Brilly + Nisha
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Hi friends, it's Tim Villegas. This is Think Inclusive. In today's episode of Think Inclusive, we have the pleasure of speaking with two remarkable advocates for. Inclusion. First, we welcome Brilly Semenova, a passionate advocate who has been dedicated to supporting individuals with disabilities since her middle school days.

Brilly shares her journey of creating mentorship programs and providing resources to families, emphasizing the importance of self-advocacy and inclusive practices in education and beyond. Next, we are joined by Nisha Batra, an early childhood educator from Toronto. Who brings her lived experience with a learning disability to the forefront of her advocacy.

Nisha discusses the significance of celebrating diversity and normalizing differences in the classroom, offering valuable insights on how educators can create truly inclusive environments together, Brilly and nisha's stories highlight the transformative power of inclusion and the ongoing efforts needed to ensure that every student feels valued and supported.

Thanks so much for being here with us today. We appreciate each and every one of you listening to or watching Think Inclusive MCIE's podcast that brings you conversations with people doing the work of inclusion in the real world.

And while you're here, make sure to hit the follow or subscribe button wherever you are so you can keep getting think inclusive in your feed.

Before we get into my conversation with Brilly and Nisha, I want to tell you about our sponsor for this season IXL. IXL is a fantastic all-in-one platform, designed for K 12 education. it helps boost student achievement, empowers teachers, and tracks progress seamlessly.Imagine having a tool that simplifies what usually requires dozens of different resources. Well, that's IXL. As students practice, IXL adapts to their individual needs, ensuring they're both supported and challenged. Plus, each learner receives a personalized learning plan to effectively address any knowledge gaps.

Interested in learning more? Visit ixl.com/inclusive. That's ixl.com/inclusive. All right, after a short break, we'll get into my conversation with Brilly Semenova and Nisha Batra catch you on the other side.

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Tim Villegas: Bri Sonova, welcome to the Think Inclusive Podcast. 

Brilly Semenova: Thank you for having me, team. It's a pleasure to be on your podcast today, 

Tim Villegas: Bri. Will, will you remind me where you are in the world? 

Brilly Semenova: I am in Maryland based in. The Baltimore area, but I serve families and individuals throughout the United States providing resources, support, whether it's education, whether it's helping families understand what resources are available to their child or an adult with disabilities and with without disabilities.

So I'm like a one stop shop for the individual end of moment. 

Tim Villegas: How did you get into this work? 

Brilly Semenova: I started this when I was in middle school going into high school. Even as a young child, I was very involved in afterschool activities and I was getting myself involved with activities that pertains to helping and serving others.

So when I noticed what was happening in our education system in society, I wanted to do something that will make a miracle difference. To help others. So I started developing projects and activities that will shine the light of letting those individuals with different abilities understand a bit to, can contribute to our society by making any difference, even if it's volunteering for an hour, even if's during a story time.

Giving them the opportunities that will allow them to see their ability to show their community. So I started this from middle school. 

Tim Villegas: And did you notice that your peers or yourself felt like you didn't have an opportunity to give back in in that way? 

Brilly Semenova: So for me, for instance, mm-hmm. I am always a very dedicated, passionate, optimistic, positive individual.

I will not let any circumstances. Whether it's physical limitation, whatever the circumstances may be, stop me. I would turn. The word no to. Yes, even if it takes multiple terms or trials. Um, also for me growing up as an individual with a physical limitation, I knew firsthand what are some of the difficulties that these kids or these individuals.

Are faithful when they don't have the tools or the supports that they need to advocate for themselves. So I figured if I am struggling from a physical standpoint, trying to navigate this needs and trying to obtain the services from a physical standpoint, I can only imagine what it goes to other people.

So I would like basically. A leader that always started different projects, that makes a difference, 

Tim Villegas: if that makes sense. Yeah. In your experience and when, when you started, because uh, it said you started in middle school, so it, it sounds like you've always really been passionate and Yeah. Uh, wanted to be a leader in this, in this space.

