Wildcats at Lake Highlands Elementary learn empathy via the Understanding Differences program. Photos by Heather Dorr.
Students at Lake Highlands Elementary learned to walk in the shoes of their friends with disabilities this week as part of Richardson ISD’s “Understanding Differences” program. The disability awareness lessons travels from school to school, enabling 3rd-6th graders to experience life with visual, physical and hearing challenges.
Wildcats moved through simulation stations, designed not to make participants feel sorry for their disabled classmates, but to develop empathy as they see how friends with special needs adapt to the environment. Students experienced impaired sight and hearing, fine motor challenges, reading and writing dysgraphia, communication problems and other issues. The goal: that both sets of students would feel more included and comfortable in the classroom.
You can read more in this 2014 Advocate magazine story. RISD plans to have the program visit every elementary school in the district, hopefully by 2019.
Students experience visual impairment
LHE students learn the challenges of hearing impairment
Understanding Differences at LHE
