Getting Around My Day

Getting Around My Day is a gentle, inclusive children’s story that follows a young wheelchair-using boy as he makes his way through an ordinary day.

From waking up and getting ready at home to travelling on the bus, arriving at school, moving through the classroom and playground, and eventually returning home again, the story allows children to experience familiar places from a different point of view.

The boy does not see himself as someone who needs to be rescued or defined by the wheelchair he uses. He watches, plans, adapts and works out how to navigate the world around him. Sometimes a journey is easy. Sometimes a doorway, pathway or environment makes things more complicated. Through these everyday moments, the story gently introduces an important idea: when somebody finds a place difficult to navigate, the problem is not necessarily the person. Sometimes the environment simply has more work to do.

Part of the Sense-Able Story series, Getting Around My Day is designed to be experienced as well as read. Sensory elements, rhythmic language, audio narration and opportunities for interaction give children different ways to engage with the story, while the child’s perspective encourages discussion about movement, independence, accessibility and empathy.

Rather than presenting disability through pity or as something that must be overcome, Getting Around My Day presents a capable child getting on with his life in his own way. It encourages young readers to notice that people experience the same world differently and that good design, patience and understanding can help make that world work better for everyone.

At its heart, it is a simple story about getting through the day.

The difference is in what we notice along the way.