Month of Activities Brings Disability Awareness to St. Mary Students

All month, St. Mary of the Assumption School will raise disability awareness for its students.

The program, entitled, "I CAN the Way I AM," includes an array of activities and hands-on simulations designed to begin conversations with students about perceptions and assumptions about those with disabilities, according to the school.

The program, which began this week, exposes students, kindergarten through eighth grade, to a specific disability while teaching them about all that people with disabilities can do. On Monday, kindergartners and first graders participated in simulations to understand that differences exist in those with and without disabilities. They will have a similar activity next Monday.

Here are some other activities associated with "I CAN the Way I AM," according to the school:

Oct. 9: Cleveland Sight Center will visit second grade students for simulations related to visual impairments. They will have the opportunity to meet with and ask questions of someone who is blind and works with a service animal.
         
Oct. 10: Sixth graders will meet with a local parent advocate and participate in sensory simulations related to autism.

Oct. 11: Cleveland Hearing and Speech will expose third-grade students to an interactive program to help them better understand how those who are hearing impaired use other means to communicate. A presenter/interpreter with Sign Stage and one of his hearing impaired actor/clients will also attend.

Oct. 17: Diane Swatowski, a St. Mary’s parishioner, will engage seventh graders in simulations related to cerebral palsy. Swatowski is a Kent State University graduate with a finance degree who has cerebral palsy.  Lynnmarie Phillips, from the Lake County Board of Developmental Disabilities, will also attend.

Oct. 21: Fifth graders will meet teacher Mary Schulz and her son, Charlie, who will speak to students about cognitive disabilities and the role that Downs Syndrome has played in their lives.

Oct. 23: Brothers Bill and Charlie Schulz will remind eighth graders that people with disabilities have the same social needs and feelings as those without them. They plan on sharing childhood stories with a focus on recognizing and responding to the needs of others.

Oct. 30: Local physical therapists Joe Bonscer and Kathy Buzzanca will join Lynnmarie Phillips to set up an obstacle course for fourth-grade students designed to promote awareness of people with mobility issues.