Meet Jaskaran Sahota, a 2019 Difference Maker of the Year
Jaskaran Sahota is a student at Sands Secondary in Delta, BC, where he’s known by his peers and teachers as Jas. Jas has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair to get around. Inspired by everything fellow wheelchair user Rick Hansen has done for accessibility awareness, Jas took initiative on his own awareness project to share with his school.
The student Difference Maker says accessibility and inclusion are important because they enable people like him to participate in all school activities. “I need all areas of the school to be accessible, so I don’t feel left out,” he says.
Jas’s goal with the event was to share his perspective with his peers, showing them “a day in the life of Jas”, so he and his teacher decided to borrow two sport wheelchairs and set up a series of activities to help build understanding.
“I thought my school would be a better place if people better understood my life and were more wheelchair aware,” Jas says.
Over 25 staff and over 200 students were involved in the event. “Jas was so proud of his project and the feedback that we received was overwhelmingly positive,” says Carley Harrison, his now-former teacher, and the one who nominated him.
His event was so successful that he’s already planning for the next one.