Where do you feel like. The biggest challenge was for, for people as far as being self-advocates. Like where, where did you, like, where did you focus? 

Brilly Semenova: The biggest challenge that I found for me is that there was no mentor, there was no programs that were available to young individuals to help them see the path, to guide them.

Like they're, yes, we have guidance counselors and we still do today. We have social workers. But there was no programs in schools that provided mentorship, that provided guidance to help students see their path. We're nursing that mentorship, that guidance, that advocacy opportunity, and we're exposed, struggling with it today, but back then, 20 years ago, there was no mentorship program in schools or after schools.

So I had to take advantage still upon myself to start something like. 

Tim Villegas: Okay. Do you have an example that you could share of what that looked like when you started? 

Brilly Semenova: Yes, absolutely. So I, there was a day where I was staying after school doing an activity. And when the activity was, you know, finishing up, I was walking in the hallway and trying to get, get to my next destination.

And I noticed the students sitting in the hallway. Kind of being lonely and something told me in my mind that something is not right. And I walked over to that student, even though I was running behind and I needed to get through my night destination, and I started asking the student they were okay. And I know like, yeah, I'm just waiting.

But something kept telling me that the student was not having a good day. So I. Well stayed with the students, start talking and I was like, Hey, my name is bro. This is, you know, this is what I do. I, you know, we What? What classes are you taking? This was the first time I see you in the hallway and normally I know all the students.

And she was like, well, I don't really talk to many people because I have difficulty socializing. I'm trying to plan an activity, and there seems to be no help. And as we were talking, her mom. Stop by. He was like, oh my God. I finally see my child talking to someone, to more to her peers. I said, hi, my name is really, um, she was just telling me that she's trying to join some activities and I was telling her about some of the clubs that I was doing and he, she would be interested.

Um, as we were starting to talk, the mother started to explain to me that she was trying to navigate getting some services, but she doesn't know where to start. So I explained to the mom, here's what I do. I can maybe sit down with them after school one day and explain what resources are out in the community and then they can explore depending on their needs and interests and individuals, you a situation.

They can reach out to these contacts and see if they would be in a position to help them. Um, and the mom was very appreciative. I didn't know that that one connection would get my name. Out in the community. And I wasn't doing this for recognition. At no way I was just given something that I knew that I believed as given back to the community because I would want someone to do the same thing for me.

And after a few months of, you know, after meeting with me, after getting the mom, the guidance, she was able to get the necessary services for her child within six months. And then she started denying now to all. The community and all of her, you know, other parents and this is how it really started, you know, to helping them, to helping the white after the tunnel, you know, and see the potential.

Mm-hmm. But I was not doing this for no recognition, if that explain. 

Tim Villegas: Yeah. You were just trying to be a good person. Can we talk about your name for a second? I, I, I don't remember if I asked you about this before. So you, you go by Brilli? Yes. But is your, is your name. My full 

Brilly Semenova: name is Brilliant, but I go by Brilli because it's easier for people to make it short.

It's easier for people to pronounce it because a lot of times people ask. Brilliant is your name. I'm like, yeah. So people have a hard time believing that that's my name. 

Tim Villegas: Yeah. So 

Brilly Semenova: I changed it to Brilliant. So it's easier. So there's no questions or no confusion 

Tim Villegas: that I don't think I've ever met a brilliant Oh yeah.

Yeah. Oh, thank you. It's a no no, it's unique. It's a very unique name. May I ask if, and it's okay if, if you don't want to talk about it, what inspired the name? Do you know the story of that? 

Brilly Semenova: Yes. So I was named after my grandmother's dad. I did not get to meet because when I was born, she already passed away, so I was named after my grandmother.

Tim Villegas: Oh, so your grandmother was named brilliant. 

Brilly Semenova: Yes. 

Tim Villegas: Wow. 

Brilly Semenova: And in some family traditions they give their Yeah. Grandparents names. 

Tim Villegas: Oh, wow. That's a great story. Thank you for sharing. Yeah, I was curious about that. 

Brilly Semenova: Yeah. 

