[tri-med] Re: Disability Awareness

I don't know if you know what ABC's Ultimate Makeover Home Edition is, but 
they redid a house for a family with a son who is autistic and blind awhile 
ago.  To help the designers understand what it feels like to be autistic, 
they sat the head guy in a chair with rocks on it (to show how it feels to 
be sore and uncomfortable due to lack of repositioning or just sensitivity), 
put lime juice in his mouth (for bad tastes from lunch or just in general), 
taped his mouth shut (not being able to communicate), shined flashlights in 
his eyes (overstimulation and light sensitivity), had someone sit close to 
him and whisper (distractions caused by other people in the room that were 
hard to tune out), waved a cologne-soaked cloth in his face (smells that 
were overpowering), and had two people giving him directions (making it hard 
for him to keep up and decipher what it was for him to do).  It was a really 
enlightening experience.  We care for an autistic boy occasionally, and I 
now understand why he reacts the way he does to changes.  Mostly it was 
demonstrating overstimulation and sensitivity to senses that we take for 
granted and can deal with easily.

Jennifer, mom to Arwen, 6; Elanor (t18), 4; caregiver to Joe (cerebral palsy 
& spastic displaysia), 25 & Eric, 18; and wife to Andrew
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karen" <karens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tri-Med" <tri-med@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Our Kids" <OUR-KIDS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 6:02 PM
Subject: [tri-med] Disability Awareness


> Its that time of the year again here in Aus - coming up towards the end of 
> the school year. Instead of focusing on wonderful grades like I did with 
> my NDA kids, we seem to focus on all that went wrong, didn't work and 
> highlight all of the special needs we live with every day and take as 
> "normal". Sighhhhhhh
> One of the things that has cropped up is a lack of understanding and 
> tolerence by children and teachers of other people imperfections.
>
> With the kids this is showing itself in teasing and marginalisation, with 
> the adults its coming out as frustration and trying to change what can't 
> be changed.
>
> So what I want to do, actually what I really want to encourage is some 
> understanding of what its like to live the lives of our kids. Not in words 
> alone, but in action as well.
>
> I have a few resources from my working days but I know that everyone here 
> will have some great ideas and I was hoping you may share them with me.
>
> At the moment I have teaching examples for vision impairment (wearing 
> goggles with different types of lenses), deafness (ear plugs, tape 
> recorders etc) and physical impairments (splinting a leg, using 
> wheelchairs etc). And one for word retrieval problems (tell a story but 
> not being able to use any word with r in it). Does anyone have any other 
> ideas?
>
> Specifically I would like some ideas on attention issues (I can find some 
> on line but would prefer practical ones) and sensory integration issues.
>
> Many thanks
> "It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is 
> not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving."
> ~ ~ Mother Teresa ~ ~
>
> Keep Looking For Rainbows!!
>   _--_|\
> /Karen \
> \ _.--._ /
>          v Karen, Mum to Alex (10 years, T-18 Mosaic)
> http://members.optushome.com.au/karens
>
>                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
>                       www.trisomyonline.org
>                  Families Helping Families On-line
>
> 


                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

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