Education on disabilities in schools.

 So, from a young age while I was in grade school, I remember how in class we always talked about Martin Luther King and what he did with him being African American/Black and how he saw to it that they were treated more equally in the country. And it wasn't quite until the 4th grade that I realized it was because February was Black History month. When I first heard of the term, "Black History Month", I thought they were talking about the color black. But when I was in 4th grade, and we were reading stories about black folks that took place at times when black and white people were segregated, that's when I connected the dots. And just 2 years ago, I learn that March is Women's History month. I know that's pretty bad that it took me that long to learn that February was Black History Month and March was Women's History month. Anyway, ever since I was 21, I always thought that if the month of February was black history month, there really should be a month in the year (preferably during a school year) as disability history month. Or disability acceptance month. And in that month I think teachers should read stories fictional and non fictional about people with disabilities of some sort. 

They could read stories about people with disabilities for English, and in social studies, also talk about famous people as well as talk about what people in the disability community did starting back in the 1950's or even the 1970's on up to the present. And then in Science, maybe talk about the disabilities people can have and how it can affect them. And maybe even as a demonstration, have people get to experience what it's like to have disabilities. And there are ways of doing that. What teachers could do is maybe have kids (depending on what grade they're in) read something that might be way beyond their comprehension (on purpose), have them do a test on the subject they read, only for them to fail, because they don't understand it. And have it be explained to them that this is sometimes what it's like for people with disabilities when they might try to learn things in school and how they might struggle with learning certain things in school, whether they might have a learning disability, or ADD/ADHD, or something on the autism spectrum, or an intellectual disability, also known as Neruodivergent. Another one could be that if there's ever a way to demonstrate how someone with autism might have certain sensory problems, maybe teachers or other guests could do that demonstration in the classroom, so they have a better understanding of what it's like to struggle with that. I did see one demonstration being presented once, on the internet where people walk into something and after seeing everything going on around them, they're just not able to put into words everything they just saw, as a demonstration of how people on the autism spectrum might struggle with visual sensory processing what they see into words, unless maybe someone else says it first. 

And I think another idea would be to show people what it might be like to be blind where maybe the teacher turns off all the lights in the room, and they have to go around looking for something with the lights off, or they have to feel around just to navigate where they're at in the room without any lights.

 Now as for as what it's like to get bullied because you have a lack of good social/communication skills due to being on the autism spectrum, there would have to take a lot of staged role playing involved. They would have to have a certain person volunteer to be that person who is supposed to be on the spectrum. And then they would have to have maybe have that person leave the room, so the adult can talk to the other kids who want to volunteer, so they can tell those kids what they're supposed to do to the one person, and to keep basically picking on the person until they get a reaction, and what to say in response to their action. And if the one person tries to tell the teacher what they're all doing to that one person, the teacher can purposely decide to believe the ones who are bullying the kid, or the teacher can just blame the one kid who's supposed to be autistic in this scenario. And they should have all the kids in the classroom get a chance to take on the role of the kid with autism, and all the kids should have a chance to take on the role as the bullies. And at the end of it all, teachers can then ask just how did it feel to get picked on and when you finally told the teacher how so and so was doing this to you, the teacher either didn't believe you or they blamed you for why? And then if they all could honestly say, they didn't like it and it made them feel bad, it made them feel very uncomfortable and not want to even be in the room anymore, or whatever, we can say that's how people with autism feel when they get bullied because way too often at times, they might want to keep to themselves because they don't like being bullied, either and when they're constantly being treated like that, they learn to be afraid of people and they learn that they can't trust anyone. So when they keep to themselves, they're doing it to protect themselves from getting hurt but at the same time, they might feel like they're doing everyone else a favor by leaving everyone alone. Because if everyone is always going to be mean to you all the time by harassing you, bullying, teasing you, taking advantage of you, or they want you to go away and leave them alone, what's the point of even wanting to be social with other people or making friends? The whole point is to show kids what it might be like to have disabilities who don't have those disabilities, so maybe they'll think twice before being mean to other kids who have disabilities, and they'll have a better understanding of what it's like to struggle because of having disabilities so that they don't bully them.