Tim Villegas: Tell the listeners a little bit about what your advocacy looks like right now. So you, you said Yes, absolutely.

Yeah. You, you said how it started. So where, where are you now and what are your kind of goals for advocacy right now? 

Brilly Semenova: Okay. So my advocacy is a very unique, I help individual children and adults. I'm probably the only advocate that you had an opportunity. To meet over your time in doing these um, podcasts.

I focus on education. I focus on employment. I focus on social skills, I focus on resources. I focus on government benefits, and what I mean by government benefits. Social Security, S, SI and S or CI, um, and Medicaid, like helping families understand that there is coverage for medical assistance and also helping families understand the legal system.

What happens if they have a child? They cannot make decisions for themselves before they exit the school system. Whether they need supporting decision making, guardianship, power of attorney for financial and medical, whatever the take will be. I basically did the families, the resources that we connect them to the right people to understand what path to go.

If they have a child with Maya or complex. Medical news and really understand the difference between a guardianship and supporting decision making because for so many families it's like a second language. A lot of families don't understand. Once you take your child twice away, there's no way of going back.

I explained about what happens when are disabled and reach out to work and how impact, benefits, and also explain about accessibility features, what to equivalently are getting high. On the job and you need accommodation. I also get big speaking engagement and I work with post secondary education students to help 'em understand what services are available to them when they exit high school because that IEP or five or four is no longer relevant when you go to post secondary education.

So I do a little bit of everything, and even though I'm based in one particular area. I care families virtually and in person nationwide. So I only families that you lot to move from different location services may be different from state to school, but I'm still able to guide them to understand what resources may be available to them.

Community based on their child situation and their particular family situation or, you know, financial standpoint. Because not everybody knows what they're entitled to. Not everyone has the ability to hire an attorney, uh, for their child, a physical or intellectual disability. When there's a discrimination or something going on, whether it's for educational purpose, whatever the case will be.

A lot of families do not know what their life are. 

Tim Villegas: Mm-hmm. 

Brilly Semenova: Yeah. And therefore, a lot of students just continue to struggle and not be that voice for themselves, and in some cases end up getting bullied by their peers because they don't know what they don't know, or they don't know how to navigate the need in the school request.

The services that they're entitled to as a result of their situation. 

Tim Villegas: A, a lot of people that listen to this podcast are interested in inclusive education and inclusive practices, particularly families who are advocating for their children to be fully included in general education settings. Absolutely.

Do you have a story or any success stories that are related to inclusion? 

Brilly Semenova: Yes, absolutely. Like I said, I go out in the schools, I go out to different organization. I'm a believer that a student can accomplish anything they put their mind to, regardless of their circumstances. So I am always about keeping the student in their ilu inclusive classroom.

Do not step them, but I'm in Topcon or Special ed, you know, everything situation is unique. So I would always go in and I would provide tips, resources to the. Regardless of the student behavior, because we don't know if the student is developing that behavior issue. We excuse themselves from the clinical.

We don't know if the student is trying to express their notions, and that's how they're expressing it by acting out with these behaviors. So I would go in to the classroom and I would provide the resource that they would need to understand whether that classes. And then at the same time, I would also observe.

And get to know the student because I found that the CN will open up easier to someone who with their same interest and abilities and can relate to them, and I start to engage in conversations. And then I would develop a plan, a temporarily plan that the students and the teachers could use. Before they have an IEP meeting to discuss a plan A versus plan B, and then implement in the IEP meeting.

But do not separate them into, um, like special classroom unless you really, really have to. I'm all about inclusive and creating programs because we are all able to contribute to our society one way or another. We all bring unique activities, unique stories. So I'm always working on waiting to develop any project New York.

Tim Villegas: So it sounds like you, not only do you go to IEP meetings and consult with families, but you also consult with school districts as well. 

Brilly Semenova: Absolutely. 

Tim Villegas: Fantastic. I consult 

Brilly Semenova: with school districts for-profit non-profits. I'm all about like, how do we develop this? Project, what do we need to bring to the school in terms of funding to bring the new project to the table, whether it's digital or hard copy, to bring new ideas to engage our students.

