Short Film Ian about Playground Inclusion

Ian” is a short, animated film inspired by the real-life Ian, a boy with a disability determined to get to the playground despite his playmates bullying him. This film sets out to show that children with disabilities can and should be included. The film is wordless—a deliberate decision to make “Ian” inclusive of all people. The real Ian is a P4 child who, like most fourth graders, wants to play with his friends. But because some kids are not used to someone like Ian—someone who has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair, and a computer that works with his eye movements to communicate—they bully him and don’t include him when they play.

Mr O'Neill talked about how we all belong in our school playground. We are all beautiful and unique and the playground belongs to all of us. We must show kindness to each other at all times, whilst respecting our differences and free choices.

#ChooseKindness top tips

Choosing kindness doesn't cost anything but can help someone enormously. We all have choices to make, do you #choosekindness?

•   Choose kindness, as you never know what someone else is going through
•   Saying something nice can bring a smile to someone's face
•   Acts of kindness will never come back to hurt you and is never wasted on someone
•   Being mean and hurting others can hurt someone very deeply, think twice about what you say or do
•   Acts of kindness are good for you- they release oxytocin which lowers our blood pressure
•   Being kind can help others feel happy and confident.

A link to the film is pasted below.