I also remember when I was in 11th grade, I took this sociology class and while in it we watched this video that kind of takes place back in the 1960's, somewhere in Iowa. There was this 3rd grade teacher and what she did an exercise in class to demonstrate what it's like to be discriminated against just because something about you is different. And she had a rule set where all the kids with blue eyes in the classroom had to maybe wear something around their neck and the ones with brown eyes didn't. And they were instructed that the blue-eyed kids couldn't play with the brown eyed kids. And on the first day, the blue-eyed kids got to have special treatment like extra time for recess, and the brown eyed kids couldn't. And then the next day or so, the kids with the brown eyes got to have special privileges like extra recess time and the blue-eyed kids couldn't. That on day 1: Blue eyed kids could play on the play ground, brown eyed kids couldn't and had to stay on the black top. Day 2: Brown eyed kids got extended recess and could play on the playground, but blue-eyed kids couldn't. And in those 2 days, the blue -eyed kids and brown eyed kids would tease each other for having different colored eyes. By day 3, she reassured them they didn't have to not be friends with whoever in the classroom just because of difference of eye color, and it was basically to teach them how wrong it was to discriminate against someone just because something about someone looks a little bit different from you. 

Here's a youtube link to show you what I'm talking about: 

A Class Divided (full documentary) | FRONTLINE - YouTube

Maybe what they could do as something similar is the teachers could write out on some big pieces of paper, names of different disabilities people might have on this piece of paper and what it says they might not be able to do because of their disability, in a classroom to half the room, while the other ones don't get to have the labels. 
And then those who were given those labels can't hang out with or talk to those who weren't given those labels, and if they do, the kids who don't have labels have to talk to the kids who do have the pieces of paper, the way you would be talking to a 3 year old, and so would the teacher to prove a point that some people with disabilities notices when other people talk to them like they're babies and they hate that!  The students who have the pieces of paper saying what their disability is, also aren't going to be allowed to do those things that those pieces of paper say that they're not able to do.  One could say: "Autism: You can't talk to someone unless someone talks to you, first. You exhibit Echolalia and you have to repeat whatever you hear someone else say around you", or, "ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: You have trouble paying attention and you can't sit still. You should walk around the room, aimlessly", "Traumatic Brain Injury/Cerebral Palsy: You can't walk without a special walker; you need to be in a wheelchair;" And then they have to actually be in a wheelchair or use a walker, as some examples. Also, the students given the labels wouldn't be allowed to share with fellow students what their labels say that's been given to them. They would just have to either do or not do as the paper tells them, and if anyone has anything to say to them about it, they should just tell them, "I can't help it", or "I'm not doing this on purpose to annoy you", or something like that. 

And maybe everyone could also get a chance to see what it might be like to have to use a wheelchair or a walker, what it's like to maybe have a handwriting disability. I'm not sure what they do with kids who have trouble learning how to write with a pen or pencil, but with me, they would either write the letters down for me, and I would have to trace them, or this one teacher would have me wear this wrist guard when writing. (I hated that thing, by the way).  Everyone would also get the chance to experience what it might be like to have sensory problems and have to wear headphones to block out the noise, and they could also go into a room where lights are purposely so bright it hurts their eyes, so they would have to maybe wear sunglasses or something. Also, when someone has dyslexia, I hear that when they look at written words somewhere, to them it might look like the words are moving across the screen, or something like that. (I'm surprised they don't have a science museum that physically demonstrates how people might certain disabilities in terms of how it affects them. That would be an interesting exhibit, I think.)

Then maybe the next day the ones who weren't given the labels get to have the piece of paper that has a specific disability on it has to give their label to someone that wasn't given one the day before. And then they can't talk to those who don't have those labels, nor can they do the things it says that they're not going to be able to do because of what it says about those disabilities. And then on day 3, they can discuss what it felt like not being able to just go talk to in class whoever you wanted to talk to, and not be able to do what it is you might have wanted to do. The correct response is that they'd feel left out. And then someone can let them know, that they can give the teacher or whoever back the labels, and the teacher then can explain to them they can talk to whoever they want, and they shouldn't decide to want nothing to do with someone just because they have something causing them to struggle.

The underlining thing is, you don't know what it's like to struggle unless you experience it. And in a way, Albert Einstein was also kind of a visual thinker as smart as he was. He even said himself, "If I can't see it, I can't understand it". And like Albert Einstein said, if we ourselves can't see it or experience it, we can't understand it. And now hopefully, we see his point.

As for students in High School, I think either all grade levels or most grade levels should watch the documentary, "Crip Camp". Because I think it would have been nice to know that this stuff on the disability community had been going on since such time and is still going on. And I think it should be shown in Social Studies classes, preferably U.S. History. 

Now, I know some kid's parents might not like this being taught in schools like this, but then again, we can't please everyone. And I do feel the learning is worth the agony.