Service Learning Disabilities/Accessibility Project
I have been planning and writing this for a few months now, and it's going into effect next week. I'm really proud of it, and, now that it's all together, am ready to share it.
Background
The students in our district have to earn 40 "Service Learning Hours" over their four years of high school to graduate. Most of this involves volunteerism.
The city has had a long history of having segregated "disabled schools". There is, of course, value in this in that it's easier to provide specialized services--especially where staff and equipment are involved--in a centralized location, it's easier to have a facility that's appropriately modified/structured, etc. The disadvantages are huge, however. It creates a sort of ghetto mentality, a culture of shame and hiding and secrecy, and can deny students with greater intellectual abilities than their similarly-abled peers the kind of academic education as their more physically-abled peers. As a result, the district is slowly closing down these segregated schools and sending groups of students from the schools to other buildings.
Next year we are getting at my school a group of I believe 12-20 (I don't remember the number) students who are both physically disabled and cognitively disabled. Most are TMH or lower, though we may get a few whom we find, like some of our physically able TMH students in the program of those students we already have, are more cognitively able than has been previously determined.
At any rate, next September, we'll have a group of kids who use wheelchairs, either exclusively, or, more commonly in this group, at least part of the time.
My Accessibility Project
I got a local medical supplies company to agree to loan us half a dozen wheelchairs for a week for free.
Next week, we're going to have three after school meetings with interested students (we made announcements all week this week), then the following week we'll have the wheelchairs.
At the meetings, we'll discuss various reasons for using wheelchairs, including disabilities that would indicate intermittent wheelchair use or require full-time wheelchair use. We'll discuss the specific disabilities of the students coming to Jones and how multiple handicaps complicate one another. We'll discuss appropriate/preferred terminology and misconceptions as well as the existence of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There will be a guest from the local Access Living to help introduce some of this and to talk about safe wheelchair use.
The students will do internet research to determine what ADA modifications are required and for whom, when/where/how these things must legally be implemented and to determine what special services are available in the schools and in the city.
Students will have a buddy (who lives nearby and travels with them) to make sure they are safe when they take the wheelchairs home. Halfway through the week, the partners will switch off who is using the wheelchair. As full participants, students must do the following, all using the wheelchair for ambulation::
-go to all their classes and be on time
-carry their own book bag
-use the computers in a class
-commute to and from school using public transportation (they must plan ahead for how and where they can and cannot use public) and time their commutes to and from school
-go to the main public library and get books to check out from 2 different floors
-go to the local convenience store and buy something (look at the ice cream and consider a doughnut also)
-go to the Starbucks across the street and buy something
-go to Walmart/Kmart/Target or a similar store and get something from the back wall of the clothing section and from the electronics section
-go to the grocery store and get several items (perhaps help with shopping for the household)
-take a walk around the school neighborhood, following the maps provided
Students must keep a journal that considers the following questions:
-What obstacles did you find you faced? Were they obstacles you expected?
-What obstacles were you surprised by as difficulties that would not have occurred to you?
-How did you overcome each?
-Which obstacles were the most difficult? The most frustrating?
-What solutions occurred to you as the things that would most smooth your day?
-What reactions from strangers did you notice in terms of being seen/treated differently?
-What acts of generosity and kindness did you notice in strangers?
-What acts of dismissal, disregard, and avoidance did you notice in strangers?
-How did you feel as a result of those reactions?
-What reactions did you find you most welcomed?
-What reactions did you find most offensive? Most frustrating?
-In what ways was the CTA accessible?
-In what ways was the CTA less than thoroughly accessible?
-What was the difference in the time it took you to commute to and from school in the chair as opposed to on foot?
Students write reports for the school district, the city, the transit authority, and the streets and sanitation department noting the obstacles that remain in the neighborhood, school, and stores, even 15 years past the passage of the ADA. Reports in the form of business letters will:
-include specific locations of obstacles (including digital photos printed out as part of the report)
-include data on additional time and hassle experienced trying to do daily tasks
-include recommendations for remedy
-be sent to the mayor, the head of Streets and Sanitation, the head of Public Transport, the head of the CTA, the principal, the head of CPS Special Services, and others as deemed necessary
-be posted for viewing by the school on the bulletin board in the main lobby
For this work, students who participate fully (who are using the wheelchairs, which are limited in availability) will be able to obtain 40 or more service learning hours. Students who participate in less time-consuming ways will be eligible for the number of hours they contribute.
This is "wheelchair project" that the principal was talking about at the retreat, and it's something I'm really proud of. Many, many folks have been really impressed by it--the folks from the school that's being dissolved, the special ed folks at our school, the administration, other teachers, the guy at the wheelchair supply place, the folks at Access Living...
I'm delighted at how excited everyone is, and I think this is going to be really beneficial in terms of getting the school ready for the new students, getting our students accustomed to the idea of students in wheelchairs, helping our students get a better sense of how they can help, and of what is involved in coping with the endless stream of little obstacles. I'm going to participate, too, and wheeled myself around school Friday to advertise for the project. I have blisters on my thumbs now. I've got to get myself some gloves.