Tim Villegas: What are some projects, if you're able to say, or what are some things right now that you're working on with, without divulging any sort of personal information? Um, sure. So 

Brilly Semenova: right when the pandemic hit, um. Well, in December, 2020, I, um, I was contacted by a career professional. He works with high school senior to help him, you know, go to the next level, whether it's post and educational career, whatever.

He was looking for students. Um, my name was, as they're starting to talk, he couldn't believe that this happening in the I or in the victims with disabilities. And he was working with the student who wanted to go for certain education. All they started to explain the accommodation piece to her and the student's mom.

He's like, wow, this is, you know, this is a whole different thing. Oh, we started talking. I said, he's like, how did we change it? I said, well, in order to change that, we need to start a nonprofit. So the more and more we talked about, we started thinking on developing a program. And we started a nonprofit where it's called, and the purpose of this nonprofit is to help anybody at any given point of their specific situation.

We have financial planners, you have mental health professionals, you have career planner. Only thing that you need is at your fingertips, where all nationwide, it's all available virtually and. Um, schedule individual appointments with those professionals that they desire to talk to. We just started, uh, a new internship opportunity for our young students.

Was there being taught how to be a leader, get involved or that to observe an individual on the job that they would want to have in their future career. So we're connecting them to people. We're giving them opportunities. To do things that they may not have had an opportunity before, and everything is provided virtually.

So it's a very unique way, not only for the students, but also other communities, other partners, to get involved because it's all about serving you inclusiveness, again, disabled or non-disabled. Anybody can access it and it would not help. 

Tim Villegas: Yeah, and 

Brilly Semenova: improve the individuals with mental, you know, increase their abilities to improve their mental health status because as Covid hit, a lot of kids are struggling with their mental health and the whole social organization.

Accessing this service allows these young individuals to socialize not only with their peers, but other professional in the field that they may wanna choose in the future. 

Tim Villegas: Can you name the nonprofit name again? 

Brilly Semenova: Yes. It's called Health Pedia, like Wikipedia, health 

Tim Villegas: Pedia? 

Brilly Semenova: Yes. And it's based in New York, but we serve everybody nationwide.

Tim Villegas: Are you on the web? 

Brilly Semenova: Uh, so they're, they are on the website, but I'm all behind the school. 

Tim Villegas: Okay. And where can people find more information about you? Do you have a website? 

Brilly Semenova: I. I do not have the website, but people are more than welcome to contact me by email or by phone. Um, they can reach me at 4 4 3 6 5 0 39 9 9 or they can email me, B-E-R-I-L-L-Y, the number twenty8@gmail.com.

So it's my name, the number 28. At gmail com. 

Tim Villegas: Okay. Yes. So we'll make sure to put that your number and email. Yeah, contact information. And I think that you have a LinkedIn page too, so yes, 

Brilly Semenova: I'm also on LinkedIn, so people are always welcome to reach out there as well. But if they wanna reach out to me directly, whether they want me to do a public speaking engagement for school or for our organization, I'm more than happy to do that.

They can reach out directly. And I would be happy to assist you to the best of my ability, 

Tim Villegas: really, ANOVA, thank you so much for being on the podcast and looking forward to educators and families connecting with you. 

Brilly Semenova: Thank you for having me. I look forward to connecting with you soon in the future. 

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Tim Villegas: Nisha Batra, thank you for being on the Think Inclusive Podcast. Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here. Nisha, tell me a little bit about yourself. I know that you're an early childhood educator and you live in Canada, but just tell me in our audience a little bit about you. My name is Nisha Batra.

Nisha Batra: As Tim said, I am from Toronto, Ontario in Canada. I am an early childhood educator, so that means I work with the youngest age group in school. I work with the kindergarten students ranging from three and a half all the way up to six years old, which you can imagine is a wide developmental age span. I am also a big disability advocate.

