April 1, 2008

DisAbilities Awareness Day at RCC

            “I’m nauseous,” said one student.  “Well, my head hurts,” said the student across the table.  Both participated in Richmond Community College’s “disAbility Awareness Day.”  The goal of the event is for students to participate in simulations to help them understand the difficulties people with disabilities face and overcome on a daily basis.
            “These students are wearing cardboard glasses with small openings of different shapes cut into the lens area,” said Special Populations Coordinator Susan Ward.  “Macular degeneration is just one of the many obstacles people face. For students, especially students in health care fields, it is important to have an idea of what your clients are describing when they need your services.”
            Attention deficit disorder is hard to comprehend unless you’re playing the “matching” game from childhood.  Remember the game where 26 cards with animals are turned face down and your turn allows you to turn over two cards to make a match?  As the game progresses and you remember what’s under which card, you can make a match and score.  It’s a little difficult when the other people in your simulation group are banging on the table, talking to you, pulling on your shirt sleeve, and calling your name non-stop.
            “Students with small children said they didn’t have any problem with it, but for students in the Early Childhood Associate program it meant a great deal.  So many children have this disorder which stresses both the child and the child care provider,” says Ward.
            Students with their thumbs tied together to simulate arthritis realized their “creative cheating” was actually finding a way to overcome the disability and learn to deal with it.            

            “The real stumpers were the paragraphs written as if you had dyslexia and the maze you traced by looking in a mirror,” said Ward.  “It seemed everyone had a child or knew someone with a child who is dyslexic.  They knew they were struggling, but had no idea exactly how bad it could be.”

            Ward said the “mirror maze” simulated a visual/motor integration deficit where the brain and hands don’t work together, which makes simple things difficult.

            “The main purpose of the event was to get students into an open dialogue about disabilities.  We’re raised not to look, stare, point, or say anything about someone with a disability, but students learned people with disabilities are just like everyone else.  They have goals and dreams just like the rest of us.  This just gave students a taste of what it’s like to overcome an obstacle and to realize the unseen disabilities they never think about.”

            Ward, who works with students with disabilities, plans to offer the event on an annual basis.  The feedback she received from participants proved it was a real eye opener, especially when they realized how difficult completing all kinds of paperwork is for a client with dyslexia.  Students walked away with an understanding of the importance of patience, understanding, and assistance.

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CUTLINE:  Practical Nursing students Megan Bowersock of Rockingham, Tina Revels of Gibson, and Christopher Burke of Ellerbe get a dose of what it’s like to have impaired vision during Richmond Community College’s Disability Awareness Day.  For students going into helping professions such as health care, child care, and social services, the experience was especially rewarding.  Feedback from participants is they want this to become an annual event.

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