A little girl takes part in a special program at her school, where she learns first-hand about disabilities and how it feels to be in that position.
Hi! My name is Lindsay Joy Odom, and I am ten years old. I live in Fullerton, California, with my mom, my dad, and my two younger sisters, who are seven and three. I am in the fourth grade at Oak Hill Elementary School, and my teacher is Miss Gage.
I am going to write about a special program that our school is going to put on this week. We have been hearing about this program for about a month now, and we have been learning about many different kinds of disabilities and how they can be seen or not seen (hidden). We have been talking about how some kids are born with various disabilities or how some kids become disabled because of an accident, illness, or even a mistake. We have been talking about things like wheelchairs, crutches, braces, glasses, hearing aides, canes, and why some people take medicine for things like asthma, epilepsy, and so forth.
During the week, various kids who have disabilities are going to be coming to our classes to talk about themselves, and they are going to let us see for themselves how they live every day, and we get to pretend that we are in their position. We will be doing a "disability awareness" program where our teacher will then pick out a certain disability, write it down on a small piece of paper, and she will have us draw a piece of paper, and whatever is on that paper, that is how we have to be for several hours each day, and we have to "pretend" to be disabled. Some kids will have to use wheelchairs or crutches, or some kids will have to pretend to be blind or deaf, and they have to figure out how to do normal, every day things with these "disabilities". There will also be kids who have to pretend that they have problems reading or writing, and all of this is supposed to open up our minds and our eyes and make us see just what it is like to BE disabled. I think it is going to be quite fun, but at the same time, I think it is going to be very educational and eye-opening. We will "switch" disabilities, so we can all experience the various kinds of disabilities that people have, and we will then know just what it is like for them in real life.
The principal of our school got this idea after some kids were being cruel to some of the disabled kids at our school; I would often see the bullies picking on or tormenting the disabled kids by calling them nasty names, grabbing the ball away from them during a game, or taking away their crutches and having the poor kid try to get them back after he has fallen to the ground. The very sight of it all sickened me, and yet I didn't understand what it was like for these kids, so maybe this program that we will be participating in will be a good thing for all the kids here, not just me.
Well, Principal Hatcher came up with the idea for a "Disability Awareness Week" at our school, and the teachers seemed to like the idea; so this is why we are now going to have this project. I will let you know what happens once it is over; but I DO know this even now: I will be a changed person, and I will not be the same as I once was.
ALL people that are not disabled should be invited to experience what it is like. Then maybe there would be acceptance once and for all. A courageous, beautifully moving write--well done!
I participatedin such a week as a teacher at university. I chose to be blind and try to teach a class. I sat on the desk to talk to the students for a few minutes as I always did and then turned to write on the board. Oooops. Well, I stuck it out through the whole class. It was an eye opener,literally, and a darn good program.
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