That's part of the reason. Why I chose to be on Tim's podcast because I really believe in inclusion of all children and I myself have a learning disability. So I have such vast lived experience of inclusion throughout different stages of my life. And this being learning Disabilities awareness month, this is a time where I particularly.

Enjoy getting various opportunities to come on and to share my story. Tell me more about you experiencing inclusion for yourself. Can you give us an example? Sure. So as mentioned, I have a learning disability. So life had its challenges, I would say being included. So let me backtrack. I. Have a learning disability, which is an umbrella term, which I came to realize as an adult.

And my specific type of learning disability is a nonverbal learning disability. And one of the, one of the things that it I, I've struggled with is in the social emotional aspect, having a learning disability encompasses many things that you can't see. And I think there's such a misconception. People think, oh, you don't have a disability, because it's not like I'm using a wheelchair or a cane, or it's physically obvious in some sense that I am different.

But I do have my challenges. So as I said, I've struggled with building friendships. Being in school was very challenging. I threw out all the way from childhood, even up to university. Building and sustaining friendships with people was one of the hardest things because I wanted people to understand who I was and treat me like they would treat everyone else.

Mm-hmm. But, 'cause I was different, I always felt like I was on the outside looking in and I didn't know. How I could get included, I would do a lot of things, especially when I was younger. I would seek attention because I wanted to feel included. Hmm. Okay. We have a lot of educators that listen to this podcast.

Tim Villegas: I'm thinking you said you did a few things to get attention and you wanted to feel like you included and you belonged. Do, do you have any advice for educators who. May want to include students in their classrooms. I think it's very important to understand your children, the needs of your children in the classroom.

Nisha Batra: It's also very important to celebrate difference and diversity in the classroom because I think that in itself sends a message that you are an Inc. An inclusive environment and inclusion. Doesn't necessarily, let's go back to the term inclusion. It doesn't necessarily even mean just disability related.

It is cultural, you know, cultural inclusion. It is so many socioeconomic factors and that all children heal. Like when I think of inclusion, I feel that all children have the right to belong in the classroom. And I really think that we. Myself as an educator and educators in general, we need to normalize difference.

We need to normalize and celebrate difference by reading. Reading more books of diverse nature in the classroom. We need to welcome home languages into the classroom. We need to make sure that we are welcoming families into the classroom because we want. Children to feel like they belong in the classroom.

We also want to recognize that there are different abilities in the classroom and we don't want to single children out. We want them to be celebrated as part of the whole, the classroom as a whole. And I think that is so important. And again, I go back to. Reading, reading books, you know, experiences, those inclusive experiences are very valuable.

Like I worked at a summer program this summer and I was able to bring in someone who has a guide dog, someone who is blind, to show the children that we all in society, we all have different abilities. We do things differently in that, you know, having someone right there who is showing them how they use their white cane to get around, how their guide dog helps them get around, that really broadens a child's understanding of the world.

I think experiences are so critical, and I think diverse material in the classroom also are critical and. Showing that, you know, I was thinking about this yesterday. If we, um, I think about it in sch in schools where chil, where there are diagnostic kindergarten, for example, there may be a special education classroom or a diagnostic kindergarten classroom where children are separated from the mainstream classroom because they can't handle it.

Well, why can't we bridge those classrooms together? Why can't we have days, for example, where kids from a regular classroom have the opportunity to interact with the children who cannot come to the regular classroom? Why can't they go visit that classroom and learn about what the other children are experiencing?

Because I feel that if we don't bring. Children together and we segregate classrooms. How is that an example of inclusion? Have you experienced that as an educator, like a truly inclusive early childhood system? I, I, I know that there are some in the United States, I don't know what the education system is like in Canada, specifically Ontario.

Tim Villegas: It, is it still very common for. Early childhood classrooms in Ontario to be like segregated like that, but where there's a quote unquote special education classroom and then a a regular classroom. So from my experience in the school that I work in, we are one teacher and one early childhood educator, as you could imagine, in kindergarten with classes averaging around 25 students.

