Have you ever tried to open a
piece of candy while wearing oven mitts?
Or navigate from one place to another with your eyes closed? Belle Elementary School students discovered
that for an individual with some type of disability, seemingly simple tasks may
not be so easy when students experienced “walking in someone else’s shoes” for
a short while.
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Belle 4th grade
students experience the sensation of blindness
at a Disability Awareness
Education program presented by Heartland
Independent Living Center. Isaac Wells acts as Cassielyn
Freeman’s eyes
as he leads her through the school gym.
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Through their Disability
Awareness Education program, Heartland Independent Living Center (HILC) is
promoting an important message to children.
Individuals with disabilities are not to be scorned or bullied, but
instead respected for their ability to overcome whatever barriers they may
have.
HILC representatives
demonstrated what disabilities are and how individuals might overcome them to
remain independent. Marcie Wallace, who
works for HILC, has been blind since birth.
Her guide dog, Porter, serves as her eyes when walking. Students had the opportunity to question
Marcie first-hand to see how she adapts to perform the daily living tasks most
of us take for granted.
HILC also used disability
dolls designed to demonstrate various types of physical disabilities and
therapy options available to reinforce the concept that all children are
special and unique. The disability dolls
were purchased through a grant from The Clorox Company Foundation via Kingsford
Manufacturing Company earlier this year to support HILC’s Disability Awareness
Education program.
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Belle 3rd and 4th
grade students examine dolls designed
to demonstrate various types of physical
disabilities
and therapy options available.
The dolls were purchased
through a grant from Kingsford Manufacturing
Company
earlier this year to support HILC’s Disability Awareness
Education
program.
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To schedule a Disability
Awareness Education program, contact Laura Willhite at 877-553-5215. For additional information on Heartland
Independent Living Center, please check the website at www.heartlandilc.org.
Heartland Independent Living
Center is a nonprofit, non-residential, community based organization that
serves individuals with disabilities in east central Missouri. HILC holds the Better Business Bureau’s
Charity Seal. HILC offers a number of
free programs and services to assist people to live independently in their own
homes. Programs include, but are not
limited to, advocacy, information & referral, independent living skills
training, ramps and home modifications, nursing home transition, adaptive equipment,
and dental services.