap who just happens to be blind, it's the grownups who have got the approach all wrong.

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8. At 10:32am on 04 Mar 2009, gvandcrew wrote:
Out of the blue, quite suddenly one day, A very tactless fellow parent told me 'we have to decide when S is coming round to your house so she can look after your son'. Asked her why on earth she felt her 9 year old needed to come and 'look after' an extremely independant 12 year old who happened to be blind. apparently she needed her disability badge at brownies. talked to my son about it who 'agreed': S came for tea which was cooked for her by said 12 year old, he showed her his braille books, talking programme on the computer and took her outside to play football and cricket, showed her all his games-chess, monopoly, cards etc then helped her to braille her own name to take back to Brownies. He explained very carefullyand gently that he didn't need looking after. She was very happy, her tactless mother not very pleased as her daughter hadn't got to 'look after' the 'poor little blind boy'. Soon changed when badge was awarded. I think the brownies policy is dumbing down and angled wrong. It is not the childrens fault, it's the grownups who have got the approach all wrong.

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9. At 10:33am on 04 Mar 2009, gvandcrew wrote:
Out of the blue, quite suddenly one day, A very tactless fellow parent told me 'we have to decide when S is coming round to your house so she can look after your son'. Asked her why on earth she felt her 9 year old needed to come and 'look after' an extremely independant 12 year old who happened to be blind. apparently she needed her disability badge at brownies. talked to my son about it who 'agreed': S came for tea which was cooked for her by said 12 year old, he showed her his braille books, talking programme on the computer and took her outside to play football and cricket then helped her to braille her own name to take back to Brownies. He explained very carefullyand gently that he didn't need looking after. She was very happy, her tactless mother not very pleased as her daughter hadn't got to 'look after' the 'poor little blind boy'. Soon changed when badge was awarded. I think the brownies policy is dumbing down and angled wrong. its not the chldrens fault but the grownups who have got the approach all wrong.

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10. At 1:56pm on 04 Mar 2009, Turtle wrote:
gvandcrew,

I was never a natural born brownie but when i was there, i would want to do the badge criteria regardless of whether it actually made sense. I think the time she spent with your son is more valuable to kids' disability awareness than anything on that list, the badge doesn't matter.

plus, my mum would never sew the flippin badges on anyway ,

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