Garden City Students Teach Young Learners About Disabilities, Kindness

GARDEN CITY, NY — In recognition of March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, two students from Garden City High School and their teacher visited Hemlock Primary School to teach young learners about disabilities.

The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, and the National Disability Rights Network work together to lead a campaign every March to showcase how people with and without disabilities can come together in a community.

According to the National Disability Institute, President Reagan recognized March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in 1987 as a way to raise awareness and provide encouragement towards people with developmental disabilities.

On March 19, students Brendan Ryan and Connor Fitzgerald, and their teacher, Bridget Kelly, took a trip to the local primary school. Garden City public schools said Kelly gave a presentation, explaining what exactly a disability is, how to treat everyone with kindness, and taught students that although people with disabilities "may learn or communicate differently, it doesn’t mean they can’t complete something — they may just do it differently."

The two students created a video, sharing it with the young learners. The video showcased their strengths and challenges and reiterated Kelly's point to always treat each other with kindness and compassion.

They also showed their crazy socks and had the young students color "crazy socks" in recognition of World Down Syndrome Day, which was on March 21. The campaign called "Lots of Socks" encourages people to wear bold and unique "crazy socks" to celebrate the day.

The young learners designed socks while Connor performed a piano piece for the class.