Posted by Teacher Ria in Advocacies, Autism, Featured | 10 Comments

Apparently, not every Juan can fly with Cebu Pacific after all

Apparently, not every Juan can fly after all.

Contrary to Cebu Pacific‘s tag line that it’s time everyone flies (or every Juan as they so creatively coined), there are exemptions to who they are willing to fly. This is the message they gave to the public when they so insensitively tried to coerce a mother and her son to disembark from the plane they were taking because the son had special needs. The incident took place last December 23, 2009. According to news reports, Mrs. Mylene Alcantara was told by the flight crew that they cannot go on with their flight after finding out that her son was a special child. More specifically, she was informed that the company policy was that no two special needs passengers can be on the same flight. Apparently, there was another child with Down’s Syndrome already aboard the aircraft. They reportedly were insisting that her son was mentally ill, thus they could not travel. I applaud this mother’s strength and courage as she not only refused to be coerced and intimidated by these crew members but also for continuing the fight against the airline. Mrs. Alcantara is now filing a multi-million lawsuit against the carrier.

This is not the first time Cebu Pacific has displayed obvious descirmination towards PWD’s or Persons with Disabilities. In a previous incident (which if not for a blogger’s Plurk I would not have known about), Cebu Pacific refused to board a group of  deaf passengers because of a policy against having two unescorted passengers that require special handling. They explained further that “special handling” pertained to passengers who were pregnant, had disabilities,  medical cases, minors travelling alone and individuals whose physical, medical or mental conditions need special or individual attention (read the entire response via Filipino Deaf from the Eyes of a Hearing Person here and here).

Granted that having unassisted and unaccompanied individuals who need special attention may tax the resources of the cabin crew in case of emergency and increase the carrier’s liability, this seems to not be the case in the situations of both the group of hearing impaired tourists and Mrs. Alcantara’s son. For one, the child was accompanied by his mother who clearly is able to care for her son and attend to his needs. Secondly, as heard over the radio this morning, the lawyer of the family pointed out that special children are not considered mentally ill.

What ignorance on the part of a company! Just because someone has special needs does not make them less of an individual nor does it mean they do not deserve opportunities granted to everyone else. So long as they have their support system on hand, there should be no problems or issues at all. Conrtary to the belief that children with autism or mental retardation cannot behave and act inappropriately, they can be just like other kids in many, many ways. In fact, a lot of times it is the so-called “normal” population that acts inappropriately in-flight. The Cebu Pacific crew‘s behavior takes us back to a time when children with autism, Down’s Syndrome and other physical, mental or other handicaps were institutionalized and hidden from the rest of the world. I, for one, am not willing to go back to that kind of a mind-set. I enjoin a fellow autism advocate and another brave mom of a child with autism as she calls for the airline industry to accommodate individuals with special needs. If I may add, this accommodations should be done with no questions asked!

In the last year alone, I have read so many gripes and rants about the airline, from faulty online bookings to poor customer service, and now this. It is time that the airline started making changes about their policies and procedures. Further, their training of their staff should be revamped. I remember on my Davao trip last year, I had taken another carrier but my friends had taken Cebu Pacific and they had a major rant about one of the crew. I don’t remember what it was exactly anymore, but the point is Cebu Pacific should work on better customer service. While the airline has made apologies to the family, it is not enough. The damage is done.

Cebu Pacific does offer low fares. But their claim on great value? This is something we now have to think about.

Posted by Teacher Ria in Advocacies, Featured | 0 Comments

Hope for the Flowers: Help X Out Cervical Cancer

For my 30^th birthday, I got myself the gift of protection. Yes, I armed myself with the protection against Cervical Cancer by committing to getting the vaccine that protects women from the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the virus which causes abnormal growth in the cervix. According to research, half a million worldwide are diagnosed with Cervical Cancer and every two minutes, one of them will die because of it. Every day, 12 Filipina die of cervical cancer. It’s ranked as the second most common cancer afflicting Filipino women. The sad part of this reality is that while cervical cancer is highly preventable, it is difficult to detect in its early stages. Being a staunch believer that prevention is better than cure, plus of course the constant reminders of my OB/GYN that I should get protected, I finally did it. GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine provides protection against HPV types 16 and 18, the two most common cancer-causing strains.  Now, women ages 10 years and older can be vaccinated.

Last July 16, 2009, advocates for cervical cancer unveiled Hope for the Flowers, a photo exhibit featuring stills from the Tour of Hope 2009’s Dare to Be Bold bike tour that aimed to raise funds for the Cervical Cancer Protection Network (CECAP). Images by renowned photographers Jun De Leon, Jed Santos, Ramon Ty and Miguel De Leon will be on display at the Main Atrium of the SM Mall of Asia until the end of the week.

*photos used with permission courtesy of GeiserMaclang.

Posted by Teacher Ria in Autism, Featured | 0 Comments

Angels for Autism

Autism is a developmental disorder that is characterized by speech/communication and social impairments in individuals with the disorder. It is a lifelong disorder that affects not just the individual with autism, but their families as well. Estimates show that approximately 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism. Although more prevalent in males than females, autism can affect anyone: it knows no gender, age, no race, nationality, and socioeconomic status.

It truly takes an Angel to embrace Autism. I invite you to be one of them too!

This month, I undertook a campaign for Autism Awareness as a project for my birthday. I was pleasantly surprised at the success the project attained! As a birthday present to me, I asked my friends and family to support my cause by pledging at least Php 50.00 (a little over $1) for an Angel Baller Band from the Autism Society Philippines. Proceeds will benefit the ASP’s provincial chapters which in in turn provides support and services to underprivileged families afflicted with autism.