Nisha Batra: And you do definitely have. Students with special needs, but we do also have something called diagnostic kindergarten, where it's children who have very high needs and are not able to be in a regular classroom. They're in a small program where it is under 10 stu, 10 students in that, in, in that classroom.

I know someone who is. Now in mainstream college and who is visually impaired and has been going to a school specifically for the blind for many years, graduated from the school is transitioned to community college and having a tough time adjusting to the mainstream system because he's so used to his class sizes being under 10 students.

And being in an environment where all the students are visually impaired, right? Yeah. Now he's going into a full, he's going into college and it's been a massive adjustment for him. Yeah. I mean, I would imagine so. I guess where I'm going is the work that this organization is doing with school districts, our message to them is that students.

Tim Villegas: Should not have to be ready in order to be included. The environments need to be ready to accept them and to have them in the class. And that's why we focus on equipping teachers. The teachers and the educators are the ones that should be ready or getting ready to include learners no matter what needs, needs they have, whether it's high support needs or otherwise.

And so I, I guess I was just trying to see where. You know, sometimes what happens is as educators who are advocating for inclusive education, we are in systems that aren't living up to the ideals that maybe we want, but we keep pushing forward and keep moving forward and hoping to convince and advocate for inclusive education to our leaders.

Nisha Batra: Absolutely. And I think full inclusion is the goal. I think that that is something that's still. There's so much work to be done. We are in the process of achieving full inclusion, but I don't think we're there yet. I still think there are a lot of barriers in society that prevent full inclusion from happening, because as you said, when you think of the phrase, are we ready?

Right? Will students ever be fully ready? QQ, accept and understand. Others, but I think that also stems from the teachers. Are we ready as teachers to let go of some biases that we may have? Are we ready to open up and be willing to have a classroom where there are, where multiple needs are welcome?

Because I think that the first thing that educators rely on is, you know, is my classroom is. How can I have, like, how can I welcome students in with high needs without adequate support? Because if the support is not in place, I think then you have this juggling act of teacher stress versus the the hopeful outcome of full inclusion.

Tim Villegas: Yes, and I think that a lot of people would agree with that statement. It's like, how can we expect a successful and authentic inclusive practices when learners aren't supported? Because that mean just putting students with disabilities in, with students without disabilities. It doesn't make any inclusion.

It's just it. That's just presence. We're we're just talking about, right? Kids being near each other, but it doesn't have anything to do with how we're actually supporting them. And I think that it's, I don't know, myself, as you were saying, the system in the States and the system in Canada may be different, but I know teachers nowadays there is so much paperwork, there's so much on their plates, and do they have the time and the resources and the funding to, you know, you would hope to make things inclusive.

Nisha Batra: Because I know I was recently looking at social media and. I saw someone that I know who works in special education and she was talking about how she and her teaching partner were able to adapt, like use toys by putting switches onto them, and I thought, mm-hmm. She said, I'm so happy we were able to do this because getting accessible equipment or accessible toys is so expensive.

But the fact that you're seeing these kind of examples that educators are working towards having inclusive materials and thinking of it, you know, an example like that, of doing it on their own is, I think is a sign of things to come in a si, you know, such a great example of what inclusive learning can look like.

Tim Villegas: What is the, your main message to educators? Because the, the, again, the, the, the, the people who listen to the podcast are, um, typically teachers, principals, uh, district administrators, all with the mindset of they're wanting to know more about inclusive education. They're wanting to hear stories of, uh, successful inclusion.

They're wanting to hear about. People who are doing the work of inclusion in the real world. So what is your big message to them? My big message is normalizing difference empowers everyone. We need to normalize. We need to normalize difference. We need to celebrate difference. We need to be able to celebrate the successes of all students.

Nisha Batra: You know, the one quote that I have been hearing repeatedly is by Henry Winkler. I love his quote Co. No matter how you learn, it doesn't describe how, how brilliant you are. The way you learn doesn't describe how brilliant you are for me. That, that's such an inclusive quote because for me, somebody who has a learning disability and who has struggled to fit into the system, I think it really, because we do, you know, we, we judge people on what they look.

