barrier free
This week we had an entire day devoted to barrier free education. Community members who are blind and deaf came to school to talk to the students. Then students were split into 4 groups for a bit of experential education (wheelchair, eyemask, sign language, braille). After this we watched a video about people living with disabilities in Japan.
Personally I found the video to be fascinating... I'd always wondered how someone in a wheelchair got on and off the train. And now I know. After the video lots of the other teachers were asking me if I understood the video, and they were quite shocked when I said that I had no problem, that it was really easy to understand. Later on I find out that most of the students couldn't understand the video.
Which honestly, I figure must mean that these kids have never before met a person with a disability and were just utterly confounded by the notion that someone might not be able to reach the top button on a vending machine, or would need to have a shopping assistant to help them buy groceries.
I'm reading the 2nd grade newsletter today, and it says that "once a deaf person masters sign language, they can live life easily." I thought that a student had written it, but it was the math teacher. I'd agree that sign language makes a deaf person's life easier, but I'd have to argue that it's probably still a bit difficult to be deaf here.
Personally I found the video to be fascinating... I'd always wondered how someone in a wheelchair got on and off the train. And now I know. After the video lots of the other teachers were asking me if I understood the video, and they were quite shocked when I said that I had no problem, that it was really easy to understand. Later on I find out that most of the students couldn't understand the video.
Which honestly, I figure must mean that these kids have never before met a person with a disability and were just utterly confounded by the notion that someone might not be able to reach the top button on a vending machine, or would need to have a shopping assistant to help them buy groceries.
I'm reading the 2nd grade newsletter today, and it says that "once a deaf person masters sign language, they can live life easily." I thought that a student had written it, but it was the math teacher. I'd agree that sign language makes a deaf person's life easier, but I'd have to argue that it's probably still a bit difficult to be deaf here.