Background
The students in our district have to earn 40 "Service Learning Hours" over their four years of high school to graduate. Most of this involves volunteerism.
The city has had a long history of having segregated "disabled schools". There is, of course, value in this in that it's easier to provide specialized services--especially where staff and equipment are involved--in a centralized location, it's easier to have a facility that's appropriately modified/structured, etc. The disadvantages are huge, however. It creates a sort of ghetto mentality, a culture of shame and hiding and secrecy, and can deny students with greater intellectual abilities than their similarly-abled peers the kind of academic education as their more physically-abled peers. As a result, the district is slowly closing down these segregated schools and sending groups of students from the schools to other buildings.
Next year we are getting at my school a group of I believe 12-20 (I don't remember the number) students who are both physically disabled and cognitively disabled. Most are TMH or lower, though we may get a few whom we find, like some of our physically able TMH students in the program of those students we already have, are more cognitively able than has been previously determined.
At any rate, next September, we'll have a group of kids who use wheelchairs, either exclusively, or, more commonly in this group, at least part of the time.
My Accessibility Project
I got a local medical supplies company to agree to loan us half a dozen wheelchairs for a week for free.
Next week, we're going to have three after school meetings with interested students (we made announcements all week this week), then the following week we'll have the wheelchairs.
At the meetings, we'll discuss various reasons for using wheelchairs, including disabilities that would indicate intermittent wheelchair use or require full-time wheelchair use. We'll discuss the specific disabilities of the students coming to Jones and how multiple handicaps complicate one another. We'll discuss appropriate/preferred terminology and misconceptions as well as the existence of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There will be a guest from the local Access Living to help introduce some of this and to talk about safe wheelchair use.
The students will do internet research to determine what ADA modifications are required and for whom, when/where/how these things must legally be implemented and to determine what special services are available in the schools and in the city.
Students will have a buddy (who lives nearby and travels with them) to make sure they are safe when they take the wheelchairs home. Halfway through the week, the partners will switch off who is using the wheelchair. As full participants, students must do the following, all using the wheelchair for ambulation::
-go to all their classes and be on time
-carry their own book bag
-use the computers in a class
-commute to and from school using public transportation (they must plan ahead for how and where they can and cannot use public) and time their commutes to and from school
-go to the main public library and get books to check out from 2 different floors
-go to the local convenience store and buy something (look at the ice cream and consider a doughnut also)
-go to the Starbucks across the street and buy something
-go to Walmart/Kmart/Target or a similar store and get something from the back wall of the clothing section and from the electronics section
-go to the grocery store and get several items (perhaps help with shopping for the household)
-take a walk around the school neighborhood, following the maps provided
Students must keep a journal that considers the following questions:
-What obstacles did you find you faced? Were they obstacles you expected?
-What obstacles were you surprised by as difficulties that would not have occurred to you?
-How did you overcome each?
-Which obstacles were the most difficult? The most frustrating?
-What solutions occurred to you as the things that would most smooth your day?
-What reactions from strangers did you notice in terms of being seen/treated differently?
-What acts of generosity and kindness did you notice in strangers?
-What acts of dismissal, disregard, and avoidance did you notice in strangers?
-How did you feel as a result of those reactions?
-What reactions did you find you most welcomed?
-What reactions did you find most offensive? Most frustrating?
-In what ways was the CTA accessible?
-In what ways was the CTA less than thoroughly accessible?
-What was the difference in the time it took you to commute to and from school in the chair as opposed to on foot?
Students write reports for the school district, the city, the transit authority, and the streets and sanitation department noting the obstacles that remain in the neighborhood, school, and stores, even 15 years past the passage of the ADA. Reports in the form of business letters will:
-include specific locations of obstacles (including digital photos printed out as part of the report)
-include data on additional time and hassle experienced trying to do daily tasks
-include recommendations for remedy
-be sent to the mayor, the head of Streets and Sanitation, the head of Public Transport, the head of the CTA, the principal, the head of CPS Special Services, and others as deemed necessary
-be posted for viewing by the school on the bulletin board in the main lobby
For this work, students who participate fully (who are using the wheelchairs, which are limited in availability) will be able to obtain 40 or more service learning hours. Students who participate in less time-consuming ways will be eligible for the number of hours they contribute.
This is "wheelchair project" that the principal was talking about at the retreat, and it's something I'm really proud of. Many, many folks have been really impressed by it--the folks from the school that's being dissolved, the special ed folks at our school, the administration, other teachers, the guy at the wheelchair supply place, the folks at Access Living...
I'm delighted at how excited everyone is, and I think this is going to be really beneficial in terms of getting the school ready for the new students, getting our students accustomed to the idea of students in wheelchairs, helping our students get a better sense of how they can help, and of what is involved in coping with the endless stream of little obstacles. I'm going to participate, too, and wheeled myself around school Friday to advertise for the project. I have blisters on my thumbs now. I've got to get myself some gloves.