Unfortunately, there's still societal judgment on what people look like, what their abilities are, what their cultural background is. We need to continue to. Celebrate and welcome diversity into our classrooms because that's how we learn from one another. If we are not celebrating by excluding, we are really then sort of neglecting and that's really, that's not what we want.

Tim Villegas: Yeah. I'm trying to think of a, a time where. The, the school that I was working at was really focusing on diversity and uh, and inclusion. And just so you know, I don't know how much you know about my background, but I worked in a couple different school districts. So one in California and one in Ben Georgia, which is about, uh, 20 minutes outside of, um, Atlanta in the suburbs.

And. The district I was in, in the school that I was in, we, we had, we were contemplating a like exceptional children's week is kind of like what we were thinking. And I think that we ended up going with celebrating differences. Or celebrating diversity. I think that the goal was that we wanted to not just make it about disability, but we wanted to make it about no matter how we are different, whether that's disability, race, culture, gender, or however we should be accepting of everyone.

We still had segregated classrooms. We still had. Disability specific programs and those things I actively, you know, advocated against, I wanted us to move to a more inclusive system overall. That didn't happen, but I was, I was proud of the work that we did in this one instance, and I think that it got people out of the mindset of, you know, like this disability awareness where it's like, okay, let's learn about.

Flying people. Now we're gonna learn about people who use wheelchairs, and now we're gonna learn about autism like this segmented soci, you know, like disability of the day type of thing. What has been your experience with how either you, yourself, or the schools that you've been in have helped the school community focus on diversity and inclusion?

Nisha Batra: When I. I'm very lucky because I work in a school which is predominantly South Asian background. I speak the language that a lot of the children speak. They come from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and a lot of the children speak or do, and I speak indie, which has been such a big help to helping the students who speak that language.

Feel included in the classroom. It's a comfort to them that their educator acknowledges their home language and is able to have that communication with them.

Tim Villegas: Yeah, that's great. It makes sense that whoever is going to your school, right, your neighborhood and your context and the culture that that is built up, that that's a strength and that you should lean into that and invest in relationships and, um, making sure that the people that are in that neighborhood feel like that community and school is accessible to them, right?

Whether that is academically, but also socially and culturally. Absolutely. And I think that that's very important because I work in a school where a lot of the families don't speak English. Being able to include them by speaking their language, I feel is a real value. And that's why I've been at this school now for 12 years because of that cult.

Nisha Batra: Yeah. Significant cultural connection. And I think when I look back in terms of my own experience. With inclusion, I think what I'm doing now as a disability advocate by sharing my experiences, I want people to be able to take from my posts on social media or my videos or podcasts like this that people with disabilities.

People were, for example, I am a woman. I am South Asian background. I also have a disability, but I belong. I do have a voice. I have something to say, and I use my strength, which is my speaking voice. That's part of my disability. It's challenging with special awareness, but. Being able to speak and being able to use my voice is such an important step in showing that you know, that we breaking down cultural barriers and that you know, even people who have, who are, like I said, from a visible minority background and also who have a disability, that we matter as much as everyone else.

Tim Villegas: Is there a story that comes to mind from your experience as a teacher and an advocate, um, of either an educator or a system or a community embracing inclusion with one of your students or maybe one of your colleagues? What's a story that comes to mind? I think I've been able to definitely. Relate to the students who have disabilities in the classroom.

Nisha Batra: I feel like I have a strong connection with them 'cause I want to definitely make sure that they are a part of the classroom. I will go up to them, I will talk with them. I will take the extra time to get to know them. In terms of a story of inclusion, I felt like one of the things that I found in growing up.

With a disability is that as you get o older or as you start to, for me, interacting with adults was always, there was always a comfort with that. I always felt included with adult. I always struggled with including myself with, you know, with other children my age or even in junior high and high school.

Other students my age. But I al and I feel like from university onwards, I felt like that's when I started to be able to really build my connection with other people socially and emotionally. And I felt, I feel more of the sense of belonging. Okay. Before we get to the mystery question, is there anything else that you want to make sure educators take away from this uh, conversation?

