Minnesota elementary students learn about disability

From Stillwater Gazette in Minnesota:

Students at Afton-Lakeland Elementary got hands-on education in what it's like to be disabled last week.

The fourth-graders attended a "Disability Awareness" session, during which they learned how to use tools for people with disabilities, such as wheelchairs and mono-skis, learned about etiquette for people in wheelchairs and played a few games.

"We emphasized putting a focus on a person and their strengths," said Sue Schultz, program manager at the Bayport Senior Center, which put on the course last Thursday.

Schultz's husband, Dan "Hawkeye" Schultz, who was stricken with polio at the age of 3 and uses a wheelchair, brought his mono-ski and his bicycle to show children how to each works.

"The big thing they learned was that it is about balance," Sue Schultz said. "The kids were learning, they saw what it was like."

Christi Wallace, a fourth-grade teacher at the school, said the program was a success.

"They took a lot of life skills and life lessons home that day," she said.

It was the second year the school has hosted the event.

Wallace said students loved the hands-on approach.

"It was fabulous," she said. "I hope we can make it an annual tradition."

Schultz said the event is meant to give the students a new perspective.

"I think, especially when they are on the ski or the bike, it makes them really see the person with the disability in a new light," she said.

The children were divided into several groups and went through a series of lessons, Schultz said. Lessons included respect, language and etiquette.

With language, Schultz spoke of first-person language. "It isn't a disabled basketball player, it's a basketball player in a wheelchair," she said. "You need to put the emphasis on the person."

The 22 volunteers from the Senior Center also taught students etiquette, telling them to give people in wheelchairs enough personal space and not to automatically go up and start pushing someone in a wheelchair, but ask first.

The students also learned to tie their shoes with only one working arm. They learned how to move around only on their arms, like their legs did not work. The students learned what it was like to have arthritis, by buttoning up shirts with gloves on, and learned how to steer a wheelchair.

They also learned about respecting their elders.

Schultz and the Bayport Senior Center have put on the program for about nine years. They've done most of their presentations with Andersen Elementar School in Bayport.

The students played adapted sports, such as softball, basketball and bicycling.

"They had a good time," Schultz said. "Afterwards, they want to see (Dan) play ball and wanted to go ski with him at Afton (Alps). He kind of got an entourage there."