Prestigious $30,000-a-year boarding school in Perth abandons plan for teachers to pretend to have disabilities
An upscale school has been forced to scrap bizarre plans to allow teachers to live ‘disabled’ for a day as part of a charity fundraiser.
The ill-conceived plan for the event at Methodist Ladies College in Claremont, west Perth, was denounced as “insensitive” by a disability advocate.
The prestigious girls’ primary and secondary school had asked students last Thursday to sponsor a teacher to live “with a disability” for a day.
Boarding school. for which Year 12 students are charged $30,699 in annual dues, had arranged for the fundraiser to take place on campus this week.
Methodist Ladies College has been forced to halt a fundraising activity that aimed to get teachers to pretend to ‘live with a disability’ for a day.
The money would have been given to people with disabilities receiving care from Nulsen Disability Services in Western Australia.
Disabled people Australia president Nicole Lee told The Western Australia the planned event was inappropriate, even if it may have been for a good cause.
“It’s insensitive, without trying to be offensive,” Ms. Lee said.
“It really just emphasizes the need… to make sure you’re involved with the diverse community you’re fundraising for.
“It’s certainly not something that we, the disability community, approve of.”
Director Rebecca Clarke admitted in an interview with Radio that the event was misleading 6PR.
The school’s principal, Rebecca Clarke, said the event missed its mark after the school encouraged students to sponsor their teachers to live with a disability for a day.
“It’s fair to say that the activity… is not the right thing to do,” said Ms. Clarke.
A spokeswoman for the College told Daily Mail Australia that the event is part of a campaign to build understanding of disability within the school community.
“The week we are holding at school is a fundraising initiative, it aims to raise awareness for all types of disabilities,” the spokeswoman said.
“(The fundraiser) was done in consultation with our entire internal community, but we realized that the goal may not have been met, so we decided to continue with it.”
“We will continue to support Nulsen Disability Services and we will organize some fundraising activity annually.”
A spokeswoman for the prestigious school told the Daily Mail that they have canceled the event, which was organized to raise money for a charity that supports people with disabilities.
Nulsen Disability Services is an organization that provides disability accommodation and support services to people with disabilities in Western Australia.
The group has been providing disability support services to people in the community for 70 years.