How can you help?

Well, for one, you can make a donation to the ASP to help support their programs. You can get in touch with them through autismphil@pldtdsl.net.  If you have a special talent or skill that can be of help to these individuals, why not volunteer? I understand a major need for many individuals with autism is socialization. By sharing your time, they can have just that. If you are a business owner, why not employ one or two young adults who have autism? Many of them are high functioning individuals who can handle rote tasks like filing, shelving, and similar repetitive tasks.  More importantly, however, you can help by spreading awareness about this disorder to people around you. As the ASP beleives, Autism is not a tragedy. IGNORANCE IS THE TRAGEDY. By building awareness in the community we can help others understand what autism is all about. This can also pave the way for inclusion of individual with autism into mainstream society. I remember with sadness a story a friend told me that she overheard a parent complaining about her daughters ballet class having accepted a child with autism. Let’s try to get rid of that ignorance!

Although my campaign is just about over, I am committing myself to continuing building awareness for autism and individuals and families living with this disorder. I hope to be able to feature inspirational stories written by parents, professionals, and perhaps individuals with autism. If you have a story you would like to share, please feel free to leave a comment or email me at yapatoots@gmail.com.

For donations, support and inquiries about how to obtain an Angel Baller Band, please check out my post on my Campaign for Autism Awareness here.

Posted by Teacher Ria in Featured, Teacher's Corner | 42 Comments

Raising a Bookworm

One of my most favorite teaching tools are storybooks. I’m not talking about teaching my preschoolers only here, but I have used many a storybook in my undergraduate classes, much to the chagrin of my students. However, as I’d go through the stories, I’d catch them with the same dreamy and awed expressions my toddlers have when they listen to stories. At the end of the story, the once complex topic, such as neuroanatomy, becomes as simple as a kid’s story.

Why do I use storybooks?

Simply because they’re a fun way to learn. Imagine sitting through a lecture about brain functions and its role in human behavior. No matter how into the topic you are, you’d find yourself fidgeting in a few minutes, right? What more for a little child! Of all the things kids have to learn, reading and writing are perhaps the most challenging to teach. While some kids pick it up fairly easily, some encounter difficulties along the way. With storybooks, teachers and parents help make the learning more fun.

Other than making learning fun, here are some benefits I see in reading stories to children (and adults alike):

1. Storybooks foster cognitive development. In fact, this is strongly recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) because it helps stimulate brain and language development. Some have even suggested that reading to an infant, whether this be a storybook or the newspaper increase activity in the brain.

2. It teaches basic reading and writing skills. Although they may not be doing the reading on their own per se, storybooks show children that text is written from left to right, that letters make sounds that when put together make words that mean something. The pictures in these books make abstract ideas real and concrete to them.

3. Reading helps build vocabulary and gives the reader a bigger worldview. In essence, storybooks take us to places we cannot be or have not been in. Books allow us to explore cultures and ideas while in the comfort of our own homes. We also learn how words are used and what they mean. I remember in one of my toddlers classes, one of the kids would not stop talking about a platypus, an animal which is not well-known in the Philippines. But because of our story, she learned all about it.

4. Books teach children the fine art of loving reading. When I first started teaching, my mentor said it was not as important for me to teach phonetic learning over helping a child become really literate. She said what would the kids do with knowing how to read complicated words when these words meant nothing at all to them. For me, giving children storybooks makes them learn how to really read, and not just decode words. Albeit the phonetic approach to teaching reading is a basic, fundamental skill to be mastered, it seems to me that one of the most effective ways to teach a child to read is through reading to him or her regularly.

5. Reading to children help build bonds between the parent and child. Some experts would even suggest that reading out loud to children help soothe and relax them. It also gives them a feeling of safety and security, which can later translate to more healthy emotional growth.

6. Books are character building. Yes, we can talk till we are blue in the face why it is important to share or be honest, but these don’t mean much to kids until these are made real to them.

To make teaching kids how to read even easier, The Accidental Teacher is hosting it’s first online contest! By simply sharing the title of your favorite story and what lessons can be learned from it, you can win a Php 300.00 Fullybooked Gift Certificate!

Contest Mechanics/Guidelines:

1. Post your answer in the comment box on or before midnight of April 30, 2009.

2.The contest is open to Philippine residents only. All book lovers and readers  are welcome to send comments but are limited to one per person only.  Only the first comment shall be considered for contestants with multiple comment entries. Unique contestants shall be identified through their IP address.

2. A winner will be randomly selected and will be notified by May 1, 2009.  Eligible comments is equivalent to one raffle entry.

3. You may earn extra entries by any of the following:  write a blog post about this contest with a link back to this post (equivalent to 2 entries) or plurkabout this contest (1 entry) and post in the comments section the blog entry/plurk url.

4. The winner will be contacted through the email address supplied in the comment form. The winners address will then be requested in order to make arrangements for claiming the prize. The winner will be given 3 days to respond to notification or he/she will forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected.

5. For questions and inquiries about this contest please send email yapatoots@gmail.com

Posted by Teacher Ria in Featured, Teacher's Corner | 2 Comments

Beyond The Four Walls.

They say learning is not confined to the four walls of a classroom. I wholeheartedly agree!

In my many years of teaching, I have seen that a lot of the best teacher my kids had was not me, but coincidence and accidents. These unplanned moments, unexpected events and experiences often taught not just the kids, but even me, what it really means to learn.

So with that said, I am taking my teaching and learning outside of my classroom.

More so, I am taking it to a place where there are no walls.

Welcome to my new classroom!