Understanding Disabilities

Tenth grader Andy Dapron, it’s easier to navigate the school hallways in a wheelchair than to get kids to accept and understand his disability. “To be very honest, I don’t feel any different than any other person that goes to this school,” says Dapron.

But his classmates have a different attitude. “It’s real hard to understand him and even be friends with him,” says Krystal, a tenth grade classmate. “You don’t know what to say when there is someone in a wheelchair because you have never been in a wheelchair before.”

These days the effort to teach acceptance of disabilities can be seen on the toy shelves. Barbie’s new friend Becky is wheelchair bound. While the new doll may raise awareness, experts say interaction is more important than politically correct merchandising. Kids need face to face contact say experts. “When kids get the opportunity to meet other kids who have a disability, for kids it’s easier than as an adult to feel comfortable around someone who is different,” says Caroline Gergley, a vocational counselor for the disabled.

Disabled kids say they long for equal treatment, but they don’t want sympathy and they don’t want other to overcompensate. “It’s not like we go home and cry because we’re in a wheelchair, you learn to get around it,” says Dapron.

Experts say parents should help teach understanding and acceptance by first overcoming their own discomfort and nervousness, then providing opportunities for kids to interact with others who are different.

Gergley says kids who don't learn subtle prejudices and who are left to their own devices get along just fine. “ I’ve watched kids interact and if they go up and ask another child in a chair, why are you in a chair, they’ll tell them,” says Gergley. “A discussion starts and pretty soon the chair kind of disappears and the child becomes more real.”

What Parents Can Do

Know your child’s rights and become an activist in your school. Make sure kids who are challenged have equal opportunity in your community. Schools are required by law to offer physical education services, specially designed if necessary, to every child with a disability who receives public education. Unfortunately many parents, teachers and administrators are unfamiliar with physical education requirements and children with disabilities continue to be excluded from physical education.

Help Children Interact. Provide as many opportunities as possible for children to interact with those who are different. Parents should evaluate their own prejudices and discomforts and help kids overcome any nervousness or subtle prejudice they might be experiencing. Provide opportunities for kids to play sports and participate in a variety of activities with kids who are different from themselves.

Information provided by the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, Inc. (AAASP).