I really think that. We need to normalize difference. We also need to watch the ways we talk to students or about students because I think the way that we talk to students with disabilities, we have to watch the way that we talk to them because that's part of inclusion. We wanna make sure that we are talking to them as we would talk to other students.

Unless there is a specific diagnosed need, students should all be spoken to in exactly the same way.

Tim Villegas: And great recommendations for educators as, uh, we are. All trying to figure out how to make our classrooms and schools more inclusive. Okay. Nisha, how we typically end our interviews is a mystery question. So I have a stack of cards. There are just prompt cards, just conversation starters, and I'm gonna pick one and we'll both answer it.

Does that sound okay to you? That's great. Okay, so here we go. This is a funny one. All right, so. What is something weird you do before bedtime? Weird is a relative term, so it's totally up to you on how much you wanna share. But what's something weird? I don't know. Okay. Well, I'll, I'll go first Okay. If that's okay.

So you can have a little bit more time to think. I don't know if it's weird, but I, I've been drinking tea before bed. Oh. I haven't quite finished it, even though it's, you know, close to. Evening time. So I drink a lot of hot beverages and I used to drink coffee through the evening, even up until bedtime.

And then I started switching over to like lavender tea, chamomile, peppermint, kind of more herbal, you know, no caffeine tea. And I've even gotten into drinking this. I'm not gonna say the brand name or anything, but it, it's like a, it has like, is it melatonin? Yeah. Yeah, melatonin. Yeah. It has some melatonin and whenever I drink that tea, I, I actually don't have trouble falling asleep, but the quality of sleep is actually a lot deeper and I have some really strange dreams.

They're not bad. They're just like intense sometimes when I drink the tea, so. I don't do it all the time, but when I do drink the tea, I am always like, oh, I had a weird dream. It's probably the tea. So what about you? I think like talking about beverages, it's funny, if I have been finished, my water caught up for the day, I will do it right before I go to bed and that is the worst possible thing.

Nisha Batra: Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I, no, I feel that with the tea too. I definitely do. Like why am I getting up midnight to go to the bathroom? I was quiet. I just wanna go to sleep. That's why I don't drink like a really big beverage. It's just like a small cup of tea before bed. Okay. Also. Well, thank you for sharing Nisha, and I'm going to sign us off, but don't go anywhere as it uploads.

Tim Villegas: Nisha Vatra, thank you so much for being on the Think Inclusive Podcast. We really appreciate your time. Thank you so much again for having me, and if anyone would like to follow me. I'm on Instagram. My Instagram handle is at the Swan Transformation, the reason why that name was chosen when I was in grade two, my teacher told my mom that my journey reminded her the story of the ugly duckling.

Nisha Batra: That I would start out with challenges and struggles, but that the journey was a process of transformation. And here I am and I'm looking forward to connecting with anyone interested. Fantastic. Yeah. So if you enjoyed this conversation, please make sure to reach out, uh, to Nisha on socials. 

That's all the time we have for this episode of Think Inclusive. Now let's roll the credits. Think Inclusive is brought to you by me, Tim Villegas. I handle the writing, editing, design, mixing, and mastering. This podcast is a proud production of the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education. Our original music is by Miles Kredich, with additional tunes by Melod.ie.

A big shout out to our sponsor, IXL. Check them out at ixl.com/inclusive. We truly appreciate each and every one of you who tunes in. We'd love to hear how you are using our episodes. Are they part of your teaching toolkit? Are you sharing them with your school administrators? Drop me a line at tvillegas@mcie.org and let me know.

And hey, if you're still with us this far into the episode, it probably means you love, think inclusive, and the work MCIE is doing. Can I ask you a small favor? Help us keep the momentum going by donating at our website mcie.org. Just click the button at the top of the site and chip in $5, $10, $20. It would mean the world to us and the children in the schools and districts we partner with.

Thanks for your time and attention and remember, inclusion always works. 

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